Mikkeli development Miksei Ltd takes partnership in a new EU-project. The CityLoops: Closing the loop for urban material flows -project aims to reduce urban materian flows by increasing material circulation.

Construction and demolition waste (CDW) – including soil – and organic waste (OW) are two of the most significant urban material flows with a remarkable environmental impact in European cities. Led by ICLEI, the EU-funded CityLoops project will develop a series of innovative procedures, approaches and open access and open source tools to embed circularity within planning and decision making processes for CDW and OW in cities. The ultimate goal is to drive the transition to a circular economy.

Høje-Taastrup and Roskilde (Denmark), Mikkeli (Finland), Apeldoorn (the Netherlands), Bodø (Norway), Porto (Portugal) and Seville (Spain) are the seven European cities involved in CityLoops. They will structure their pilots in three phases: inception and preparation phase, including a series of preparatory analysis and stakeholder mapping and participatory planning; demonstration phase, when the solutions will be implemented and tested, and replication phase, when the CityLoops measures will be upscaled at regional and European level. The solutions and actions go from instruments for predicting future excavated CDW and soil production, to awareness-raising campaigns, circularity decision making support tool, simulation of impacts 3D visualisation tools and procurement guidelines for OW products. A total of ten demonstration actions will be implemented, testing over 30 new tools and processes.

Alongside these, a sector-wide circularity assessment and an urban circularity assessment will be carried out in each of the cities. The former will help to optimise the demonstration activities, whereas the latter will enable cities to effectively integrate circularity into planning and decision making.

Another key aspect of CityLoops is circular procurement: the seven demonstrator cities will explore how public sector purchases can create markets for innovative circular economy products and solutions – from more circular design and increasing the use of recycled content in products, to ensuring reparability, reuse and appropriate recycling of products and materials, and promoting servicisation models. The active involvement of key stakeholders in every stage of the project will be also of crucial importance.

Project duration: 1.10.2019-30.9.2023

Cities involved

• Demonstrator cities: Høje-Taastrup and Roskilde (Denmark), Mikkeli (Finland), Apeldoorn (the Netherlands), Bodø (Norway), Porto (Portugal) and Seville (Spain)
• Replicators: Murcia and Vallès Occidental (Spain)

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 821033. The sole responsibility for any error or omissions lies with the editor. The content does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Commission. The European Commission is also not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.

There are similar and shared environmental challenges in Finland and Russia, and these challenges need to be solved together, in cross-border cooperation.

By: Elena Mochnikova, Alexander Ostroukhov, Mervi Rajahonka, Anitta Sihvonen and Saija Tillgren

Many of technologically advanced scientific inventions in biotechnology and circular economy cannot find their users, and although many companies are interested in internationalization, they have limited knowledge or resources to proceed. Therefore, there is still a lot to do.

The need for intensive and concrete cooperation in circular economy and biotechnology is recognized in both Finland and Russia. Business in Biotechnology and Circular Economy (BBC1) project aims to increase sustainable economic growth in the Finnish-Russian cross-border region. The main target groups are Finnish and Russian biotechnology and circular economy companies operating in the cross-border area, and university students and researchers. The project aims to increase the awareness and competences on entrepreneurship and commercialization of scientific research results, and to improve the skills and competitiveness of companies.

Strong consortium and tested methods

The consortium behind the project includes two strategic alliances, namely alliances of universities ITMO (St. Petersburg, Russia) and Xamk (Mikkeli, Finland) and business development organizations Miksei (Mikkeli, Finland) and AsEP (St. Petersburg, Russia). These alliances work during the course of the project hand in hand. The universities will provide training for companies to improve their competences to operate in international markets, and for students and researchers to accelerate innovations to turn into spinoffs and startups. The business development organizations will help companies in their efforts further.

The project uses verified methods for boosting innovation activities in the universities and research institutes. In December 2019, an open innovation competition for students and researchers was launched to find new ideas in biotechnology and circular economy. Over 80 ideas were received for the competition, mainly from ITMO university students and researchers. The best ideas will be selected into an accelerator program. Due to the global COVID-19 crisis, the biggest challenge of this year will be to transform all activities into an online form.

The project offers startups and established companies practical support in their efforts towards viable growth and internationalization. Training programs and matchmaking events for Finnish and Russian companies will be arranged to improve their competences for international markets. Additionally, EcoSairila – a development and cooperation platform established by the City of Mikkeli – will offer a base to cooperate for both researchers and businesses. With EcoSairila, Mikkeli aims to become a top of the world center in wastewater treatment, waste management, recycling and in biogas production. In the future, also a digital platform of EcoSairila will be developed, offering an open access showcase for new circular economy solutions.

BBC1 Project in Brief

Business in Biotechnology and Circular Economy (BBC1) project is administered by Mikkeli Development Miksei Ltd., and partnered by South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (Xamk), Small Business Center, Finland, and ITMO University and the Association for Environmental Partnership (AsEP), Russia. The project is funded by the European Union, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Finland. The main source of funding is ENI CBC Programme South East Finland – Russia 2014–2020. The implementation period of the project is 1.9.2019 – 28.2.2022. 

About writers:

Mochnikova works as an ENI CBC Project Coordinator at South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, Ostroukhov works as a Project administrator at ITMO University, St. Petersburg, Russia, Rajahonka works as a RDI Specialist at South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, Sihvonen works as a Manager of Funding at Mikkeli Development Miksei Ltd and Tillgren works as a Project Manager at Mikkeli Development Miksei Ltd.

CityLoops is a new EU-funded project focusing on organic, and construction and demolition waste

Høje-Taastrup and Roskilde (Denmark), Mikkeli (Finland), Apeldoorn (the Netherlands), Bodø (Norway), Porto (Portugal) and Seville (Spain) are the seven European cities that will pilot a series of demonstration actions on construction and demolition waste (CDW) and organic waste (OW) with the aim of achieving material circularity. Over 30 new tools and processes will be tested as part of CityLoops, an EU-funded project with 28 partners involved, that has just kicked-off and will run until September 2023.

– Construction and demolition waste (CDW) – including soil – and organic waste (OW) are two of the most significant urban material flows with a remarkable environmental impact in European cities. The EU-funded CityLoops project will develop a series of innovative procedures, approaches and open access and open source tools to embed circularity within planning and decision-making processes for CDW and OW in cities. The ultimate goal is to drive the transition to a circular economy.

The seven pilot cities – all of them small- to medium-sized ones – will structure their pilots in three phases: inception and preparation phase, including a series of preparatory analysis and stakeholder mapping and participatory planning; demonstration phase, when the solutions will be implemented and tested, and replication phase, when the CityLoops measures will be upscaled at regional and European level. The solutions and actions go from instruments for predicting future excavated CDW and soil production, to awareness-raising campaigns, circularity decision-making support tools, simulation of impacts 3D visualisation tools and procurement guidelines for OW products. A total of ten demonstration actions will be implemented, testing over 30 new tools and processes.

Alongside these, a sector-wide circularity assessment and an urban circularity assessment will be carried out in each of the cities. The former will help to optimise the demonstration activities, whereas the latter will enable cities to effectively integrate circularity into planning and decision making.

Another key aspect of CityLoops is circular procurement: the seven demonstrator cities will explore how public sector purchases can create markets for innovative circular economy products and solutions – from more circular design and increasing the use of recycled content in products, to ensuring reparability, reuse and appropriate recycling of products and materials, and promoting servicisation models. The active involvement of key stakeholders in every stage of the project will be also of crucial importance.

“CityLoops aims to provide a tested blueprint for promoting circularity which other local and regional governments across Europe can follow,” said Simon Clement, coordinator at ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, a city-network responsible for leading the CityLoops project.

Circular Cities Declaration

Political representatives from the demonstrator CityLoops cities, as well as from Vallès Occidental (Spain) – one of the ‘followers’ of the project together with Murcia (Spain) – gathered last week to sign a ‘Circular Cities Declaration’. Through their signatures, they commit to enhancing the circular economy through policy and regulatory levers; to initiating a series of innovative pilot and demonstration activities to help identify the most promising solutions; to sharing knowledge with peers, and to building a wider circular cities coalition with key stakeholders and initiatives across Europe.

Background information on CDW and OW

CDW is, in volume terms, the most significant waste fraction in Europe. According to Eurostat (2015), in 2012 construction and demolition activities were responsible for 32% of all waste generated in the EEA, with a further 27% from mining and quarrying. Resource consumption for buildings and infrastructure in Europe is highly material intensive, consuming between 1.2 and 1.8 billion tonnes of materials per annum in Europe (Ecorys, 2014). The construction sector is also economically important, contributing on average 5–13% of the total (gross) value added (Eurostat, 2015).

Regarding OW, according to the European Commission the European Union produces approximately 130 Mt of organic waste per year, a number that is projected to have increased by 10% by 2020. Organic waste consists of organic fractions of municipal solid waste (OMSW) as well as organic waste from commercial sources and public spaces. Overall, 68% of organic waste produced annually in the EU consists of food waste originating from food manufacturing and packaging processes (39%), household scraps (42%), and restaurants/grocery stores (19%).

For more information contact us:

Mrs. Anitta Sihvonen
Mikkeli development Miksei Ltd