BIOCIRCULARCITIES with final event in Pazardzhik, Bulgaria

The final event of Biocircularcities project in city of Pazardzhik was held on the 8th of June 2023.

There were thirty participants – mostly representatives from public administrations (Peshtera, Pazardzhik, Bratsigovo, the Regional administration of PP, and the Regional Environmental Inspectorate), as well as energy agencies, NGOs with environmental profile, SMEs association, and educational authorities.

The Regional Governor of Pazardzhik Province, Mr. Trendafil Velichkov, said welcome words to participant.  He congratulated the REAP team for the active work and good results of the project with many international partners. Mr. Velichkov said that  „we need to find the best approach to waste recycling at the regional and local level to in order to recycle waste, produce energy, and valorize the existing biomass and solve the problem of resource scarcity by turning the waste into a valuable resource”. Also, he emphasized that “we need to bequeath to our children a better environment, and projects like BIOCIRCULARCITIES will contribute for that”.

Mr. Martin Ivanov, a Technical Expert in REAP, presented the project and its goals, aims, and activities. Mr. Ivanov emphasized on the chosen chain in the pilot in Province of Pazardzhik – forest residues, but explained also the other two biowaste chains in the cities of Barcelona and Naples. He also gave an overview of the three local living labs previously organized in Province of Pazardzhik and the expected products of the project.

Mr. Georgi Simeonov, a Project Manager in REAP, presented the current situation and alternative scenarios of the selected biowaste chain in Pazardzhik Province. Stakeholders were informed about the concept of life cycle assessment and life cycle costing analysis. It was shown different and interesting data, charts and diagrams about these two analysis concerning Pazardzhik Province. Main drivers and barriers in front of the selected biowaste chain in Pazardzhik have been also presented by Mr. Simeonov.

Mrs. Petya Tsarkova, a Technical Expert in REAP, made a presentation of the Biocircularcities webtool, which will include information on how biowaste can be utilised, what barriers and solutions would be useful to implement, tips that have been learned during the project and many other applications that will be included in the webtool which will be fully accessible soon to all interested stakeholders.

The event ended with a roundtable with REAP experts and stakeholders, which covered 7 different issues. Some of the comments provided by experts were:

• Majority of participants acknowledged that the presented analyses related to LCA/LCC of the selected value chain in PP can play a significant role in the process of policy development of local and regional administrations;
• Some participants mentioned the technology barriers as a major challenge towards the larger utilization of biowaste;
• Majority of participants also agreed on the need to undertake LCC and LCA analyses before initiating large environmental and/or biowaste management project;
• Educational authority representatives pointed out the importance of starting to address the topic of recycling and separate collection of waste and biowaste at an early age.

Presentations and other outputs will soon be available on the event page.