Biofactories and water reuse: Aquona shares its best practices at the 1st Castilla y León Circular Bioeconomy Forum

The European Interreg ECOVAL project that will turn the Palencia wastewater treatment plant into a biofactory is one of the proposals that Aquona’s Director of Sustainable Development, Laura de Vega, shared at the 1st Circular Bioeconomy Forum of Castilla y León that took place in Soria on 27th and 28th October. 

29th October 2021- The circular economy has become a key paradigm for water to be an engine that accelerates the ecological transition and contributes to overcoming the demographic challenge.  This requires innovative proposals from administrations and companies such as Aquona, which manages “the sustainable water cycle in 130 municipalities in Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León with a low-carbon model and a commitment to digitalisation and technology to apply solutions based on the circular economy”, said Laura de Vega, the company’s Director of Sustainable Development.

This was highlighted by De Vega at the 1st Circular Bioeconomy Forum of Castilla y León, which was held in Soria on 27th and 28th October. Specifically, Aquona‘s Director of Sustainable Development participated in the workshop on best practices and innovation projects in circular bioeconomy together with Luis Francisco Martín, ReFood Commercial Technician in the central area of Spain of the Saria Group; Ángela Osma, General Secretary of the Spanish Association of Compostable Biodegradable Plastics; Jorge Miñón, Founding Partner of Agrae Solutions S.L. and María Pilar Bernal, President of the Spanish Composting Network and Research Professor at CEBAS-CSIC.

“The circular bioeconomy in the water cycle” was the name of Aquona’s presentation in which it shared the projects in this area that the company is promoting. One of the first lines of action discussed was the transformation of wastewater treatment plants into biofactories, a process in which the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Palencia that Aquona manages is currently involved. The plant’s thermal utilisation rate is already 100% and its energy self-sufficiency is 65%. In addition, “100% of the sludge produced in the treatment process is recovered and used in agriculture”, said Laura de Vega, adding that the “recovery of sand for use as compost” or as filler material in construction sites and ditches is also being tackled. As for water reuse, “part of the treated water is being used to irrigate gardens,” said De Vega. The protection of biodiversity and the involvement of the local community close the cycle in this transformation process.

In addition, the Palencia WWTP is one of the application scenarios of the European Interreg ECOVAL project. With a budget of 1.4 million euros, this initiative is based on the recovery of sludge and solid urban waste to obtain high added value volatile fats for the plastics, lubricants and agrochemical industries.  The Junta de Castilla y León, Palencia City Council and Aquona, together with other partners, promote the project coordinated by CETAQUA, the water technology centre of Agbar, the group to which Aquona belongs.

Circularity in the field of energy can be found in León, where Aguas de León, a mixed company owned by Aquona and the City Council of León, manages the municipal water service and is promoting the Life Nexus project that will generate micro-hydroelectric energy and promote its storage.

This firm commitment to innovation and the company’s circular economy has the 2030 Agenda and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as its roadmap, where alliances “between all stakeholders are essential to multiply the impact of actions”, says Laura de Vega. In the same way, the 2030 Agenda is the guide to achieve a green, sustainable and inclusive reconstruction after the pandemic in which the Next Generation Recovery Funds “are an opportunity to promote the circular economy, propose solutions to climate change and address the needs of digitalisation, supply, sanitation and purification that help us to unite the territory and put an end to depopulation”, she concluded.

ECOVAL joined CEMOWAS2 final webinar

On the occasion of CEMOWAS2 project’s final webinar, ECOVAL participated in a round table on the circular economy, recovery of organic waste and reuse of wastewater. On days 21st and 22nd of September, experts of this field shared actions taken, results obtained and knowledge acquired, as well as discuss new initiatives which are being carried out within the framework of the Interreg Sudoe Program.

On the first day of the webinar, from 10 am to 13 pm (CET), the partners of CEMOWAS2 presented their main results and their new platform to help decisions.

On the second day, at the same time, there were two round tables shared by research experts from Cerema (France), the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain), and the Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente (Portugal), as well as participants of ongoing Interreg Sudoe programs, such as ECOVAL. The project coordinator, Antón Taboada, Cetaqua, representing the consortium, was in charge of presenting ECOVAL, explaining how the project was born and the different activities that have been carried out since its beginning, in November 2020.

A simultaneous interpretation in French, Spanish and Portuguese was available during the two days.

The main conclusion reached was that “we all have to be involved”. Regarding waste management, it is essential to raise awareness and sensitize people, because without their participation it is impossible to have an effective waste management. In fact, this is the current challenge, it is necessary to adopt strategies to raise awareness and involve citizens in this issue, because there are objectives and goals to achieve that without their involvement are impossible to achieve. We all have an important role in waste management!

Biogroup and INSA Toulouse meet to plan joint tasks of ECOVAL

Within the framework of ECOVAL Sudoe, a meeting to discuss the impact and replicability of the project was held at the National Institute of Applied Sciences of Toulouse (Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse) between the 13th and the 16th of July. Almudena Hospido, in representation of BioGroup (CRETUS) met with peers Mathilde Besson and Etienne Paul, on behalf of INSA Toulouse and the Toulouse Biotechnology Institute.

The main object of discussion was the work planning for joint tasks of the ECOVAL project and the activities related to the comprehensive urban organic waste management model and measurement of its social and legal impact; and the replicability and transfer of the business model and its environmental and economic assessment.

The city model of Toulouse, where the meeting was held, was also a case of study for the attendees because of its implementation of the bio-waste collection since 2019. Chloé Maisanno, head of the “Observatoire Régional des Déchets et de l’Economie Circulaire en Occitanie – ORDECO” (Regional Observatory of Waste and Circular Economy in Occitania) showed her interest in the development of the project and participated at the last session on Friday morning.

The participants concluded that the meetings were a success in achieving their objectives and took the opportunity to exchange results and approaches taken in each of the laboratories. A follow-up reunion will take place in October.