Materials-Based Bioregional Circular Economy Project in Mallorca

Description

Daniel Christian Wahl:

"Since 2013, together with Forum for the Future, I have been involved in conceiving and implementing a long-range innovation project for the Belgian manufacturer of ecological cleaning products and detergents Ecover. The project uses the unique island conditions of Majorca as a test field to explore how a global company like Ecover can help to facilitate a shift towards localized production for localized consumption based on local material and energy resources and in collaboration with local business partners. In the process we studied the potential of the Majorcan bioeconomy to deliver — in a regenerative way — enough biological raw materials (from waste streams) to produce cleaning products for the local market.

The island is particularly dependent on imports of consumer products and food, due to the increased demand caused by 16 million tourist visits each year. While the long-term sustainability of such mass tourism is more than questionable, these visitor numbers provide the economic engine that can finance the transition towards local production, food and energy infrastructures.

Ecover and ‘Forum for the Future’ collaborated with an on-island network of multi- sector stakeholders to create a showcase that, if successful, could serve as a transferable example and a model for a region-focused shift towards a renewable energy and materials-based circular economy (see Glocal, 2015)." (https://hackernoon.com/the-resurgence-of-a-culture-of-makers-re-localizing-production-aaeab300c186)

Status

The project was stopped after Ecover merged with Method

More information

Via DCW:

• This excerpt from my book also speaks about my work on Mallorca and the glocal project:

https://medium.com/@designforsustainability/designing-for-positive-emergence-majorca-as-a-case-study-eb12629cc912

See also:

https://www.biobasedpress.eu/2014/05/glocal-project-ecovers-experiment-mallorca/

https://www.virgin.com/virgin-unite/business-innovation/experiments-entrepreneurs-the-circular-economy

http://www.circulator.eu/browse-the-cases/detail/glocal-by-ecover

https://www.rezatec.com/rezatec-collaborates-with-ecover-to-map-mallorca-bio-economy/

https://thefuturescentre.org/articles/2065/ecover-pilots-new-business-model-mallorca

https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/rsa-blogs/2018/11/from-global-to-glocal