In March 2023, the representatives of five Slovenian partners in the NovIKroG Project, which is co-financed by the Norway Grants in the amount of € 799,980, visited their Norwegian project partner, the Nord University which is based in the Norwegian city of Bodø. The counterparts from Norwegian scientific and research institutions, the public sector, non-governmental organizations and the economy presented a number of good practices and trends in the field of circular economy to the participants from the Municipality of Novo mesto, the Development Center Novo mesto, Komunala Novo mesto, the Faculty of Industrial Engineering Novo mesto and the Knof Institute.
The independent research and consulting organization Salt, which specializes in the sustainable development of coastal areas and has organized several sea and coastal clean-up campaigns over the years, emphasized that the circular economy must start at the source – by reducing waste (“reduce”), since the exponential accumulation of waste cannot be solved by volunteers. As an example of a good practice of circular economy, they highlighted the Econyl company, which deals with the production of nylon products processed from used fishing nets. The Nordland Research Institute which focuses on the transition to a society with fewer emissions, highlighted the necessity of institutionalizing urban mining ( “urban mining”), i.e. a process for processing waste back into mineral raw materials that can be reused. As the representative of the institute vividly described, the largest site of valuable substances is located in New York’s Manhattan, where the largest concentration of phones, batteries, chargers and other e-waste can be found. E-waste contains up to 100 times higher concentration of precious metals than natural ore, that is, the amount of elemental gold in waste mobile phones versus the amount of gold in the same mass of gold ore shows the ratio of 100:1.
Nord University’s partners focused on the introduction of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA − Life Cycle Assessment) in the evaluation of products and services that are purchased by individuals and ordered by companies and public institutions. LCA is a methodology used to analyze the environmental impacts of a product in all phases of its life cycle and is fundamental to answer the question: Which circular economy strategy brings the most benefits from the environmental point of view? All types of environmental impacts are included in the analysis, such as the consumption of resources, water and energy, CO2 emissions and other emissions of hazardous substances. Free applications for calculating LCA, such as openLCA, are already in use. The centre for circular public procurement which will be established as part of the NovIKroG project will also provide trainings and information on the use of LCA.
As part of the field trips, the project partners visited the largest industrial park in Norway, the Mo Industripark, which is organized in a way that promotes circularity among the various stakeholders in the park, and they also saw the production of the Celsa Nordic steel plant, which produces all its steel from recycled metal waste. The CELSA Group adopted the principles of the circular economy as its work philosophy and set the priority of renewing the life cycle of products. Steel is one of the most recycled materials in the world and can be recycled continuously without losing its properties. At CELSA Group, they recycle more than 8 million tons of scrap iron per year, which is more than 1,000 full football pitches, thereby reducing landfill waste and ensuring high quality steel products while conserving natural resources. In the city of Mo i Rana, the participants of the study visit also visited the Kunnskapsparken Helgeland business incubator, in which they presented the ways the participating companies most effectively support the circular economy.
The Bodø municipality proved to be a treasure trove of good practices in the field of the circular economy as they presented their current projects that demonstrate different ways circular economy can be implemented in various fields, from aviation and energy to road construction and agriculture. The awareness of the importance of a sustainable way of life is innovatively encouraged through a popular children’s game and even on the jerseys of the local football club’s football players. Recently, their municipal council adopted a public procurement strategy in which they emphasize an integrated approach to public procurement, which should not be considered a narrow and specialized area, but it is rather necessary to raise awareness that public procurement is about the projects of the entire municipality, having far-reaching social significance. Therefore, the representatives of the municipality are constantly holding a dialogue with potential suppliers in order to present them with the needs of the municipality and thus give them the opportunity to offer the best solutions both from the price point of view as well as from an environmental and social point of view. This approach has proved on several occasions that the most sustainable and circular solution is not necessarily the more expensive one. Implementing the cooperation of public and private sectors they are all accelerators of change that have positive influence on other providers and the society as a whole.
