Waste as resources in Latvia
The circular economy is a cornerstone of waste prevention.
Since 2022, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development (now the Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development), together with 21 partners including the Cleantech Latvia association, has been running the EU LIFE programme's integrated project “Waste as Resources in Latvia” (LIFE Waste To Resources IP, No. LIFE20 IPE/LV/000014).
The project reduces waste generation through targeted measures: promoting resource reuse, improving control of waste streams, cutting environmental impact and reducing the carbon footprint.
To advance circular-economy principles, the project develops industrial symbiosis, using innovative technologies to reuse materials and chemicals. A support programme helps start-ups and SMEs create new innovations and develop existing ones.
Industrial symbiosis is built on collaboration: turning one company's unneeded resources or waste into raw material for another, and so preventing waste. It develops in three stages: conversation, matchmaking and co-creation.
The main aim is to maximise resource reuse, improve resource sustainability and reduce waste already at the product-design and early-production stages. Building symbiosis rests on economic benefits and companies' own interest, a key precondition for a lasting system.
The LIFE integrated project “Waste as Resources in Latvia” (LIFE Waste To Resources IP, LIFE20 IPE/LV/000014) is implemented with the financial support of the EU LIFE programme and the Ministry of Smart Administration and Regional Development. This information reflects only the project partners' views; CINEA is not responsible for any use of the information it contains.