Baltic Research Programme, European Economic Area grant project “Promoting collaboration for sustainable and circular use of bioresources across agriculture, forestry, and aquaculture (CIRCLE)” implemented under the guidance of the Baltic Studies Centre. The project aims to develop an interdisciplinary perspective on the circular economy in the Baltic-Nordic region by integrating insights from sociology, economics, philosophy, political science, and environmental science. The study focuses on the beneficial reuse of biobased by-products (residues and waste) from primary production in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, either within the sector itself, in one of the three bio-economy sectors, or in other sectors of the economy.
Further use of available by-products is an essential principle of the circular economy. This principle means that instead of disposing of bio-based by-products or waste, companies and scientists alike – independently or in collaboration with others – look for ways to find further economic uses for these bio-resources. This approach achieves a number of objectives that are important for society and the environment: making more efficient use of bio-resources, creating new products that society needs and that are more environmentally friendly, reducing waste and reducing the use of virgin resources. These objectives are united by a focus on sustainable use of resources.
CIRCLE researchers focus on the business models of companies in the Baltic and Nordic regions that are already actively involved in the further use of various by-products. This research also analyses the broader context – the motives for sustainable use of bioresources and the factors that promote and hinder the development and wider use of bioresource circularity practices and collaborative actions towards it.
The CIRCLE team brings together scientists from different disciplines. The team of the lead partner, the Baltic Studies Centre (BSC), consists of sociologists specialising in rural development, knowledge transfer and innovation research. The other Latvian partner, the Institute of Agroresources and Economics (AREI), adds economists specialising in agricultural and environmental economics to the research team, assessing the socio-economic benefits and costs of innovations. Project partner in Norway – Rural and Regional Research Institute (RURALIS) – brings a political science perspective to the project, researchers from Estonian University of Life Sciences (EMU) bring knowledge on circular economy, sustainable bioresources and waste management, philosophers and sociologists from Vilnius University (VU) – knowledge on the societal values and ethical considerations that motivate care for nature. During the project, the research team also recruited research assistants from Ukraine, who came to Latvia as war refugees, thus bringing a Ukrainian perspective to the project and also carrying out a social mission.
Activities implemented, results achieved
The CIRCLE project has a wide range of mutually reinforcing activities. Firstly, the team explored theoretical approaches to understand how a circular bioeconomy works and what bioresource flows exist and are most commonly researched. This was supported by media analysis which showed that the circular economy is largely seen as having future potential. At the same time, complementary but distinct concepts such as “circularity” and “bioeconomy” are not always separated. Moreover, the media tend to view circularity as part of the bioeconomy or broader green trends. More often, it is only mentioned in passing or in discussions on sustainability. As a result, the understanding of circularity as a distinct component of the bioeconomy and economic activity as a whole may be hampered in the wider society. Secondly, 150 examples of circular bioresource use in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Norway, and later (extending the scope of the project) Ukraine were identified and collected, on the basis of which a typology of initiatives was developed (see attached figure – typology table). Thirdly, 12 case studies – specific companies (three in each country, except Ukraine) – were selected from a range of examples of circular bioresources applications for in-depth analysis – both sociological, analysing the conditions of their formation and underlying business models, and socio-economic, carrying out a socio-economic analysis of the costs and benefits of the technological solutions used. Fourth, consumer interviews were conducted on people’s general knowledge of the circular (bio)economy, its principles and how these principles are applied in their daily lives Fifth, several activities aimed at developing policy recommendations for the implementation of circular bioeconomy principles in the project partner countries. These included modelling future scenarios and the necessary steps to be taken to achieve what experts consider to be the most important 2030 objectives in this field. The policy recommendations were developed through an integrated analysis of information and policy planning documents from all project activities, as well as interviews with representatives of institutions involved in policy planning. In the final phase of the project, the research team is actively working on scientific and public publications on the key findings of the CIRCLE project, as well as organising international online seminars for interested parties on various topics related to the circular use of bioresources in agriculture, forestry and fisheries and their socio-economic impacts. The project will finish with a final conference in Riga in April 2024.
Experience of the project
The CIRCLE project faced a few challenges along the way, one related to the research team and the other to the attitudes of entrepreneurs, policy makers and other stakeholders towards participation in this type of research. The project generates new knowledge on the possible future of circularity in the bioeconomy and the role of society and consumers in fostering it.
Interdisciplinary cooperation
The CIRCLE project teamed scientists from different disciplines, following the idea that interdisciplinary collaboration enables the complementary use of different scientific perspectives and research methods, leading to a better understanding of complex or so far little recognised and researched phenomenons. Although interdisciplinary collaboration is generally seen as an important resource for generating new knowledge, the practicalities of organising it, especially at the start of a project, are complex. It took a lot of time to get a common understanding within the team of the basic concepts used in the project, such as bioresources, by-products, waste, business models, governance, consumers, collaborative arrangements, etc. For this purpose, at the beginning of the project, the team prepared a document proposing an explanation of the main concepts of the research. This allowed to go back at any stage of the implementation of the project and check how a certain concept had been defined by mutual agreement within the framework of this project.
Cooperation between researchers and entrepreneurs
The practical implementation of the project has shown once again that different stakeholders – entrepreneurs, policy makers, researchers and NGOs as public opinion representatives – do not see how research or cooperation with another partner can help them to solve their specific problems. While, on the one hand, the development of circularity requires specific evidence of the economic effectiveness of the underlying principles, on the other hand, the implementation of CIRCLE has shown that entrepreneurs are cautious, often refusing the general invitation to participate in research, but in particular with regard to the necessity to provide certain economic data in order to be able to estimate the benefits and costs of circular solutions.
The socio-economic analysis carried out by the CIRCLE team shows that the implementation of circular solutions can bring significant socio-economic benefits to society as a whole, but can also be financially disadvantageous at the company level. There also tends to be a gap between what scientists know about the highest value-added from further use of by-products, and the practical interest and ability of businesses to put these recommendations into practice. Often, entrepreneurs reject such solutions on pragmatic grounds – the availability of appropriate technology and labour, the need for additional investment and the ability to make a profit by maintaining their existing business model rather than changing or improving it.
Contribution of the project to circular bioeconomy policy making
Overall, the CIRCLE project contributes to the academic, public and political debate on sustainable use of bioresources both at national and European level. It offers to complement existing knowledge on intra- and cross-sectoral cooperation solutions in agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and sheds light on the role of different actors from market, government and civil society in the effective implementation and governance of the principles of the circular economy. The project has fostered new partnerships within and outside the consortium, interdisciplinary cooperation and inter-institutional learning in the Baltic and Nordic countries.
Dissemination of CIRCLE project results
Throughout the CIRCLE project, the project team has actively informed the public about the project activities and lessons learnt on the project website https://circle-eea.eu, social media accounts X (@CircleEEA) and LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/company/circle-collaboration-for-circular-use-of-bioresources/), as well as through various project activities and workshops and webinars. Several popular and academic publications have been written on the basis of this research.
The Baltic Research Programme is implemented with the support of EEA grants within the framework of programme “Research and Education”, which is implemented by the Ministry of Education and Science and the Latvian Council of Science. The total funding of the programme is 8,676,084 euros, of which the state budget co-financing is 15% or 1,301,413 euros and the EEA co-financing is 85% or 7,374,671 euros. In the Baltic research programme, 9 research projects and 5 small cooperation projects are implemented in Latvia.
The Baltic Research Programme’s project “Promoting collaboration for sustainable and circular use of bioresources across agriculture, forestry, and aquaculture (CIRCLE)” is implemented by the Baltic Studies Centre (Latvia), the Institute of Agroresources and Economics (Latvia), Rural and Regional Research Institute RURALIS (Norway), Estonian University of Life Sciences (Estonia) and Vilnius University (Lithuania).
More information on the project and its activities is available:
https://circle-eea.eu/ un https://ir.lv/2024/01/16/ka-mudinat-iedzivotajus-aktivak-iesaistities-atkritumu-skirosana/
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