On 9-10 November 2021, the Interreg Baltic Sea Region project BalticBiomass4Value held the Experience Exchange and Networking Event “Perspectives and Challenges of Local Authorities and Municipal Waste Management Enterprises for Bio-Waste Management”. The event was hosted by Vidzeme Planning Region, Halmstad University and 3N Kompetenzzentrum e.V.. Mr. Frans Debets, an expert in urban environment and climate issues moderated the event.
The first day of the event aimed at municipal and state-owned companies relevant to the value chain of bio-waste management. Experts of different fields gave presentations, covering various aspects of bio-waste management. Prof. Dr. Daniel Pleissner, Leuphana University of Lüneburg-Institute of Sustainable and Environmental Chemistry (Germany), discussed future perspectives and challenges of bio-waste management, followed by his presentation on innovative bio-waste management and utilisation technologies. Dr. Miguel Angel Suarez Valdes, Project manager at HOOP Project, CETENMA (Spain), gave an overview of the HOOP Project, which supports cities and regions in developing large-scale urban circular bioeconomy initiatives, with a focus on urban bio-waste effective management. Mr. Hans-Peter Erhar, Sales manager at BEKON GmbH (Germany), presented technologies and practices used for biogas production and composting of bio-waste from households.
The event`s second day aimed at local, regional, and national authorities and administrations interested in bio-waste management. Prof. Marie Mattson, Rydberg Laboratory for Applied Sciences, Halmstad University (Sweden), illustrated the relevance of biogas, arguing that it is a good environmental option for treating bio-waste. Dr. Rūta Bendere, Member of the Latvian Waste Management Association board (Latvia), discussed life cycle thinking and assessments for waste management at the municipal and institutional level. Ms. Elvira Laneborg, who is an Ecological sustainability development officer for the City Hall of the municipality of Kalmar (Sweden), provided valuable insights into local strategies and action plans for effective bio-waste management and utilisation.
At the end of each day, participants were introduced to the good practice implementation guidelines for circular bioeconomy development at the municipal and company level developed during the BalticBiomass4Value project. Dr. Aleksejs Nipers, Lead researcher, and Dr. Arnis Lenerts, docent and researcher at Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies presented the good practice implementation guidelines. Additionally, Ms. Virginija Kargyte, Project Manager of BalticBiomass4Value, showed the results of the project.
In total 71 participants from eight countries took part in the event, representing municipal enterprises, national, regional and local authorities, universities, and research institutes.
The event was the final large-scale activity organised within the BalticBiomass4Value project, which will end in December 2021.
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