This session, led by Sylvia Muñoz, founder and director of Ecocir, aimed to explain the bases of the circular economy, contrast them with the linear method, and present the methodologies and success stories of the circular model in large and small companies.

The circular economy is a model of production and consumption that encourages sharing, reusing, renewing and recycling materials. This approach seeks to add value and extend the useful life of the resources used, thus reducing waste and promoting sustainability.

The model targets social improvement in multiple areas: from the protection of the environment through the reduction of emissions and exploitation of materials, the generation of savings for consumers, since it is possible to extend the life of their goods and eliminate planned obsolescence, and finally, to achieve an increase in profits for the companies involved, reducing their investment in both materials and production costs.

To reinforce its commitment to sustainability and social development, URBICSA organized an information session to introduce this model to all its employees and users, explaining the bases and benefits of it. During the day, success stories of various companies that have implemented the circular economy in their economic activity were shown and analyzed.

The session was led by Sylvia Muñoz, founder and director of Ecocir, a consultancy dedicated to supporting companies of all types and sizes during their transition to the circular model. Sylvia Muñoz is the author of the Eco+Circular methodology, adopted by the European Union for the Agrotech Start Up project, and co-author of the Oleku circularisation methodology, aimed at companies and entrepreneurs in Gipuzkoa. In addition, she is a professor of Circular Economy in multiple Spanish institutions and has given multiple conferences explaining the bases of this basic concept of sustainability.

At the conclusion of the session, URBICSA carried out an analysis of its projects and methodologies seeking to identify areas where it can implement the principles of the circular economy. The results of this analysis were more positive than expected as numerous actions undertaken by URBICSA were found to have already integrated these principles.

Of these actions, we would like to highlight the following:

• Replacement of Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS). URBICSA made the UPS systems available to the Government of Catalonia in order to give this equipment a second life.
• Replacement of fans in air conditioners. Instead of replacing the entire system, it was decided to only make one change of the parts needed to increase efficiency.
• Renovation of the public address system and security scanners. During this process components were identified that would be suitable for less critical locations of the Generalitat. Almost all elements were relocated.
• Incorporation of an accumulated lime reduction system. This project consisted of incorporating a system to reduce limescale accumulation in the taps, toilet flushing systems and pipes. This intervention has made it possible to extend the useful life of many parts of the water supply network.
• Replacement of video recorders. This was one of the first actions carried out that were proposed for a circular economy. The replacement was carried out during the year 2015-2016 and URBCISA emerged as a pioneer in this type of action.
• Replacement of lighting fixtures of the City of Justice. This project is proposed considering the reuse of fluorescent light bulbs in other departments of the Generalitat, thus guaranteeing to extend the useful life of elements that have a high recycling cost as much as possible.

You can consult all the interventions carried out in The City of Justice in the Environment section  of our website.

In this way we can see that the implementation of the circular economy in URBICSA has made it possible to demonstrate that it is possible to integrate sustainable practices in various operational areas, obtaining significant results both at an environmental and economic level.

Each of the actions carried out in recent years reflects URBICSA‘s commitment to optimising resources and extending the useful life of materials.

These efforts to implement a system based on the circular economy not only benefit the company, but also contribute to a positive impact for the community and the environment in order to achieve a more prosperous and better future for all.