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Portuguese waste operators will soon be able to trade non-toxic
waste through an electronic marketplace - giving companies
the chance to benefit from the reuse of waste.
A law passed by the Portuguese government in September 2009
paved the way for an electronic marketplace to trade waste.
The intention is to stimulate the exchange of diverse types
of waste. By providing companies with the opportunity to both
sell and purchase reusable waste, this will enable users to
maximise the value of their waste.
According to the country’s environmental ministry, the electronic
platform will “rationalise the allocation of resources, reduce
costs and the demand for raw materials and potentially promote
industrial symbioses”. As a result, the ministry believes
that the system will become self-financing and compatible
with integrated waste management models.
A consortium of Portuguese organisations will maintain the
electronic platform and will invite companies to join on a
voluntary basis. “It is hard to estimate the potential value
of the market, because it is not clear which categories of
product will eventually be traded this way,” says Jorge Araújo,
executive director of Centro para a Valorização de Residuos
(CVR)
- a non-profit private research centre focusing on treatment
and recycling processes for industrial wastes.
Online waste-exchange services are already operating in other
parts of Europe. For example, through the support of Cheltenham
Borough Council, the UK environmental business services provider
Green Buying Ltd has been able to launch Scrapshop.co.uk.
The aim of the website is to discourage public and private
bodies from throwing their waste into landfill sites - instead,
the hope is that such waste will be traded with organisations
that can use it. This free service also enables organisations
looking for particular waste materials to advertise their
need. Thanks to the Scrapshop.co.uk website, Cheltenham
Borough Council and Green Buying Ltd hope to divert 3,000
tonnes of waste from landfills by 2012.
A similar international online waste stock exchange has
been operating in Italy since 2001. Developed and managed
by Garwer Srl - and supported by Bologna Eco-Sustainable Energetic
Systems Division of the Italian National Agency for New Technologies,
Energy and the Environment (ENEA) - the wastexchange.co.uk
website was designed as an online waste exchange network.
Garwer believes that those businesses which use the website
can reduce disposal costs, enjoy lower purchasing costs and
create a positive image for their organisation by being seen
to redistribute resources and materials to where they are
needed.
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