News

On 28 November, the first meeting of the project's Monitoring Group took place to assess and discuss the contribution of the project activities to the objectives of the National Waste Management Plan 2021-2028, as well as to carry out comprehensive monitoring of the project in line with the project description and deliverables.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Economics, the Latvian Council of Science, Riga Technical University, the Environmental Advisory Council, the Latvian Union of Local Governments and the Ministry of Agriculture.

The meeting was opened by the Head of the Monitoring Group - Rudīte Vesere, Acting Deputy State Secretary for Environmental Protection of the MEPRD, Director of the Department of Environmental Protection, emphasising the importance of the project for the achievement of the goals set out in the State Waste Management Plan 2021-2028. This is the first time that a LIFE Integrated Waste Management project is being implemented in Latvia and we are the first among the Baltic States to implement such a project. The project has been running for a year and a half and has delivered significant results during this time. The project has also evolved in terms of the number of partners in a year and a half, with this number having increased from 21 to 22 this year.

The Monitoring Group meeting was continued by Ms Alise Vecozola, Project Manager of the LIFE Waste to Resources IP, who informed about the scheduled activities and already achieved practical and visible results. The most important task of the project is implementation of the Waste Management Plan 2021-2028 and the transfer of pilot activities throughout Latvia and abroad.

This autumn, the first phase of the project has been completed and a progress report has been submitted to the European Environment and Climate Agency on the progress made so far. Project partners have worked intensively on campaigns of cigarette butts, electrical appliances and textiles, coastal litter, as well as on consumer behaviour studies and surveys to implement measures based on data-driven decisions. New platforms have been developed to implement the principles of the circular economy - lietovelreiz.lv, which brings together information on how to rent, find a good repairer, and get second-hand goods for free or for a nominal fee. A platform for industrial symbiosis - sinergia.lv - has been set up to promote the use of companies' production residues or waste for their own or other companies' operations, thus reducing the amount of generated waste.

A major achievement of the project is the establishment of the construction waste sorting and recycling centre "Nomales", another practical step in the transition to a circular economy. A pilot project related to implementation of experimental pilot unit (TRL 7) is currently being implemented at the household waste landfill "Dziļā Vāda", which will allow the production of synthesis gas replacing natural gas. Other measures in the project include the use of previously non-recyclable composite materials to produce new products, such as patio boards, pallets or road construction material.

 Proceeding the meeting, Ms Jolanta Reinsone, Head of the EU Goods and Services Market Division of the EU and External Economic Relations Department of the Ministry of Economics, continued the meeting by presenting the Ecodesign Regulation for Sustainable Products. It was explained that ecodesign is all about sustainability, which is the integration of environmental aspects into the design of a product with the aim of improving its environmental performance throughout its life cycle.

Whereas, Ms Dace Ugare, Deputy Director of the Veterinary and Food Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, presented the measures to implement the EU's "From Field to Table" strategy and its role in preventing food waste, which is at the heart of the European Green Deal policy package. Sustainable food waste production involves the redistribution of food losses and food surpluses so that as little food as possible goes to waste. D. Ugare explained the National Food Quality Scheme (NFQS), which brings together companies and their products that meet increased quality requirements. As the aim is to promote the production of quality agricultural and food products and to provide consumers with guarantees of the quality of the products produced, NPKS products are labelled with two logos - green and burgundy spoons bearing the indication "Quality product". As D. Ugare said, people already recognise this quality mark and are increasingly buying products with this label.

The presentations were followed by a discussion part, where the participants were interested in the topics discussed. Members of the Monitoring Group expressed their willingness to provide advisory support for the implementation of the project activities, if needed, and made suggestions for topics to be discussed in future Monitoring Group meetings.