BALTIPLAST PROJECT TO REDUCE PLASTIC POLLUTION City news
Daugavpils City Municipality together with the lead partner Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany) within the European Union INTERREG Baltic Sea Region Programme 2021-2027 has launched the project "Baltic Approaches to Handling Plastic Pollution under a Circular Economy Context" BALTIPLAST / #C021.
The project involves 18 partners from 5 Baltic Sea Region countries: Germany, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. The project involves municipalities (Helsinki, Tallinn, Kaunas, Västerås, Valmiera, Daugavpils), associations and universities. Daugavpils University is also an associate partner.
The aim of BALTIPLAST is to inform the public about the measures that can be implemented to reduce single-use plastic waste in households, offices and on the streets and to increase the amount of recycled plastic, thus contributing to the reduction of plastic waste in the Baltic Sea Region. BALTIPLAST focuses on responsible use of resources, changing mindsets and consumer behavior.
Several activities have already taken place within the project. The project partners met both in Riga and in Västerås (Sweden) to share experiences on waste management, good practices in reducing the use of single-use plastics and to work together for a successful implementation of the project.
In April this year, representatives of Kaunas University of Technology came to Daugavpils to visit the municipal waste landfill "Cinīši", meet with representatives of "AADSO" Ltd, Municipal Utility Department, Development Department and Daugavpils University to discuss and share their experience. This year, Kaunas University of Technology, in cooperation with Daugavpils University and AADSO Ltd, will carry out a morphological analysis of the waste going to the "Cinīši" landfill.
BALTIPLAST also participated in the "Environment Day 2023" event in Daugavpils. Students and teachers were invited to fill in a questionnaire and test their knowledge about waste sorting. 132 questionnaires were filled in during the event and the results have now been compiled and emailed to the participants. No one answered all the questions correctly. The 8 participants with the lowest number of incorrect answers were rewarded by Daugavpils City Municipality. Waste sorting is important for successful waste management. That is why the BALTIPLAST project will implement various activities for both proper waste sorting and responsible use of resources.
The project will continue until December 2025. The plan is to organize trainings and awareness-raising activities as well as to work on improving waste management and reducing single-use plastic waste in all partner countries, involving citizens, schools and businesses. Find out more about the project and follow its activities here. (https://www.daugavpils.lv/pilseta/pilsetas-attistiba/projekti/realizacija-esosie-projekti/starptautiskie-projekti/baltiplast)
Project financed by - European Union INTERREG Baltic Sea Region Programme 2021-2027
Total budget – 4.27 Million EUR
EU funding – 3.42 Million EUR
Partner’s Contribution – 1.85 Million EUR
Information prepared by
Division for Investments and International Cooperation of
Development Department
