The LOTU project was launched today at the offices of Oarsoaldea Garapen Agentzia, the district’s development agency, with a clear aim: for seven industrial SMEs in Oiartzun, Lezo and Errenteria each to develop their own circular economy project, and to do so as a group. The initiative is funded by the Basque Government’s Department of Industry, Energy Transition and Sustainability under the 2026 call for circular economy innovation grants (Line 3: Circular SMEs).
Oarsoaldea is promoting and coordinating the project as intermediary body, Ihobe is acting as collaborating entity, and we at NAIDER are providing technical assistance. LOTU builds on BIRATU, the 2024 study in which Oarsoaldea and NAIDER assessed the circular economy performance of 30 companies in the district. Five of the seven participating firms took part in that diagnosis.
The work is organised in two phases. Until December, the NAIDER team will visit each company, starting on 13 October, to carry out a circularity diagnosis using the CICLO tool and calculate its carbon footprint with Ihobe’s 3C calculator. On that basis, the team will draw up a roadmap of at least five actions with each company. Each company will then select its project from that roadmap, subject to approval by its management.
From January to May 2027, each company will develop its project with our support. Starting points include decarbonisation plans, life cycle assessment and ecodesign using recycled material, the recovery of injection moulding sprues, and reusable packaging. Alongside this, group sessions will allow the companies to share experience and explore synergies between firms.
The project’s name reflects this shared dimension: in Basque, lotu means to join or link. The companies do not form a single value chain, but they have links in common, such as materials, customers and challenges. That opens up the possibility of one company’s waste becoming another’s raw material. The participating firms are Mausa 3D (additive manufacturing), Saizarlan (thermoplastic injection moulding), Plásticos Clossa (technical injection moulding), Diker (micro-injection moulding), Fundiciones Aizpurua (bronze and brass casting), Ariona Pools (pool filters) and Labei Cosmetics (natural cosmetics).
The results will be presented in May 2027 at a public event open to all companies in the district.
