RETRACE project has had a positive impact in Lea-Artibai and in Bizkaia in general. The key of the project’s success has been the cooperation between Beaz and Azaro Fundazioa.
RETRACE has been useful for many things, but if we would have to highlight some results we could mention the following items:
1. Definition and acceleration of Circular Economy projects through the Regional Action Plan.
Several Circular Economy projects have been defined in different fields within the RETRACE Project. Those projects are:
ACTION 1 | Pilot Programme to perform Circular Economy diagnoses in small and medium sized companies with the help of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia. This project involved 5 industrial companies of Lea-Artibai.
ACTION 2 | Mainstreaming awareness and training on the Circular Economy. Azaro Fundazioa has developed an active awareness rising and support activity, for pushing up between companies and economic agents of the area the knowledge about the Circular Economy concept and models.
ACTION 3 | Circular Bilbao Bizkaia project which has been launched in Bilbao. The project consists of defining and establishing projects of Circular Economy in Bilbao and surrounding towns in Bizkaia.
ACTION 4 | Pilot Project for Food Sovereignty which has been set up in Lea-Artibai. A brand called “Hamen bertokoa” has been created, based on the philosophy of production and consumption of food in each place. There are several companies and regional producers adhering to the project.
ACTION 5 | New territorial governance model for a Circular Economy has been established. Improvements have been implemented in the model to promote the Circular Economy in the territory. And to better understand and approach this economic concept, awareness and training actions have been awarded in companies among entrepreneurs and society in general.
2. Identification of Good Practices related to Circular Economy in Biscay region.
The project has provided the identification of good practices that are being carried out in Lea-Artibai and Bizkaia. Overall, more than 25 good practices have been identified in Bizkaia, although nine of them have been selected as the most interesting with regard to share them with other agents. In order to raise awareness and disseminate the selected good practices, we organized a Field Visit in Bizkaia. Project’s partners attended the visit as well as a wide net of agents, companies and entrepreneurs.
Afterwards, these good practices have been compiled in a publication called "Good Practices Guide" within the project. This publication gather those good practices selected as the best of the project.
3. Awareness and dissemination of the Circular Economy concept in Lea-Artibai
Azaro Fundazioa has implemented several awareness actions in order to disseminate the concept and the philosophy of the Circular Economy. RETRACE has provided knowledge among the staff of Azaro which has resulted in the design and implementation of new training and awareness actions targeted at entrepreneurs and corporate network of the area.
