CETIM Technological Centre joins another year to celebrate Earth Day

Circular economy is one of the most immediate challenges to drive solid and sustainable economic growth for companies of any size, from micro-SMEs to large corporations. In this sense, since the beginning of our activity, 90% of R&D projects developed by CETIM Centro Tecnológico have been or are related to the circular economy.

As private organization, both our vision and mission are oriented towards the application of sustainable and effective nature-based solutions that respond to current problems. As the United Nations indicates in its manifesto on the occasion of Earth Day, “we need a shift towards a more sustainable economy that works for both people and the planet.” For seven years, we have been striving to travel this path hand in hand with more than 260 companies and clients from all fields, sectors and sizes, and mobilizing a capital of € 152M in what could also be called “bioeconomy”.

Wide portfolio
In our portfolio we have almost a hundred projects that circularity, the transformation of waste into new raw materials or the extraction of valuable resources scarce in nature from what is considered “garbage” or “useless goods” are a common denominator.

NICE is the last H2020 project that we coordinate from CETIM Technological Centre and through which we will investigate how to improve water treatment in the urban environment through sustainable solutions. Other H2020 that we coordinate are H2020 REWAISE or H2020 BIORECOVER.

One of the latest technological investigations that we have launched is the KEOPS project, in which CETIM will collaborate with five companies in the construction value chain to obtain more sustainable cements and concretes from their own demolition waste. as well as iron and steel slag from electric arc furnaces.

At POLIAC, and also in line with the circular economy and green chemistry, we will investigate with the company Cromogenia the obtaining of biopolyols of natural origin (from different types of oils) to formulate sustainable adhesives. DICKENS, BIOPOL, BIOCHARMB or DEGRADE, among many others, are practical examples of our daily work. Precisely today, on Earth Day, we will present the technological research, and subsequent application, of the LIFE DrainRain project through which CETIM, in consortium with 4 other partners, develops a new treatment system to mitigate the environmental impact of the runoff waters. It will be during project LIFE HEATLAND webinar at 10:00 am.

Nature-based solutions
Working with nature, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA) is increasingly recognized as an efficient way to tackle the growing challenges posed by climate change, biodiversity loss and degradation of the ecosystems. This is stated in the report published at the end of 2020 “Nature-based solutions in Europe: policy, knowledge and practice for adaptation to climate change and disaster risk reduction”.

Likewise, the EU biodiversity strategy 2030, a key pillar of the European Green Deal, includes a nature restoration plan that aims to promote the adoption of nature-based solutions, as well as the EU strategy on adaptation to climate change recently adopted by the European Commission.