The appropriate use of biowaste - a key pillar of the circular economy

Through WaysTUP! local governments and citizens will be able to incorporate different solutions that will help them make proper use of biowaste in cities

In line with the circular economy, the newly-launched EU-funded WaysTUP! initiative aims to demonstrate the establishment of new value chains for urban biowaste utilisation. This demonstrative project will showcase a portfolio of new “urban biowaste to biobased products” processes starting from different feedstocks i.e. fish and meat waste, spent coffee grounds, household source separated biowaste, used cooking oils, etc. These processes will result in the production of food and feed additives, flavours, insect protein, coffee oil, bioethanol, biosolvents, bioplastics et.

The proper utilisation of biowaste - key to achieving sustainability

Regarding the identification of opportunities and barriers to utilisation of urban biowaste sources, over the first year of project implementation, the guidelines for setting up a sampling plan along with a laboratory analysis protocol for the conduction of Waste Analysis Campaigns (WAC) have been defined. Additionally, the first version of compiling a catalogue of urban biowaste and good practices examples has been completed and the first technological solutions for the valorisation of the feedstocks used in the project have been determined.

With respect to the preparation of the pilot activities, the first version of the pilot plans has been prepared. Pilot demonstrations will take place in the cities of Valencia, London, Alicante, Prague, Athens, L'Alcúdia, Terni and Chania.

WaysTUP! will also develop and implement a behavioural change approach with citizens and local communities by improving the current perception on urban biowaste as a local resource, enhancing the active participation of citizens in the separate collection of urban biowaste and improving customer acceptance of urban bio-waste derived products. Up to now, the works related to the behavioural change resulted in the discovery of a lack of social focus on the circular economy which in and of itself presents challenges in social acceptance and the uptake of circular initiatives.

Moreover, the Intellectual Property Rights strategy has been developed and will be re-evaluated as the project progresses and also the Analysis of Market Outlook and Business Models are well underway.

Regarding the policy framework to provide evidence-based recommendations at the EU level, it will be thoroughly examined and a series of guidelines on how local decision-makers can best implement the WaysTUP! model will be produced. The relevant assessment of the policy framework is being elaborated according to the work plan.

In conclusion, turning urban biowaste into a resource is a major key to a circular economy. Research and innovation coming from demonstrative projects like WaysTUP! explore the opportunities for using bio-waste as a new source of higher value products, as indeed bio-waste can play an important role in the transition to a circular economy by both preventing its generation and capturing its potential as a source of valuable secondary resources.

This text was submitted to TheMayor.EU by the WaysTUP! team.