EIMIN: Additional €1.13 million for waste recycling industry
The Ministry of the Economy and Innovation (EIMIN) has allocated an additional €1.13 million to 3 reserved projects to develop innovative, environmentally friendly products and technologies from recycled waste. The "Green Experiment" call for proposals provides a total of almost €8.8 million to 21 Lithuanian industrial companies.
"This measure aims to encourage industrial companies to move towards a climate-neutral economy. Following strong interest, we have also found opportunities to fund 3 additional projects. This is our way to help more companies prepare for faster change and make a significant contribution to waste reuse and recycling," said Aušrinė Armonaitė, Minister of the Economy and Innovation.
The measure will find solutions for recycled waste in the fields of construction and agricultural products, packaging, multi-purpose road surfaces, consumer products and more.
One of the priority selection criteria, which gives higher scores, was to evaluate projects that develop innovative environmentally friendly technologies. These aim to maximise the use of industrial waste generated and disposed of by industrial companies, including phosphogypsum from the chemical industry.
"We estimate that phosphogypsum accounts for around 85% of all waste sent to landfill, so we need to prioritise the reuse of this material. It is particularly important that we see the interest and willingness of companies to contribute to the change, so that together we can accelerate the change and create environmentally friendly and sustainable products," said Grėtė Lelė, Advisor to the Minister of the Economy and Innovation.
One of the planned projects for which funding has been allocated is the development of innovative modular roofing products. These will be produced using the latest research and experimental development to ensure high quality, sustainability and modern environmental standards.
Another project will develop fabrics and fillings for seating bags, using materials from recycled plastics, ocean fishing nets, recycled textiles and plant-based fabrics. Engineering solutions will ensure that the products are durable.
A mobile robotic arm based on artificial intelligence is also planned to identify and sort plastic waste. Part of the robotic arm's components will be made from recycled plastics.
The “Green Experiment” is funded by the European Union Funds Investment Programme for the period 2021-2027 and is one of the calls under the €1 billion plan launched by the Ministry of the Economy and Innovation.
The projects submitted by industry and their implementation plans were evaluated by the Innovation Agency.