That the Ecuadorian industrial sector generates better incomes and that they are based on sustainability was the premise with which the sectoral table, this Friday, November 10, to create a plan that unifies mechanisms of articulation of several sectors to strengthen the national strategy of production and consumption circular economy.

A circular economy is a model of production and consumption that involves sharing, renting, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as much as possible to create added value. In Ecuador, the Inclusive Circular Economy Law has been in force since 2021, the provisions of which were issued on August 16 through Executive Order 844.

Meanwhile, this first round table of the industrial sector on the circular economy was organized by Pronaca and the Italian non-governmental organization Acra, which sought to stimulate dialogue and discussion in the sector. Representatives of companies such as Árcade, Adelca, Novacero, Bimbo Ecuador and Corporación El Rosado among others and unions and provincial governments formed this sectoral table which was divided into groups dealing with different topics such as: incentives and financing, certifications , legal framework, coordination with those responsible for consumption and value chains.

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Daniel Heredia, technical coordinator of the Circular Economy project of the Acra Foundation, pointed out that with the work plan generated at this first meeting, the industrial sector will have the opportunity to be connected to the legal and regulatory context of the economy. circular that the country already has, also create alliances and synergies to promote this transition in a faster and more understandable way.

“The industries are generally already very involved in the subject, learning takes place precisely in this participative interaction where we have a horizontal space, there are no hierarchies, but the participants are seen as peers and this can enrich the procedures.” and generate new alliances and synergies, project initiation, technical support, training, etc.,” said Heredia.

He explained that the alliance with Pronaca for the organization of the table came about because the company participated in different areas of the National Permanent Forum of the Circular Economy, which has been held since 2019, and last June, during the meeting of this forum in Portoviejo, Pronaca proposed the creation of a special area for industrial sector.

This alliance between Acre and Pronac was sealed with the signing of a letter of commitment formalizing their inter-institutional technical cooperation for the development and implementation of the Industrial Sector Round Table for the Circular Economy. The document was signed by Heredia, representative of Acre, and Andrés Pérez, director of Institutional Relations in Pronaca.

Meanwhile, Fabio Scotto, technical coordinator of ACRA Ecuador, pointed out that the implementation of these operational spaces is one of the tactical actions of the National Circular Economy Forum in Ecuador for the application of this concept in the country and thus supports the transition to its application. “This table is the first of its kind in the sector. We worked with the academy and currently have four other provincial spaces, which were the basis for solving the possibility of treating it at the level of this technical sphere,” Scotto pointed out. He added that now, with the production sector, the goal is to analyze and discuss the main guidelines of public policy, as well as the opportunities and challenges of the industrial sectors for the application of circularity.

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For his part, Pérez pointed out that Pronaca is strengthening this model within the organization from 2021, adapting the principles of circularity to its processes, such as the production of commercial fertilizers from waste from its production operations, or also, the reuse and treatment of wastewater for operations irrigation and cleaning. “We firmly mark our purpose of effective action with the sustainability of our actions in order to take care of the present and future generations”, pointed out the director of Institutional Relations of Pronac.

Pérez shared an anecdote with members of the sector table when he recalled that in the field of business administration in the 1970s, they said that the most important thing for companies was to be profitable. “That was the main and almost priority and almost the only mission that companies and business organizations had… but in recent decades the way of thinking about companies has changed, companies cannot continue to think that their only mission and goal is to create economic results, because along the way many companies disappeared because they didn’t have a much broader vision,” said the CEO.

The round table is inclusive and open at the national level, so more actors who share this model will be able to join. At the next meeting, progress will be evaluated and the agreements adhered to by the participants.