The European project Agro2Circular has begun with dissemination activities that will bring its values closer to society. The first stage of these actions will be Alhama de Murcia, with the participation of the town hall, which will take the project to the market on Tuesdays for the next few months.
A2C in the market of Alhama de Murcia
Thanks to the collaboration of the town hall, the project will be able to collect the surplus of fruit and vegetables from the stalls of the weekly market in Alhama, which is held every Tuesday. Said surplus will be dedicated to research into the recycling of agri-food waste in order to find ways of turning it into new valuable products, giving waste a new life.
The mayor of Alhama, Mariola Guevara, and the mayor of commerce, Leticia Pareja, attended this first dissemination action. The Fundación Primafrío from Alhama will collaborate in the collection of the waste that is deposited in the containers installed for this purpose. These will go to the CTNC where they will be processed for revaluation. CETEC’s role, as coordinator of the project, will be to investigate and treat the plastic waste obtained from organic remains, to give this waste a second use. As collaborators of the project, Eversia and Kveloce also joined their efforts in the dissemination activities.
This has been the first market in the Region where Agro2circular has been launched, and work is underway to add new points with which to demonstrate the benefit of this activity when it comes to informing and raising awareness in society.
Agro2Circular, from agricultural waste to bioplastics
A2C is a European Union project that promotes the reuse of both fruit and vegetable agri-food waste and multilayer plastics associated with them. This is done through innovative valorization routes that lead to high extraction yields, and bioactives with the purity and stability necessary to be used in the production of new foods, cosmetics, and the formulation of nutraceuticals.
The Agro2circular Project aims to demonstrate the viability of the circular economy in the most representative waste of the agri-food sector in the Region of Murcia, that is, in the remains of fruit and vegetables, and in multilayer plastics.
The initiative will be supported by a digital data integration system (DIS), which will ensure traceability throughout the process and act as a decision-making support tool. Likewise, recognized certifying entities will contribute to the validation of the project.
The implementation of the circular model promoted by A2C will suppose the adoption of a systemic approach that will imply the consideration of the different environmental, social, political and economic dimensions.
