Overview

The traditional open-ended economies were developed with no built-in tendency to recycle which was reflected by treating the environment as a waste reservoir. This resulted in extreme pressures to the ecosystems, long-term economic burdens for enterprises and industries, high pollution levels and non-sustainable development models. Circular Economy provides sustainable economic development alternatives by promoting an industrial economy that produces no waste and pollution and by offering opportunities to reinvent the economy making it more efficient and competitive, bringing benefits to businesses, industries and local communities. According to the EC, an important challenge for Circular Economy is how to channel private sector funding towards these opportunities and to provide incentives to policy-makers to mainstream the concept in regional and national development policies.

The challenge of the CIRCLE-IN project is to promote Circular Economy, the respective innovative processes and benefits from its application, to assist entrepreneurs and businesses to take advantage of the opportunities linked to the application of the concept and to mainstream Circular Economy in regional and national development policies. The main objective is the sustainable economic growth of the cross-border area through the promotion of Circular Economy and the implementation of pilot actions aiming at improving prospects for the future application of Circular Economy practices.

CIRCLE-IN is a unique project since it will not only promote Circular Economy and enable stakeholders to get benefited from it, but it will also promote pilot tools that will enable Circular Economy in the area, inform, train, mentor and network relevant stakeholders, introduce local entrepreneurs and enterprises to the concept of Circular Economy, raise awareness and create a sustainable and replicable outcome enhancing in the long-term entrepreneurship, economic prospects and better living conditions in the cross-border area of Greece-Italy.