On Tuesday 12 December, the Challenge of the ReBionergia project was held, organised by the Bioenergy Cluster of Catalonia and Leather Cluster Barcelona.

The Bioenergy Cluster of Catalonia (CBC) brings together the bioenergy business sector and aims to promote the sustainable use of energy in Catalonia, working towards the country’s transformation into a competitive and circular economic model.

Leather Cluster Barcelona maintains its commitment to moving towards Zero Waste, with responsibility towards society and the planet, and in line with the standards of excellence of its members and of their most prestigious clients.

The purpose of the ReBionergia project is to find an outlet for terminal waste, that is, waste which, once the best available techniques have been applied, still has no alternative other than landfill, as is the case with leather trimmings or sludge from treatment plants.

In addition to the Bioenergy Cluster of Catalonia and Leather Cluster Barcelona, the ReBioenergia project involves Igualadina de Depuració i Recuperació SL (IDR) and A3 Leather Innovation Center of the Igualada University Campus – UdL (Universitat de Lleida).

This project has received the support of ACCIÓ, the public agency for the competitiveness of Catalan companies attached to the Ministry of Business and Labour of the Generalitat de Catalunya, within the framework of the grants for initiatives to strengthen the competitiveness of the members of the Catalunya Clústers Programme relating, among other things, to the implementation of strategic changes, innovations and new trends in the cluster or in the sector’s companies.

This technological and functional challenge took place at the headquarters of the Catalan technology centre Eurecat, in Manresa.

The aim of the challenge was to identify, among the members of the Bioenergy Cluster of Catalonia (CBC), the technologies and their applicability for treating the heterogeneous-homogeneous waste streams that will be characterised within the ReBionergia project and to propose lines of work to provide solutions to the challenges.

Leather Cluster Barcelona is a competitive cooperation environment for promoting cross-cutting, transformative strategic projects with the aim of driving forward the ecosystem of the Catalan leather sector and its value chain within the framework of Shared Value policies. The cluster is an accredited body within the Catalonia Clusters programme and has the support of Acció.