Wallonia, a region focused on its circular future
Wallonia's ambition is to stimulate the production of high added-value goods and services along with a transition towards innovative and circular business models, but also to foster a local relocation of production.The Wal loon Region relies on a network of businesses, a rich ecosystem of stakeholders, a Circular Wallonia strategy, industrial potential, and technological expertise. Wallonia capitalizes on its historical industrial past and its assets to innovate in a circular way.
Circular Wallonia is the deployment strategy of Circular Economy in Wallonia. The strategy was adopted the 4th February 2021 by the Walloon government: it is led by the Minister of Economy, supported by the Minister of Environment, and the Minister of Employment.
The deployment of the circular economy is seen as an opportunity to boost the economy in a regenerative way that operates within the limits of the planet. The use of resources should be further optimised by repairing, reusing and recycling more but, above all, by designing products and services that do not create additional sources of waste. This model reinforces the objective of industrial renewal of Wallonia and will allow it to improve its resilience to future crises by ensuring greater independence in terms of resources.
The transition to a circular economy necessitates a systemic and participative approach. The strategy was built by integrating economic, social and environmental concerns and by following both a top-down and bottom-up approach, through meetings with local stakeholders, a public consultation and the development of measures through round-table discussions. The objective of the governance of Circular Wallonia is to enable an efficient and agile implementation of measures, through a collaborative mode of operation that is linked to the needs of local stakeholders.
Wallonia intends to progress along the path mapped out by Europe with the Green Deal and circular economy action plan, and thus contribute to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, halting the decline of biodiversity and improving the employment rate.
Circular Wallonia includes over 60 measures with an estimated budget of over €200 million to ensure the deployment of the circular economy and to achieve Wallonia’s 10 ambitions.
The Circular Ecosystem is an ever-evolving digital tool aimed at highlighting initiatives in the field of the circular economy in the Walloon Region. Its ambition is to make information about these initiatives available and accessible, and to promote the development of innovative ecosystems.
Based on the Data4Wallonia database it serves as an exemplary model of how a digital tool can facilitate the deployment of circularity.
This tool has two specific objectives:
1. The first objective is to showcase the variety of circular initiatives, including key stakeholders, innovative projects, publications, reports, articles, support mechanisms, and ongoing events in Wallonia, presented dynamically. Through specific searches using thematic filters, the Circular Ecosystem allows users to inform themselves, identify inspiring projects, potential partners, and any other information and opportunities related to circularity, encouraging them to fully engage in a circular approach.
2. The second objective, made possible by the Data4Wallonia database, is to provide an overview of the circular economy ecosystem in the Walloon Region. This involves data cross-referencing and analyses resulting in statistics focused on themes of interest. These statistics will be disseminated to the public and will help guide future regional policies in circular economy based on identified priorities.
Feel free to consult the Circular Ecosystem and get inspired by Walloon circular practices!
The concept of Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) was introduced by the European Commission. It is a strategic approach to economic development, allowing each region to identify and develop its own competitive advantages. The stakes are high: the S3 is an “enabling” condition giving access to funding from the Regional Development Fund (FEDER).
The Smart Specialization Strategy in Wallonia is a regional development strategy focused on identifying and supporting areas of specialization where Wallonia has a competitive advantage and can foster innovation and economic growth. Specific attention is given to innovative circular materials in different sectors. The production of innovative circular materials in the construction sector is developed through several project portfolios.
These 5 strategic areas of innovation have been identified in Wallonia:
- Circular materials (2 IIS: WIN4C and Valbowal)
- Innovations for strengthened health
- Innovations for agile and safe design and production methods
- Sustainable energy systems and housing
- Agri-food chains of the future and innovative environmental management
We chose to illustrate the WCEF stand => Pictures from:
Text lab (picture 1)
Supported by Wallonie Design, “TexLab” pursues a dual objective: to allow textile designers to prototype their projects and to promote a more circular and more local production circuit. With the support of Europe and Wallonia, TexLab supports creators in carrying out their project, from the first drafts to their final creation!
Groupe Comet (pictures 2 and 3)
A Belgian family-owned industrial group active in the trading of ferrous, non-ferrous and derivative metals. New technologies and their industrial capacity make them the leading company in Europe in terms of materials recycling (such as end-of-life vehicles, electrical waste, solar panels, wind turbine blades and electronic equipment and tyres). Moreover, their MULTIPICK robot allows the automated recognition of different metals and their robotic sorting at very high rates.
Wagralim (picture 4)
Walgralim is the Walloon agri-food competitiveness cluster. The project Walopea is linked to the optimization of the protein pea sector in Wallonia with 3 actors CEPICOP, CRAW and Wagralim.
You can spot in the promotional film :
Brunehaut operates from positive corporate values, anchored by responsible social contract. Their supplier commitment is to produce all Brunehaut beer using local organic barley. They also ensure equitable income for all local farmers who deliver their grain to their brewery.
At John Cockerill, the ambition is to combine the expertise gained from their long-standing tradition and the technologies born from their spirit of innovation to develop unique large-scale technical solutions. Solutions capable of supplementing the measures to be taken at the political, educational, economic and societal levels.
A Belgian family-owned industrial group active in the trading of ferrous, non-ferrous and derivative metals. New technologies and an industrial capacity make them a leading company in Europe in terms of materials recycling (such as End-of-life vehicles, waste electrical and electronic equipment and tyres).
The ‘’Groupe Terre’’ is associations group which participates in the creation of a democratic and united world. Their activities are part of production chains that respect natural resources, such as the recovery and valorization of used goods or agroecology..
Industrial manufacturer of sustainable products for the construction and renovation sector: manufacturer of hempcrete blocks. The company offers customers sustainable and efficient insulation solutions for all new build or renovation projects, both for the residential, commercial, and industrial buildings.
Joseffa features cute baby doll tops, comfortable shorts and trousers, and classy grandpa nightshirts in selected quality shirting fabrics. Their products are made from re-used or recycled material. A minimum of 95% of all used materials have a circular origin.
The Marichal Ketin foundry specializes in the design, manufacture and marketing of cast rolling mill rolls for rolling ferrous flat products.
The building Mundo Lab in Louvain-la-Neuve is made with reused materials. It is a rare and exemplary approach. The use of a recycled steel structure is the most impressive circular aspect of this project.
Retrival is a cooperative with a social and environmental purpose, active for more than 20 years. They have different activities: collection, sorting, recycling and selective deconstruction of buildings in order to recover reused construction materials and sell them. It is an important player in the reuse market.
Supported by Wallonie Design, the “TexLab” pursues a dual objective: to allow textile designers to prototype their projects and to promote a more circular and more local production circuit. With the support of Europe and Wallonia, TexLab supports creators in carrying out their project, from the first drafts to their final creation!
Valbiom, association of sustainable solutions in the biosourced economy, is partner for the Hemp4Circularity which is an Interreg NWE project that aims to implement an innovative, local and bio-sourced ecological fiber - long hemp fiber - in the textile value chain of North-West Europe, from growers to weavers/knitters, to fashion.
ASmartWorld‘s ambition is to transform the market for refurbished devices from a highly opaque to a transparent market. They offer second-hand products, fully tested and refurbished in a workshop in Wallonia. ASmartWorld is a Go Circular laureate, a call to projects which helps start-ups and businesses to develop a circular projet.
Gramitherm is an industrial manufacturer of sustainable products for the construction and renovation sector. The company offers customers sustainable and efficient insulation solutions: creation of insulating blocks/panels from grass cut near highways which is too polluted to be served as livestock feed.
Digital Wallonia is the embodiment of Wallonia's digital ambitions, offering reference content and providing services to those involved in the implementation of their digital strategy.
PEPITe transforms data into solutions. It develops advanced analytics to improve the durability, sustainability, and resilience of the manufacturing sector. Since its inception in 2002, PEPITe has continuously focused on the development of AI based software for industrial applications.
International reference in interior design and construction industry solutions. They produce innovative wood panels. Far more than just putting panels together, they approach their project pro-actively and look for high-quality, sustainable solutions.
Composil is a specialist in cleaning, refurbishing, and recycling of carpets and textile furnishings. Composil has become the leader in textile cleaning and re-use for professionals.
Two innovative and inspiring circular projects, close to Brussels have been selected:
Specialist in cleaning, refurbishing, and recycling of carpets and textile furnishings. Composil has become the leader in textile cleaning and re-use for professionals.
The building Mundo Lab in Louvain-la-Neuve is made with reused materials. It is a rare and exemplary approach. The use of a recycled steel structure is the most impressive circular aspect of this project.