ADVANCE - Advancing MuNicipal Circlular Economy

TOPIC:

Initiative

ADVANCE - Advancing MuNicipal Circlular Economy

SUBMITTED FROM:

The Laboratory of Mining Technology and Environmental Mining (E.M.T.P.M.) of the School of Mining Engineering - Metallurgical Engineering of the E.M.P., was officially founded in 1983, initially under the name of Laboratory of Mining Technology.

The main objectives of E.M.T.P.M. are the following:

The training of the undergraduate and postgraduate students of the School of Mining Engineering - Metallurgical Engineering, in the assessment, evaluation and solution of modern problems of the mining - technical sector and society, using means and methods of cutting edge technology.
Finding solutions to the critical issues of mining activity, with the aim of achieving a development path, which will be based, at the same time, on the foundations of technological innovation, the optimal exploitation of the country's mineral wealth, sound environmental management and social consensus.
Addressing key problems of Greek society (lack of space in urban centers, competitive uses of the environment, etc.), through the birth and implementation of pioneering ideas, with the help of mining science and aiming at upgrading the quality of life of citizens.

Objective Action

The ADVANCE project, which is funded under the European Programme Erasmus+ Key Action 2 (KA2): Cooperation Partnerships (Contract No 2021-1-EL01-KA220-VET-000033247), aims to create a strategic educational, training and awareness alliance, aiming to achieve the ambitious target regarding food waste, between Municipalities and HORECA SMEs so that both parties can implement smoothly and effectively the shift towards Circular Economy practices (including EU Directives targets, national laws and regulations). In this way, the project will contribute to the protection of public health and the environment, the creation of environmental opportunities and the improvement of EU citizens' quality of life.

The project has the following objectives:

• To assess the current food waste management practices in selected municipalities and SMEs in the HORECA sector

• To compare the assessment results above with the best practices in the relevant fields.

• To develop a concrete set of Circularity Indicators that will be used to describe both the current and the future description – monitoring of food waste management.

• To assess the gap between the baseline assessment and the requirements posed by the EU Circular Economy Action Plan using the Circularity Indicators.

• To develop a Roadmap and develop a step-by-step methodology to implement the EU Circular Economy Action Plan requirements regarding food waste.

• To present all the above as training/educational materials and implement training courses in selected municipalities and SMEs in the HORECA sector.

• To develop an Open Education Resource online platform which will include & host all the above.

Target Audience

The target group consists of a wide range of professionals but those will mostly benefit from the implementation of the ADVANCE methodology are waste managers, supervisors and waste planners (private and public sector) responsible for the identification, collection, transfer, treatment and disposal of waste, including:

-Personnel of waste management departments of regional/municipal authorities

-Personnel of waste management companies in charge of municipal waste collection

-Owners and current/future employees (operations personnel, managers, supervisors and other, e.g. kitchen staff) of HoReCa SMEs (Unskilled, Skilled)

-VET centres/trainers/consultants

-Experts that support municipal authorities and hospitality sector SMEs with CE and waste-related processes (internally or externally)

-Municipalities and HoReCa associations, university/college/school students.

Duration

The project has a duration of 24 months (28/2/2022 - 27/2/2024).

Description

The innovation of the ADVANCE project is twofold: first, it establishes a strategic educational, training and awareness alliance between Municipalities and HoReCa SMEs, which is the only way towards a more circular waste management. Second, it develops an innovative approach that will promote (i) the synergies between municipalities and SMEs; (ii) the use of the advances of Industry 4.0 for the CE of food waste; and (iii) the development of the core for a systemic change in both the municipal/household and the enterprise level (SMEs). In the context of this methodology, a concrete set of Circularity Indicators and two different Roadmaps, one for municipalities and one for the SMEs in the HORECA sector, will be developed, formulating a step-by-step methodology available on an Open Education Resource online platform.

Specifically, the project results are, as follows:

A. Baseline assessment (PR1) of the current waste food waste management practices in Municipalities and HORECA SMEs – the baseline assessment will also include benchmarking to existing best practices in EU.

B. Gap Analysis methodology and tool (PR2) between current and required, according to the EU targets, waste management practices relevant to food waste. The main outcome of the Gap Analysis will be the Circularity Gap Indicators that could be used in other cases too. These indicators concern both the municipalities involved and the HORECA SMEs that will participate in the program.

C. Development of a Roadmap (PR3) – Design and development of a step-by-step methodological framework for implementing the food waste targets. The Roadmaps will be developed in two different types, one for Municipalities and one for HORECA SMEs. A special part of the Roadmaps will be to demonstrate how Industry 4.0 can help municipalities and SMEs to achieve better food waste management and advance food waste prevention.

D. ADVANCE Course (PR4) – Creation of a training material broken down into certain learning modules for waste management adopted to the needs of target groups.

E. Open Education Resource (OER) – An Online Platform (PR5), which will include and host interactively all the above.

The above-mentioned results are expected to:

• Contribute, on a European level, to the development of indicators that can be used in other countries too, for the adaptation of municipalities and SMEs from the HORECA sector in the new context of circular economy.

• Contribute, on a European level, to the development of tools and training packages that can be used in other countries too for the adaptation of municipalities and SMEs from the HORECA sector in the new context of circular economy.

• Help Municipalities to develop and use tools that will allow them to identify the changes required to achieve the targets regarding food waste.

• Help HORECA SMEs to develop and use tools that will allow them to identify the changes required to achieve the targets regarding food waste.

• Prepare a core set of people, from municipalities and the HORECA sector, that can act as trainers for other people, thus stimulating the project’s results dissemination and multiply its impacts.

• Prepare a basis for the development of more advanced and in-depth training programs that will cover the current gap in skills and know-how regarding circularities in the food supply chain.

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Impact on Society

In this phase, the main focus of the dissemination activities was on presenting the project, its aims and objectives, and the activities carried out so far. This was done through a wide range of dissemination channels. For instance, it is noted that in the first year, the partners used social media platforms to publish around 30 posts/newsletters/articles about the project, reaching more than 5,000 people. Also, the partners organised several workshops and networking activities reaching more than 1,400 people.

Initiative Location

The project is implemented by 7 partners from 5 EU countries, Greece, Cyprus, Serbia, Belgium and Croatia. Its results, however, are targeted at municipalities and SMEs in the HoReCa sector, as well as their employees, throughout Europe.

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Working with Organization

The ADVANCE consortium consists of 7 partners from 5 EU countries (Greece, Cyprus, Belgium, Serbia and Croatia), as follows:

Lab of Mining and Environmental Technology of the National Technical University of Athens – NTUA (Greece)
TOURNIS SYMVOULEFTIKI EE (SIGMA BUSINESS NETWORK) (Greece)
Horeca Partners (Belgium)
Grad Zadar (Croatia)
Gradska uprava za zastitu zivotne sredine Grada Novog Sada (Serbia)
E.G. EUGENE GLOBAL LTD (Cyprus)
D-WASTE LTD (Greece)

The transnational nature of the ADVANCE project will ensure that it will be promoted and adapted in several European countries and will allow the sharing of practices and experiences from different business environments. Also, the cooperation will use the strengths and the capacity of each partner to solve common problems, to generate & share knowledge and to promote innovate solutions that can be transferred to other contexts and scales.

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Workers Participation

Employees of the consortium are involved in the development of the results. The research activities carried out for the needs of the project, the dissemination activities and the externa; testing of the results shall involve staff from all the audiences to which the project is addressed.

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