Waste as a business opportunity: Andalusia will adopt a circular economy law

Waste as a business opportunity: Andalusia will adopt a circular economy law

A new chapter in the “green revolution” of local authorities

The official website of the Andalusia region (Spain) informed the public that a law on the circular economy is in preparation and is currently being debated in the regional parliament. Its adoption would aim to implement a double benefit for the population, both by encouraging entrepreneurship and employment and by strengthening environmental protection.

The bill under study was thus defended by the regional minister of the Interior and Public Administration, Elías Bendodo, during his visit to a Plastic Energy recycling plant in Alcalá de Guadairá. He used Plastic Energy as a concrete example of the type of company that would benefit most from the new law as its operations are leading the way in showing how to abandon the throwaway culture.

Andalusia is particularly threatened by global warming

Plastic Energy has two recycling plants in Andalusia – one in Alcalá de Guadairá and another in El Ejido – whose operations prevented more than 20 million kilos of plastic from ending up in the landfill or in the ocean since they started working.

The company’s factories transform used plastic waste at the end of its life into TACOil, a product for the manufacture of new clean and recycled plastics. They do this through a unique, patented process called thermal anaerobic conversion (TAC).

As Mr Bendodo explained, when this regulation is approved, Andalusia will progress towards becoming a Zero waste autonomous community, emphasizing that waste is also a business opportunity.

The minister also underlined the commitment of the Andalusian government to companies based in the region because, together with entrepreneurs and freelancers, “they are the best we have, and synonymous with the future and growth”.

To explain the support provided by the Andalusian government to businesseshe mentioned the reduction of bureaucratic obstacles, the three tax reductions or the promotion of public-private collaboration.

Decisions that, as he indicated, have yielded results because “never in Andalusia in recent decades has there been so much foreign investment, and this is happening because we facilitate the arrival of new investors.“

In figures, he recalled that for the first 3 quarters of 2021 these investments amounted to 664.5 million euros.