On 23 August 2022, the Päijät-Häme Circular Economy Group met in Lahti, Finland to discuss the development in the region. The group comprises representatives from various sectors: administration, municipalities, business sector and academia. The group has acted as a regional stakeholder group for several projects, including BIOREGIO – Regional circular economy models and best available technologies for biological streams -project. Altogether 19 members of the group participated in the meeting.

This was the last regional stakeholder meeting as the BIOREGIO project ends in December 2022. Therefore, the six-year-old journey of boosting bio-based circular economy in six European regions was summarized. Several of the present stakeholders directly participated in the BIOREGIO interregional meetings and site visits. BIOREGIO helped to promote the Päijät-Häme region and its good practices and enabled knowledge transfer from other partner regions. Thanks to this, a regional Action Plan was designed and its implementation gave birth to many regional projects to further support the BIOREGIO goal.

Furthermore, the extension of the project has identified even more good practices for fast recovery from the global COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences and presents opportunities to develop bio-based circular economy in the participating regions (and beyond).