On January 11, 2024 the LIFE Information Day was held in Warsaw, during which opportunities offered by the programme as well as projects implemented in Poland and co-financed under this programme were presented. The event was organised by the LIFE National Contact Point operating at the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management. During the meeting, awards were granted to the outstanding beneficiaries of the LIFE programme, including IETU.
The event was also the time for presenting the effects of the 15 years’ activity of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in supporting LIFE projects in Poland as well as for presenting projects implemented by the most committed beneficiaries of the LIFE Programme. It was an opportunity to visit stands of various LIFE projects and meet representatives of projects who successfully applied for funds under this programme. In addition, offers of other EU programmes were outlined by the guest speakers from the National Contact Points, in that HORIZON EUROPE (NCBR), URBACT and Financial Instruments of European Union Programmes.
During the event, the most active beneficiaries of the LIFE Programme presented their projects and received awards. Among the winners was our Institute, which received a distinction in the category: The Most Active Co-beneficiary of Foreign Projects Implemented under the LIFE Programme and Co-financed by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management.
At the stand, IETU presented the LIFEproETV project - Promotion and Implementation of ETV as an EU Voluntary Scheme for Verifying Performance of Environmental Technologies. The aim of the project is to promote and implement the Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) system as a voluntary scheme with a recognised market position and wide reach, in order to increase the number of new, innovative environmental technologies introduced to the market. Its aim is to reduce the negative impact of SMEs, industry and the public sector on the environment. In recent years, IETU has obtained LIFE funding for several projects. The currently implemented one is the one mentioned above, coordinated by IETU (LIFEproETV), but there are also two other projects in which IETU is a member of the consortium.
The first of them is the RE-PLAN CITY LIFE project - Relevant Audience Plan Leading to Awareness Network for Circular Economy Use of Recycled Tyre Materials in CITY LIFE. The aim of the project is to raise public awareness on the possibilities of wide use of recycled tyre materials (RTM). The project is focused on cooperation with public administration in order to develop solutions that will support the use and implementation of environmentally friendly good practices in the use of RTM, which can be implemented in municipal investments, as well as green public procurement procedures. One of the tasks implemented by IETU is the creation of an internet platform (Re-Plan Web Portal). In addition to exchanging and searching for information between users (Re-Plan community), both in terms of materials, products and services as well as business partners and institutions, the platform will enable consultations and the exchange of knowledge and information between industry entities, administration and other bodies interested in the use and implementation of RTM.
The second project is PlasticLIFEcycle - The Solution for the Management of Mixed Hard Plastic Waste by Applying CIrCuLar Economy Approach. The main goal of the project is to demonstrate an innovative PLC technology for sorting and recycling mixed plastics and to create an international business cooperation network covering the full plastics value chain (from waste to final product) in order to increase the use of recycled plastics in the production of new products. As part of the project, JWTŚ - the Environmental Technology Verification Unit operating at IETU - will verify the technology developed under the project.
We are happy to have received the award and hope that our efforts to obtain funds under the LIFE Programme in the future will also be successful.
