Research and Development of Eco-Innovation in Italy

The ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) reports on experiences with ecological innovation. In this context, it emphasises the transition to a circular economy and mentions measures such as promoting the market for reused and repaired items, incentives for green procurement, industrial symbiosis and urban mining.

An example of Urban Mining is the recovery of valuable materials from electronic waste, with an ENEA patent for the manual dismantling of components being presented. A key project here is the ROMEO demonstration plant for hydrometallurgical metal recovery, which can process up to 150 kg of electronic circuit boards per day. The plant is designed to test the efficiency of the process and has advantages such as the treatment of entire PCBs and the recovery of materials in various degrees of purity.

The Industrial symbiosis is presented as a strategy for sustainable resource utilisation in which waste from one industry is used as a resource for other industries. This brings economic benefits through cost reductions and the creation of new business opportunities, environmental benefits through optimised resource use and social benefits through the creation of green jobs and a culture of sharing.

ENEA is active in networking at European level and operates platforms such as the Symbiosis Users Network in Italy. These activities promote exchange and cooperation between different industries to improve resource efficiency and sustainability.

You can download the slides here: