Taranto Circolare: launch event

On Tuesday, December 20, starting at 3:30 p.m. at the Salone degli Specchi of the Taranto City Hall, the launch event of the Taranto Circolare project was held. The event aimed to present the status of the project’s work and to tell stakeholders and the local community about the potential of Taranto Circular for the territory, its companies and organizations. Specifically, the project is creating a digital platform whose features will be used to promote the circular economy on Taranto, with a focus on the Old Town.


Speaking during the first part of the event were Fabrizio Manzulli and Gianni Azzaro, deputy mayor and councillor for Heritage and Sports of the City of Taranto, respectively, who supported the organization of the event and the project. With their greetings, they stressed the importance of believing in and supporting initiatives that support the development of circular economy on Taranto, an area full of potential.


Afterwards, Francesco Fumarola and Francesco Castellano, Co-founders of Tondo, the organization that conceived the project, took the floor explaining the most important phases of its development and implementation, giving an overview of the timeline on future steps. In addition, the launch event was an opportunity to publicly show the first part of the Taranto Circolare platform and the crowdfunding campaign that has been launched to support the first phase of the project, related to the collection and analysis of data to measure the level of circularity in the city, and the third phase, that of designing new circular projects.


Continuing, Ilaria Giannoccaro, Full Professor of the Department of Mechanics Mathematical Management at the Polytechnic University of Bari , spoke to explain in detail the phase of the project related to the collection, analysis and measurement of material and energy data in order to develop a methodology to analyze the circularity of the city. The professor also illustrated the case from which this project takes its inspiration, namely the Rotterdam Circulair platform, which has become a reference point on circularity locally and internationally over the years.


Also speaking on the first phase of the project was Isabella Pisano, Professor in the Department of Biosciences, Biotechnology and Biopharmaceutics at the University of Bari, who illustrated how the use of technologies could help develop and implement new projects that are circular and sustainable and, she also presented some of the initiatives that the University has supported. Both universities are partners in this project.


Afterwards, two Taranto-based companies that have adopted the principles of circular economy in their businesses spoke, thus showing the benefits it would bring if all new projects that were born went in this direction. The first came from the idea of Francesco Marangione, a Taranto mussel farmer, to create sustainable fishing creels using hemp and no longer plastic. The second reality involved was Studio Nasse Animation, for which the CEO, Nicola Sammarco, spoke about how their cartoon production company is now producing an animated series whose sets are built from waste materials and have as a future goal, in addition, to creating merchandising that is entirely sustainable.


Finally, a concluding round table discussion that included Giampiero Mancarelli, President of Kyma Ambiente, Maurizio Maraglino, DIH Director of Confapi Taranto, and Salvatore Toma, President of Confindustria Taranto, during which the need to create a solid and functioning network in the area that can concretely support the city’s circular transition path was particularly emphasized.


Precisely in this regard, the Taranto Circolare project would allow the creation of an extensive collaborative network, giving local companies, entities and organizations the opportunity to meet and develop circular projects together, with the help of the tools made available and implemented by the platform itself. Taranto Circular aims to foster the circular transition of the city so that Taranto can be a place where there is a solid incentive in order to activate concrete, sustainable and innovative projects.


The project is structured in three phases that will be developed in parallel, the first phase will be based on research for the measurement of material and energy flows in the city, with particular attention to the Old Town, in addition, data collection, research and analysis will be the basis for the development of an automated calculation methodology related to the measurement of the circularity of cities and organizations, which will be included on the platform. Results of the Old Town and Taranto’s level of circularity will also be presented in a final report of the study that will be available on the platform.


The second phase will focus on promoting, through the digital platform, associations, organizations and companies that already apply circular economy principles or would like to embark on this path with the aim of creating new and innovative collaborations at the local, national and international levels. Finally, the third phase will focus on supporting and encouraging new circular projects.


In summary, then, the platform will provide the opportunity to connect with actors within it, new inputs, resources and tools to incentivize the growth of the circular and sustainable economy, and online calculation tools to measure the circularity of cities and organizations. Learn more here is the link to the website. And to find out more about the launch of Taranto Circolare, visit the dedicated page on our website.

Francesco Castellano

Francesco Castellano holds a Master degree in Business Administration, and he has gathered almost twenty years of experience in research, finance, consulting, and business management. During this time, he was engaged in different types of projects as a consultant at Bain & Company, launched Uber operations in Turin, and worked in the FP&A department at General Electric.Lately, he founded To... Read more

Francesco Castellano holds a Master degree in Business Administration, and he has gathered almost twenty years of experience in research, finance, consulting, and business management. During this time, he was engaged in different types of projects as a consultant at Bain & Company, launched Uber operations in Turin, and worked in the FP&A department at General Electric.

Lately, he founded Tondo, a cluster of organizations focusing on spreading Circular Economy approaches and concepts, and supporting companies in the transition to a clean and circular future. Francesco is also the ideator and coordinator of the Re-think Circular Economy Forum, a format of events organized in many different locations in Italy showcasing the most relevant Circular Economy solutions.

Francesco has been a guest speaker at different universities and events, like Federico II University, Bocconi University, LIUC - Cattaneo University, Pavia University, Padua University, Catholic University, IPE Business School, 24ORE Business School, Campus Party, Torino Stratosferica, Visionary Days.

Francesco is passionate about Circular Economy, Cleantech Innovations, Venture Building and Entrepreneurship.

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