Advancing SDGs and Circular Economy in Alacant's industry

How can companies address the SDGs and the Circular Economy?

The Cluster of Innovative Companies in the Toy Valley (CEIV) is an entity that works for sustainable economic development in the territory, through innovation and cooperation. Among the partner companies we can find ACTIU, Famosa, or Acteco.

The challenge we seek to address is to promote actions in the field of sustainability in companies in the Toy Valley. The aim is to find out which actions are already being carried out and in which SDGs, and to disseminate the results. This way, we can communicate the progress, inspire others, and identify other actions that can be carried out to continue improving.

Sustainable Development Goals and Circular Economy in the Toy Valley

Together with CEIV, SEN Innova, and professionals such as Alejandro Fernández and David Monllor, a guide was developed with the aim of identifying the priority SDGs in the territory, knowing their state of progress, and promoting good practices and strategies to continue advancing in them. The layout and visual design of the guide is by ABISAL Design.

As part of the research process, surveys were carried out with different companies in the region. Thanks to these surveys, it was possible to identify the degree of knowledge and importance of the SDGs, as well as which SDGs they most identified with.

A benchmark case study was also carried out with CEIV partner companies: ACTIU, ERUM, Suavinex. In this way, good practices were identified in terms of sustainability that are already occurring in the territory, and which may be inspirational.

In addition, research was carried out on other companies in the area, what actions they were carrying out in terms of sustainability and how they communicated sustainability.

An interactive guide to advance SDGs and Circular Economy

The final product was designed to be an interactive digital guide. This way, it is always accessible from the web and does not need to be printed, and it is easy to read through different tabs, visual resources and examples. The guide is available on the CEIV website.

This handbook starts with an introduction about the SDGs, what they are and why they exist. It then shows the data obtained from the research, identifying which are the priority SDGs in the Toy Valley. After explaining the case studies (ACTIU, ERUM and Suavinex), the guide focuses on some specific SDGs to propose strategies to achieve them. At this point, the relationship between SDGs and Circular Economy is identified.

Finally, recommendations are given on how to communicate sustainability. Here, the usefulness of communicating sustainability actions within the framework of the SDGs is highlighted, as it is a common framework for many people and organisations. It also emphasises the impact of not only moving towards sustainability, but also communicating it and inspiring others.

The guide was presented in ACTECO‘s headquarters on the 21st of October of 2021.