The European project Incircle, which started in November 2019 and will be completed in June 2022, funded by the European program Interreg MED (https://incircle.interreg-med.eu), in which 14 partners from five different Mediterranean countries participate, offers an opportunity to six Mediterranean territories to become a replicating territory of the incircle project.
Incircle will assist replicating territories to increase the circularity and sustainability of their tourism to support the relaunch of the sector in a post-covid 19 time.
by Trust Economics-https://trusteconomics.eu
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The tourism industry for many Mediterranean countries is a critical parameter. At the same time, however, the increasing trend of the number of tourists creates serious malfunctions such as over-production of waste to lack of water. The limited natural resources (e.g., water), the increased demand for energy consumption (e.g., air conditioning) in these tourist areas create strong problems.
The Incircle Project
The Incircle project seeks to provide solutions to all these problems through the applied circular economy at the local level. The Incircle project is already being implemented in five Mediterranean cities such as Rethymno (island of Crete-Greece), Larnaca (Cyprus), Himara (Albania), Gozo (Malta) and Palma (Spain).
Local municipalities are installing solar charging stations for electric vehicles, cycling tourist routes, separating waste and recyclable garbage at their source, collecting, and storing rainwater and providing it to streets and squares, demonstrating the solutions proposed by the Incircle is based on renewal and cyclical resource economy.
In this way, tourist areas with limited natural resources can sustainably support the modern needs of tourists and local communities, while avoiding the over-consumption and depletion of their natural and energy resources.
The main pillars of the Incircle project are sustainable mobility, energy savings using RES, economy, and reuse of water resources, while achieving the reduction and recycling of waste. More specifically:
The Cycling Economy and What has been achieved so far
• Rethymno (island of Crete-Greece)
The Municipality of the city has:
– install in municipal parking solar charging stations for electric vehicles and bicycles that powered by photovoltaic panels
– supply the city with 153 small wooden waste bins and placed them in 51 points of the municipality to sort the common waste, recyclable, and plastic at source.
– Create projects for the collection, storage, and utilization of rainwater.
• Larnaca (Cyprus)
The Municipality of the city has:
– It has created a network of cycling routes (Cycle Larnaca) that crosses the entire city passing through, among others, archeological sites and museums, coastal fronts, and cultural centers.
– Bicycles are available to the public for use by tourists and there is a digital guide for cyclists.
• Island of Gozo (Malta)
The Municipality of Gozo in the village of Cerkez has:
– In the village of Cerkez on the island of Gozo in Malta, an underground tank of 90,000 cubic meters has been created for the collection and storage of rainwater that will be provided for irrigation of crops and in a municipal park.
• Himara (Albania)
The Municipality of the city has formed two bicycle routes that connect the city with two popular tourist destinations. The length of these routes reaches 3.5 kilometers.
• Palma (Spain)
The City Council has installed fifteen drinking water supply facilities in the most touristic parts of the city, where tourists will be able to fill reusable bottles, which will be supplied by hotels and tourist service points. The planning includes the disposal of 10000 bottles of water.
The circular economy enables those who apply it to transfer resources from one sector to another, while exhausting their usefulness. At the same time, its “pushes” its users to achieve a collective change in their culture and way of life, aiming to combat the waste of natural resources that harm the environment.
