CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND ZERO WASTE: A KEY PRIORITY FOR EUROPEAN REGIONS

The Green imperative is driving European regions to do more to develop circular economies and to minimise waste.

This was clearly demonstrated in the webinar series hosted by the IURC Regional Community of Practice on Resilient Agrifood Industry and Forestry where representatives of Mazovia in Poland and Val d’Oise in France provided extensive details about actions in their regions.

Representatives of the National Circular Economy and Recycling Cluster in Mazovia outlined their comprehensive program as a national key cluster, as designated by the Ministry of Development and Technology. CEaRC has a membership of about 200 organizations across sectors, spanning SMEs, large enterprises, R&D centres and tech institutes, and its mission is to connect business needs with technological innovation. CeaRC has two main service pathways: ProGOZ (circular economy) and ProInno (innovation for industry), and work across sectors such as food, water, batteries, textiles, electronics, packaging, plastics and construction.

The representatives from Val d’Oise outlined three separate initiatives which encompassed specific scientifically-based innovation as well as community initiatives to change everyday practices. Firstly, the Borago biodiversity collaboration between EBI and the Cergy Paris University includes green extraction, antioxidant and skin-cell assays, and bioinformatics for cosmetic anti-aging applications. Secondly, the Territorial Food Project run by Cergy-Pontoise Agglomeration Community in partnership with the French Vexin Regional Nature Park offers consumption initiatives (solidarity markets, school cafeteria supply chains, awareness campaigns) and waste-management actions including an AI pilot to analyse school cafeteria waste and mandatory school waste collection that converted 18 tons of food waste into compost in the first three months. The third presentation introduced the BOPRO project and the GONES site development near a new tube station as a mixed R&D and production area with a 6.5-hectare initial phase and links to surrounding agriculture and urban logistics. The development has a strong and coherent circular economy approach that will host innovative bio-economy start-ups and SMEs.

The webinar concluded with discussion on practical pilot initiatives that the regions could share arising from the examples offered in the webinar.

A second webinar on this topic on will take place on the 9th of June 2026 and will provide a further opportunity for developing a concrete shared project.