Valencia – 05.05.20. On 13th May at 17:00 hrs. the sixth port logistics webinar will be held, organised by the Fundación Valenciaport, in which the possibilities of the circular economy in ports will be analysed by Jorge Lara, a member of the innovation and cluster development team of the Fundación Valenciaport.

The economic activity necessary for today’s society to have access to goods and services presents a balance in most cases negative in terms of their interaction with the environment, with the shortage of raw materials being one of the key elements to be resolved.

The concept of a circular economy offers part of the solution to these problems by committing to a sustainable model based on redefining growth, supported by strategies for valuing products, materials and resources for as long as possible, thus reducing the generation of waste. In a broader definition, the circular economy suggests a scheme of collaboration between sectors to minimise the impact of their economic activity through the sharing of assets, commitment to rental services, repair, recovery, second-hand markets, patterns of industrial symbiosis, etc., not focusing solely on waste.

During the webinar, the results obtained to date in the European LOOP-Ports project will be briefly presented, addressing a definition of the concept of circular economy that can be adjusted to the port logistics sector; a brief description of the current situation in the European port environment, through the use of a simplified scheme that helps to understand in which areas action could be taken in a port; and an analysis of the levers of change that could accelerate the transition to greater circularity of ports, including the legislative applied to the specific sector. Furthermore, from a practical point of view, a series of circular economy practices that are being developed in other European Union ports and which could be of interest to the Valencia port cluster will be highlighted.

Subsequently, the final results of the circular economy workshop held in December last year will be presented, which had 59 participants from 39 companies in the sector and which will offer clues as to what the strategy should be in this regard for the coming years. Finally, business opportunities for the port of Valencia in this area will be discussed.

It should be remembered that this activity is part of the cycle of free webinars on the main trends in the port logistics cluster that the Valenciaport Foundation has launched with the aim of offering the sector a fun option for training and updating during the period of confinement resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.