Granollers Enters into Symbiosis with the Grid Granollers Platform
Municipal project to support companies towards a circular economy around the Grid Granollers platform. With dedicated personnel, a wide range of services is offered to companies, constituting a starting point for the active promotion of the circular economy through collaboration between companies at the local level.
Location
Granollers and Montmeló (Province of Barcelona)
Start Year
2017
Promoter
Granollers City Council
Participants
Companies from the industrial parks of Granollers and Montmeló;
Granollers City Council; external experts in industrial symbiosis and circular economy.
Project description
Granollers is a municipality in the province of Barcelona with 7 active industrial estates plus 1 under development; 273 hectares of industrial land with 650 business activities representing €4 billion in turnover and 12,000 workers.
In 2017, the economic development department of Granollers City Council launched a supramunicipal industrial symbiosis project in collaboration with Montmeló City Council and key local stakeholders (business associations, PIMEC). One of the project’s strengths has been that, from the outset, it has had trained technical staff dedicated exclusively to the project.
The range of services offered includes technical resource-efficiency audits, the identification and implementation of synergies between various actors, collective management events for surplus resources, among others.
In 2019, the GRID Granollers platform was created to encourage company participation and promote the exchange of surplus resources between them. From then on, the GRID platform became the backbone of the project, around which the project has continued to grow and consolidate.
Objective
Granollers Enters into Symbiosis is a municipal industrial symbiosis project promoted by Granollers City Council through its economic development department, with the aim of supporting local companies in the transition toward the circular economy through collaboration and the efficient use of resources.
The project is implemented with dedicated technical staff, reinforced by the participation of external experts, and offers a wide range of services to companies in the municipality’s different industrial parks. These services include technical resource-efficiency audits, the identification and implementation of synergies between different actors, collective management events for surplus resources, and the use of a digital platform for materials exchange.
One of the project’s key elements is Grid Granollers, a materials exchange platform that facilitates the recovery of industrial by-products and encourages new opportunities for collaboration among companies in the area.
Thanks to its structured, continuous and results-oriented approach, Granollers Enters into Symbiosis has established itself as a benchmark in promoting the circular economy at local level and has served as a model for other municipalities.
The project was recognised as the National Winner of the 2020 European Enterprise Promotion Awards, in the category of supporting the development of green markets and resource efficiency.
Project evolution
2017: Launch of Granollers Enters into Symbiosis. The industrial symbiosis project was launched with SÍMBIOSY, identifying business/improvement opportunities based on surplus resources (waste, water and energy), through company audits and working sessions with business owners to jointly address waste-related challenges that required collaboration in order to be implemented. 70 companies were audited and 17 synergies were worked on.
2019: GRID Granollers. One of the opportunities identified in the previous stage was the creation of a space to facilitate the exchange of materials and projects/surplus materials between companies. This is how GRID Granollers was born, and it is currently the backbone of the entire circular economy project in the municipality. It is a digital platform for exchanging materials, knowledge and industrial surplus materials. Since its creation, it has continued to grow in industrial resources, alliances, completed exchanges and proposals.
2021: GRID Community and GRID Circle. A further step toward consolidating collaboration between companies is moving from a network of companies to the GRID Community: an alliance of companies, organisations and experts working together to promote the circular economy and sustainability in the industrial estates of Granollers and its surrounding area. Being part of the GRID Community means joining a collaborative space where resources, knowledge and experiences are shared to generate a positive impact in the territory. Here, companies are visible; they are the protagonists and the ones leading the initiatives, with the technical and logistical support of the municipal service.
The GRID Circle is a private space for collaboration and debate aimed at those responsible for sustainability, quality and CSR in companies. The topics currently open are:
- Environmental sustainability (management of natural resources and reduction of environmental impact).
- Corporate governance.
- Social sustainability.
- Ideas, proposals and initiatives.
Main results
91 resources published on GRID, 45 partial or total uses, and 9 proposals for collaborative projects have been worked on:
- Decarbonisation of company fleets
- Removal of fibre cement from industrial estates
- Improvement of supply-chain efficiency (identification of more sustainable suppliers, demand aggregation). 12 participating companies
- Joint collection of organic waste. 10 production centres; 7,880 kg of organic waste and 7,320 kg of packaging
- Shared solar generation
- Collective transport to the Congost industrial estate
- Shared energy management
- Reuse of pallets: 158 pallets reused
- Shared water manager
Highlights
- European award for best project in Economic Promotion in 2020, supporting the development of green markets and resource efficiency.
- First industrial “Green Point” for the collective management of valuable industrial waste.
- ÁGORA SPACE: EVC LAB event, GRID Breakfasts,
- Annual “Grid Ideas” competition on challenges related to the recovery and use of company by-products
- Participation as a collaborating partner in the UPC Postgraduate Programme in Circular Economy
