Circular economy: valuing waste

There are more and more companies and organisations in Catalonia seeking to re-purpose waste, and turn it into a resource. Espigalors, for example, is a company founded in Barcelona in 2015, with the objective of fighting food waste, by sending people at risk of social exclusion or suffering food scarcity, to rural areas in Catalonia to collect fruit and vegetables which are discarded by agricultors. This might be fruit which is bruised, or aesthetically unpleasing and therefore harder to sell, or simply fruit that exceeds quantities which can be sold before perishing, but otherwise completely edible. Agriculture isn’t the only sector turning waste to resource. Reciclauto, in Mataró, is a pioneer in up-cycling car parts to lengthen the life of other vehicles. 2015 laws say 85% of car parts must be reusable, but after 2020 this number will go up to 95% and higher, and Catalonia will be skilled in this growing market.