The ENHANCE thematic workshop in Pisa has concluded. It has been a great opportunity to share experiences and information with the current EU related projects BRAVER project (LIFE programme) and the RAVE contract of the DG Environment of the European Commission. Jointly, these three projects involve 15 EU countries.
Partners from the three projects and stakeholders have compared their outputs and have discussed about:
- the barriers that are limiting the impact of EMAS in the EU and
- the role of regulatory relief and other incentives.
It’s clear that the “Toward EMAS Action Plans” that will be defined next year within the ENHANCE project could be a strong tool to overcome these barriers and obstacles. Besides defining new regulatory reliefs, it’s also essential to effectively communicate them in order to be sure that organizations will really benefit from them. Ways to reach the target groups are still to be studied and defined.
Following the previous Circular Economy workshop in Barcelona, partners and stakeholders have had the opportunity to visit the Consorzio Aquarno. Located in Santa Croce near Pisa, this consortium provides key environmental services to the Tuscany Leather District and contributes to the “circularity” of processes: the treatment of tanning wastewater, the recovery of chromium from process’ waste water and the sludge treatment. It’s also an example of industrial symbiosis as the consortium is the common answer provided by different organizations of the same sector and facing the same environmental problems and challenges.
