Material management is recognized by European policymakers as a mean of decreasing impacts of waste and reducing raw material inputs to the economy (Directive 2008/98/EC). Many recycling initiatives reached a plateau of using existing product cycles and recovery technology. Still, there are key waste streams and materials that need to be further addressed due to the difficulty (cost and complexity) of recycling them, their large volume and their carbon footprint.
This challenge is stressed in the Balkan Med region, where the economic crisis is still present, controlling costs is a key target, and new growth options for the regional economies and societies are sought after. For example, the added value from efficient waste management in the region, such as material and energy cost savings, is currently not always realized because stakeholders do not possess a clear view of opportunities (e.g. industrial symbiosis schemes) and indirect gains (e.g. climate mitigation potential).
a set of new algorithms will provide core intelligence for
technical and financial matching of supply and demand
To that end, the overall objective for SWAN is the creation of an innovative Balkan Med ecosystem that will develop locally and manage transnationally value chains for solid waste. It will be comprised of two parts (which sum up the project’s main outputs): a) a digital ecosystem of four IT platforms (one for each country represented in the consortium), which will separately map and collectively match solid waste sources and flows in the region. A set of new algorithms will provide core intelligence for technical and financial matching of supply and demand, incorporating viable business models; b) an industrial ecosystem of industries in the Balkans that produce and use solid waste. They will use the SWAN digital ecosystem for exploiting new recycling opportunities that may not be economically viable locally but make financial and social sense transnationally.