Circular Economy

Circular Economy is the key to achieve greater resource productivity in the company aiming to reduce, reuse and recycle waste, as well as cut emissions, consumptions and foster innovation.

In its 2020 Sustainability Master Plan, ACCIONA has established the Promotion of the Circular Economy as one of its strategic objectives. The company is working on the development of an ambitious Waste Management Plan for the promotion of the Circular Economy.

Waste Management

The Plan covers the main types of waste generated at ACCIONA, and aims to establish a general strategy in the waste policy to promote a circular economy model within the organisation, to be implemented progressively to 2020. Objectives and methods are set in order to produce less waste in the company and reincorporate into the production chain the materials (and/or energy) contained therein, applying the circular economy criteria.  In this approach, certain stages in the waste management hierarchy take on a leading role: prevention in generation, preparation for reuse, recycling and other kinds of waste recovery (including energy).

Life cycle analysis

ACCIONA uses in numerous projects the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) as a methodology that identifies and evaluates the environmental impacts of a product or service (as regards consumption of resources: materials, water, energy, waste generation, etc.) throughout all the stages of its existence (extraction, production, distribution, use and disposal).In this way, it helps in the evaluation of different sustainable alternatives for project solutions.

By using this methodology, it is possible to verify a product or service under an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).  

Some examples in this  matter are:

• EPD in the road N-340 of Elche project, being the first infrastructure of this kind that obtains an Environmental Product Declaration at a global level.
• An EPD for the railway viaduct built on the North-North-east stretch of the Otero de Bodas-Cernadilla High-Speed Rail line, making ACCIONA the first private Company in the world to obtain an EPD for a civil works infrastructure.
• LCA of   the 750 ml Viña Mayor Crianza wine bottle..
• LCA of a extrusion process and a new material for tiles production.
• LCA of a isolation panel with Phase Change Materials (PCM’S).
• LCA for four types of purification stations.
• Comparative LCA of solutions in composite materials against concrete sheet piling.
• LCA of a biological coating to prevent corrosion of steel structures by microbial action.
• LCA of bioremediation technology facing traditional technologies for the treatment of contaminated soil.
• LCA of composite waterproofing plates in tunnels and its comparative versus the traditional solution of concrete lining.
• Development of  a methodology and tool of evaluation of the sustainability of roads taking into consideration the environmental impacts from an LCA perspective, withtin the framework of the European project LCE4ROADS.