Waste System integrates innovative technologies

The SEPARATE Waste System integrates innovative technologies that enable the highly efficient separation of waste, overcoming a significant barrier to increasing bio-waste recycling. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), separately collected bio-waste and mono-streams can all be efficiently separated into a non-organic rest fraction and a very clean organic fraction, from which a number of high-quality products can be obtained.

The Repair Café Foundation: Inspiring repair and re-use in communities to reduce waste

The first Repair Café, set up in 2009, aimed at promoting sustainable practices by raising awareness about reuse and repair. It provided a free space for citizens to try and fix their broken products, with the help from expert volunteers. This waste reduction initiative has since been replicated all over the world, resulting in a global network of Repair Cafés. 

'EnSURE' Handbook of Energy Efficient Urban Development

To help cities develop their own Sustainable Energy Action Plans, the EnSURE project compiled a ‘Manual of Energy Efficient Urban Development’. Combining the knowledge of project partners from across Central Europe, the manual forms a practical roadmap for policy makers integrating technological, financial and stakeholder engagement measures.

The FINO3 Offshore Wind Research Platform

The FINO3 research platform in Germany was developed in order to increase knowledge about offshore wind construction in the North Sea. As a result of Regional, National and EU public grant partial funding for R&D, companies are now better informed about the technical requirements for offshore installations, which has stimulated investment in the region. 

CombinES: Maximising public finance impact in energy efficiency projects

The CombinES project developed a financing mechanism which utilises both public and private funding sources to increase the impact of funding for energy efficiency measures in buildings. By integrating both thermal envelope and technological measures into a comprehensive renovation plan, the model can also maximise the potential energy savings in a given project. 

The 4BIOMASS Transnational Action Plan for Bioenergy in Central Europe

Seven energy agencies collaborated in order to advise policy-makers on how an integrated and transnationally co-ordinated bioenergy policy should be designed. Through research, knowledge exchange and stakeholder consultations the 4BIOMASS project produced the ‘Transnational Action Plan for Central Europe’, which quickly inspired regulatory changes in participating countries. 

ECO-INNOVERA

ECO-INNOVERA is a European network of 25 partners addressing a wide range of eco-innovation topics from research to dissemination. Applying the concept of systemic eco-innovation, ECO-INNOVERA focuses on promoting sustainable practices in order to boost the implementation of eco-innovation in Europe.

International Climate Initiative - Strengthening transparency, accountability, anticorruption and public oversight in climate finance governance

Since 2008, the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) has been financing climate and biodiversity projects in developing, newly industrialised and transitioning countries. 

White Lobster: Green Product Award

The White Lobster agency, has launched a Green Product Award which aims to achieve comprehensive knowledge transfer by supporting eco design and manufacturing in a very broad sense. High quality, innovative and sustainably designed products awarded the Green Product status benefit from a strong marketing impetus. 

NeRess (network for resource efficiency)

NeRess, the network for resource efficiency in Germany combines the knowledge and experience of its members on resource efficient production, products, and management in an interdisciplinary and practical way. The network is enhancing the cooperation by encouraging information exchange and networking among the stakeholders. 

PIUS®-Check – integrating resource efficiency into SME’s production processes

The PIUS®–Check is a process-oriented material flow analysis developed by the Efficiency Agency (EFA) North Rhine-Westphalia. It deals with resource and energy efficiency in industry and serves to determine and improve the ecological and economic potential of manufacturing SMEs. An EFA team of engineers conducts the initial audit, identifies material and resource efficiency potentials in companies and make suggestions for changes.

Optimising industrial production by using data from machines and sensing devices

The KAP approach (Knowledge – Awareness – Prediction). KAP (Knowledge of past performance and Awareness of the present state, enabling the Prediction of future outcomes) aims at providing manufacturing standards in an holistic approach for achieving energy efficiency in industry. To this end, KAP focussed on defining production indicators that included sustainability criteria and energy efficiency.

German RETech Partnership (GRP) – a network of experts in the waste and recycling sector

The RETech Partnership is an independent network of mainly German companies and institutions in the waste management and recycling sector. The objective of the Partnership is to set up a portal for export-oriented recycling and waste companies. Its aims at promoting the sector of clean-tech, fostering worldwide technology transfer, providing access to German expertise and creating new market opportunities for German firms. 

ENERGIESPARNETZWERK ESN GmbH (Energy Saving Network)

The Energy Saving Network in Germany was initiated by main industry partners to offer private home owners a one stop shop to receive comprehensive information and support regarding the refurbishment of residential buildings to improve their energy efficiency.[1] It improves the energy efficiency in buildings significantly.[2]

 

Product/process innovation to reduce negative and enhance positive environmental, social and economic impacts

The German company Henkel has developed a Sustainable Consumption Index that supports the identification of opportunities to reduce the environmental footprint of products/processes and to add value to the life cycle of all of its new products.

Contracting private Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) to undertake feasibility analyses and implement the necessary technologies to provide guaranteed energy savings for clients.

As an Energy Saving Partner of the Berlin Senate’s Administration for Urban Development and Environment (Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt), Energieagentur Berlin is responsible for providing guaranteed energy savings for a pool of buildings that the Senate governs (e.g., hospitals, day-care centres etc.). The Energieagentur Berlin receives a share of the saved energy, which it can use to refinance investments in energy saving technologies and measures it undertakes as part of the project.

Landfill taxes – Dedicated green taxes to reduce waste sent to landfill

Landfill taxes are already widely spread fiscal measures across Europe. They help reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill and mitigate harmful environmental effects. Additionally, landfill taxes provide incentives to use more sustainable solutions of waste management, such as waste reduction and prevention, recovery or recycling. The instrument can bring about large tax revenues and lead to a significant decrease in the number of landfill sites a country has – for instance in the UK by two thirds in eight years.

ÖKOPROFIT® - Local public-private-partnerships to boost clean-tech in firms

ÖKOPROFIT® is a cooperative model between local or regional authorities and companies, mostly based in Austria and Germany. It boosts profitability of firms, encouraging them to implement environmental management systems and clean technologies. This investment in eco-efficient technologies reduces firms’ future costs. The “ÖKOPROFIT®-Betrieb” label is awarded to businesses that have undergone training and successfully introduced new practices and technologies. 

Reduced use of fossil fuels in the shipping industry by the introduction of sky sails

A new kind of eco-design for a power system using wind power enables the shipping industry to save energy by reducing the use of fossil fuel. Using flying kites connected to an electric power generator can produce cheaper and vastly more energy than conventional power plants.

Renovate buildings in order to improve energy efficiency

TES EnergyFacade is an international research project which has developed a method for renovating and modernizing buildings, improving the energy efficiency in buildings envelope, by using wood-framed prefabricated facade elements.

Community food co-operatives are up and running in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Germany with the goal of sourcing good quality, fresh, seasonal fruit and vegetables, as well as meat and fish products, locally for the members of the community food co-op. Products sold through food co-ops come from local sourcing.

Advanced sorting techniques for construction and demolition waste

The combination of near infrared detector, electromagnetic sensor and visible colour camera techniques allows to sort construction and demolition (C&D) waste with a level of purity that enables their recycling into high grade products.

Online tool for sharing, swapping and selling abandoned products

Netcycler is an innovative networking website for online sharing, swapping and selling products within the Netcycler community. Members can list items (electronics, toys, clothes, kitchen items, furniture etc.) for free sharing, barter trade or selling. 

Resource Efficient Plant Engineering Network (RAiN Anlagenbau) enables joint propositions of SMEs

Germany’s RAiN Anlagenbau deals with networking SMEs specializing in resource efficient industrial machinery construction. The aim is to offer a complete range of services for energy efficiency in industry from a network of suitable SMEs by setting up synergies among them.  

Risk mitigation strategies addressing induced seismic risk of Enhanced Geothermal Systems

The hydraulic pumping process used in Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) causes seismic risks that raise public concern. The Advanced Traffic Light System developed by the GEISER consortium allows EGS projects to take into account the ‘Induced Seismicity’ risk and thus to set up appropriate strategies to increase public acceptance.  

Consumer information label to communicate sustainability aspects of products

The PRO PLANET label communicates that the German supermarket chain REWE  values its products not only in economic but also in ecological and social terms. REWE’s PRO PLANET products contribute to sustainable consumption since the environmental and social impacts identified in the whole product life-cycle are significantly overcome.

A sustainability traffic light system for products and companies

The WeGreen® Sustainability Traffic Light is a ranking system that rates the quality of environmental and social performance of a product or company and the amount of relevant information available. The system allows for clearer sustainable consumption choices. 

A label that says more than a thousand words

The Blue Angel is the first and most well-known eco-label worldwide. Since 1978, it has set the standard for eco-friendly products and services selected by an independent jury in line with defined criteria. The Blue Angel is certifying the companies as form of a reward for their commitment to environmental protection. 

Recycled asphalt used for the sustainable construction of roads

The Free Hanseatic City of Hamburg wished to progress from using less than 50% reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) to using an ambitious 100% RAP in the resurfacing of its roads. The City encouraged innovation in the market by supporting contractors to develop a new, cost effective solution, complying with the city’s sustainability criteria, before going ahead with a restricted public procurement procedure. 

Large-scale industrial demonstration projects: the Environmental Innovation Programme

The "Programme to promote investment in demonstration projects aiming at environmental impact reduction, or, in short, Environmental Innovation Programme (Umweltinnovationsprogramm, UIP), supports companies with large-scale pilot projects that focus on the development and application of environmental innovations. This policy measure focuses mainly on demonstration projects and technology transfer. The funding comprises loans with interest subsidy, and in special cases investment subsidies. 

ALOIS: Innovative information system aiming at recycling and re-using soil, demolition waste and construction materials.

The ALOIS tool is an efficient, up-to-date, cost saving, and interactive information system, which connects companies which are offering and seeking soil, demolition waste and construction materials. By supporting a circular economy, material cycles are closed and landfill is no longer necessary.

German Wind Energy Association - BWE

The German Wind Energy Association provides a framework to support renewable energy solutions, including wind power, by supporting the innovation capacities of firms, networking and making steps towards improving regulations and standards. Based in Germany, it is a partnership of more than 20,000 members[1] who aim to efficiently expand the use of wind power long term.

Papernet: Initiative for the Sustainable Use of Paper

The Initiative for the Sustainable Use of Paper aims at raising awareness on the unnecessary use of paper, promoting paper recovery, and increasing the use of recycled paper. The work focuses on existing parameters such as, the level of awareness, the behaviour of consumers, manufacturing regulations, and the use of paper in society. Papernet, the network coordinating this initiative, focuses on the extension and operation of the network of stakeholders who aim to comply with sustainability criteria in the paper industry.

German Association of Environmental Management e.V. (B.A.U.M.)

The German Association of Environmental Management[1] is a business association that aims at promoting sustainable practices relating to environment-oriented corporate culture. Engaged with society, its goal is to sensitise the economy, politics and society for provident environmental protection and sustainable development. A core asset of the association’s is a code of ethics focussing on increased sustainability in the performance of the member companies, be it SMEs or larger enterprises from the industry[2].

BRAHMATWINN

The BRAHMATWINN project has helped to fine-tune the Integrated Land Management System (ILMS) toolset that provides a software platform for implementing the EU recommended DPSIR methodology used for Integrated Land Water Resource Management (ILWRM). The combination of the methodology and the toolset allows data analysing and assessing the impact of Land Use and Climate changes on a river basin what ultimately provides the means for better managing and strategic planning of land use and water resources.

 

SENSOR

“Sustainability Impact Assessment: Tools for Environmental, Social Multifunctional Land Use in European Regions” (SENSOR) has tackled a problem of international relevance and importance: how to predict and evaluate the consequences of policy changes that will affect a range of land use sectors. The major challenges related to
sustainable living achievement have been addressed in the framework of the project. The related requirements have been fulfilled by developing a new software tool and a strategic planning activity that bring together scientific and conceptual issues as well as data analysing, managing and modelling approaches.

GHG EUROPE

Understanding the carbon cycle is a key issue for better estimating the effect of human activity on climate change. Several projects for improving the accuracy of existing models have been carried out in the last decade. Concerning the European terrestrial
greenhouse gas balance, existing assessments have only focused on one emission gas (carbon dioxide CO₂, nitrous oxide N₂O or methane CH₄) and have been applied to only one land use.

CARBOEUROPE-IP

Global warming has been proved to be related to an important alteration of the greenhouse gas balance, which in turn is linked to our big dependence on fossil fuels, the increasing industrialisation and a non-sustainable land use.

NATAIR

The aim of NATAIR is to improve the accuracy of the data analysing and calculation methods from natural and biogenic emissions and to assess their impact on air pollutant concentration levels and deposition loads in Europe. The projects has developed datasets for modelling on concentration levels from anthropogenic (e.g. combustion processes) and natural (and biogenic) sources.

ESPREME

ESPREME project focuses on a data analysing approach for the primary heavy metals: mercury, cadmium, chrome, nickel, arsenic, and lead. The main objective of the research is to carry out cost-effectiveness (CEA) and cost-benefit analyses (CBA) for reducing the heavy metals occurrence in the EU Member States and candidate countries, also including a damage assessment of the environment and human health in the long term, and thresholds.  It is also important to identify which policies will result in the most cost-effective reduction of the occurrences of heavy metals in the environment;

INCONTEXT stands for Individuals in Context. This project aims to understand the role of transformative communities in addressing societal challenges.

Advance ETV

AdvanceETV (Environmental Technology Verification - Building a framework for international cooperation) is a coordination action of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7),which is a public grant funding programme of the European Commission. The project is coordinated by Dechema which is headquarted in Frankfurt, Germany. Its twofold objective consists firstly in disseminating and support the implementation of a European ETV system and secondly, in promoting the international harmonization and mutual recognition of the international ETV systems to allow new environmental technologies to access international markets.

Ozone-AOP (Xyleminc)

AQUAFIT4USE is a large-scale project funded under the 7th Framework Programme
(FP7), a grant funding programme of the European Commission which aims to make industries more independent of the supply of water for their production processes. The initiative aims to develop new technologies, tools and methods as well as to apply new combinations of existing technologies for sustainable water supply, use and discharge in the main water consuming industries: in other words “water fit-for-(re)use”. These new techniques encompass innovative technologies or applied technologies dealing with water looping in the four following industries: paper, food, chemistry and textile.

OEPI

Environmental sustainability is becoming an increasingly vital part of daily business. To monitor the impact of business operations on living and non-living natural systems including ecosystems, land, air and water, Environmental performance indicators (EPIs) can be used. EPIs can evaluate the environmental performance of an organization, product, or service, and provide a firm basis for future targets and improvements. Companies often request Environmental Performance Indicators (EPIs) from business partners – and similarly respond to such requests – in order to incorporate these in reporting and decision-making processes.

HYPOX

Within the EU-FP7 project HYPOX, 16 European institutions have studied oxygen depletion (hypoxia) causes and consequences have been monitored in a broad range of aquatic systems that differ in oxygen status and sensitivity towards change. The obtained marine environment monitoring results have been combined with information on past hypoxia and state-of-the-art numerical modelling to predict future hypoxia and its effect on aquatic ecosystems, generating a valuable know-how for taking suitable decisions on appropriate oxygen monitoring efforts in the future.

VIT-KIT

VIT kit stands for Vermicon Identification Technology kit. It consists of in situ bio sensing probes which look for specific bacteria. These kits can easily be deployed on site for water cycle monitoring. They are provided by vermicon (Germany).

SATURN

The SATURN project (Sensor-sorting Automated Technology for Advanced recovery of non-ferrous metals) puts forward an innovative and automatic sensing process that enables the purification of non-ferrous metals, which have been extracted from municipal solid waste. Moreover, the on-line sensing and sorting device is able to differentiate between various metals and alloys.

MACIS

According to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the European Union (EU) committed itself “to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level”. In this context, the Minimisation of and Adaptation to Climate Impacts on biodiverSity project (MACIS) aimed to provide a data analysing approach which linked climate change monitoring and biodiversity monitoring at the European level. This project was funded by the European Commission under the Sixth Framework Programme (FP 6), a grant funding programme.