Waste cluster

The Waste Cluster is a joint initiative of the Waste Agency of Catalonia and ACCIÓ with the aim of bringing together companies and environmental agents from the industry’s entire value chain. This involves the whole process; from the origin of waste through its management (collection, classification, treatment, and recovery) to the end of its life cycle or the end customer of the secondary raw material.

Based on this vision of the value chain, the waste industry in Catalonia is made up of 693 companies with a turnover of 10 billion euros and some 41,000 workers. Most of these companies, i.e. 86%, are waste operators; but these figures also include producers of capital goods and treatment technologies, construction of infrastructure and facilities, consulting, engineering as well as control and analysis.

In an industry that is constantly changing and facing new challenges, where a circular economy is key, new strategic challenges for the future are emerging. The aim of the cluster is to boost all key aspects of the business (improving competitiveness, R&D projects, opening new markets, etc.) through the joint work of the entire value chain by creating a cluster initiative in Catalonia which is tantamount to those developed internationally.