Moving towards a circular economy that closes the materials cycle is the goal of the SYMSITES project, in which they collaborate Fovasa Environment y Facsa. Thanks to this project, four Ecosites have been created in Spain, Denmark, Austria, and Greece, where innovative technologies are planned to maximize resource recovery from waste generated in both urban and municipal areas, fostering symbiosis between these two environments. In Spain, circularity will be promoted in the Alcoy area (Valencian Community) by jointly processing the waste generated in the municipalities of the region.
In this context, Fovasa y Facsa They have begun collaborating with the Muro de Alcoy City Council on the collection of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste, corresponding to the brown bin, at its municipal schools. The first meeting, held last Friday, October 20, also included the participation of SERUNION catering, responsible for the food service at the municipal schools, as well as representatives from the schools themselves.
Fovasa, the company responsible for municipal solid waste collection in the municipality, will be in charge of installing and maintaining the collection points at the El Bracal and Montcabrer primary schools. Facsa will treat the collected waste along with the urban and industrial wastewater from the Alcoy wastewater treatment plant, where the pilot plant will be located. The project also has the support of EPSAR.
SYMSITES aims to recover water, energy, and value-added products such as biofertilizers and bioplastics. Of particular note is the search for new sustainable energy sources, such as hydrogen, through the transformation and enrichment of the biogas generated by the technologies to be implemented.
In addition, the generation of high-quality water through a combination of adsorbents obtained from waste and improved membrane technologies for wastewater filtration are key to the innovation in this project. This will be accompanied by the establishment of new social awareness programs and guidelines, as well as the creation of interactive digital platforms for citizens to encourage urban-industrial symbiosis in the study areas.
The project has been funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe program, under agreement number 101058426, and is entitled “Industrial Urban symbiosis and its social, economic and environmental impact on different European regions” (SYMSITES). The total funding for the project is €12,404,455.
