Since the Second Regional PLASTECO Stakeholder Meeting had to take place virtually last year, the stakeholders and project staff also had to meet in this virtual space for the Third Regional Stakeholder Meeting. However, this situation did not affect the motivation and so numerous participants showed up in the virtual "meeting room" on 27 January 2021.
Dr. Ingrid Winter, Head of Department Waste and Resource Management (Directorate 14- Office of the Regional Government of Styria) and PLASTECO project manager of partner region STYRIA, welcomed the participants and above all gave a brief update on the project's progress.
Then immediately Greta Pomberger as a PLASTECO project assistant started her presentation on the "Relevant Project Milestones" which took place during the last months.
The first three milestones were presented in form of different analyses regarding the topics "Assessment of territorial-specific economic and social barriers against more sustainable plastic consumption and production patterns” as well as "Comparative analysis of policies to promote the separation, sorting & recycling of plastic waste at partner´s territories" and "Identification of measures to curb aquatic litter & facilitate clean- up efforts".
The mentioned analyses were conducted and published by the PLASTECO partner regions in Bulgaria (Stara Zagora Regional Economic Development Agency), France (Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Energie Environnement) and Latvia (Baltijas Krasti). It was gratifying that after each presentation of a milestone, the participants of the meeting extensively discussed its results.
Finally, Greta Pomberger reported to the stakeholders about the last milestone, namely the 1. Interregional PLASTECO Workshop. The Environmental Cluster Bavaria organized this “Interregional workshop on urban water management policies and practices to reduce micro-plastics leakage to the environment".
After all questions about the project milestones were answered, Therese Schwarz, as a PLASTECO- project member and staff member in the Department of Waste and Resource Management, informed the stakeholders about the current collaboration between different projects in the framework of the “Styrian Regional Hub on Plastic Waste Prevention".
Suggestions and ideas as well as the cooperation of the stakeholders in the scope of the "Styrian Regional Hub on Plastic Waste Prevention" were requested for the future. Afterwards Dr. Winter closed the Third Stakeholder Meeting by briefly summarizing upcoming project activities.
To conclude, the Third Stakeholder Meeting resulted in interesting discussions on the results of the project milestones. Valuable input was also gathered for future collaborations with other projects.
With this successful meeting, we are looking forward to the next project events and are sure that they will be just as fruitful.
