At the end of 2019, the Council of the Xunta de Galicia approved the Galician Circular Economy Strategy 2020-2030. With this document, the Xunta de Galicia wants to encourage a change in the next decade to replace our linear economic and productive system with a more efficient and rational one, based on recovering materials.

The Regional Ministry of Environment, Territory and Housing set the objective of providing Galicia with its own circular economy strategy, in order to develop the European Union's established framework, adapting it to its economic, social, natural, productive and energy peculiarities, bringing not only environmental benefits associated with proper waste management, soil, water, air and climate protection, but also providing the associated economic and social benefits.

A change in the economic model is necessary to enable the development of more efficient production and consumption processes that meet society's needs while maintaining the necessary balance with the level of available natural resources. In this respect, the circular economy is an attractive and viable alternative that companies, citizens and governments have already begun to explore.

The basic principles for the transition towards circular economy are the 3 Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) together with sustainable design strategies (SDS) in line with the objectives of the Galician Smart Specialisation Strategy 2021-2027 (RIS3). Multi-R concepts, such as rethink, redesign, reduce, reuse, repair, remanufacture, precycle, recycle, recover, redistribute, etc., should guide the way in which the circular economy is put into practice.

The key pillars in the Galician Circular Economy Strategy 2020-2030 are: eco-design, activities and service models, actions in the field of education and awareness raising, industrial sector, food production, urban planning and construction, water cycle management and waste management.

New line of support

Within the framework of the plan and with a view to improving the circular economy, the Xunta de Galicia, via the Galician Institute for Economic Promotion (Igape), created a new line of support for small and medium-sized companies (currently closed) with the aim of implementation of advanced solutions focused on developing the circular economy.

The program sought to promote projects, individual or collective, focused, among others, on the installation of systems for measuring environmental production parameters; intelligent hardware and software for the optimization of resources; or the acquisition of new machinery for the reuse or recycling of waste.

The subsidy was 35% of the eligible tangible and intangible investments for small companies, and 25% for medium-sized companies. The maximum subsidy amount was 200,000 € for collective projects and 75,000 € for individual projects.