Largest dairy company in Finland, Valio, invites You to ideate ways to tackle the seasonal variation in milk production. The goal is part of Valio’s responsible and climate smart primary production development, which aims for carbon-neutral milk by 2035. About 3,700 dairy entrepreneurs own Valio Ltd. through regional cooperatives.

Although the consumers buy milk evenly throughout the year, the amount of milk produced varies from season to season. The highest peak is usually experienced in early spring. Dairy operators along the value chain need to plan production, storage, and transportation capacity to handle the peaks in production. With a more balanced production, a dairy could offer more sustainable, and climate-smart milk, more cost-effectively.

Managing the seasonal variation in milk production starts from functional and profitable farm-level solutions that enable a transformation throughout the production chain. Valio is looking for concrete and effective ways to balance seasonality on farm level. Depending on the maturity of the idea, Valio offers Hackathon participants either the opportunity for business cooperation or the opportunity to start a joint project or pilot for testing the presented idea.

Join us to solve the challenge and develop new methods and solutions in co-operation with Valio’s experts and representatives of cooperatives! Send in your application by 22/10/2023. Read more and apply at ValioHackathon | Jamk.

Have you ever wondered about the untapped potential hidden in everyday by-products? At Holmen, one of the biggest sawmill producers in Sweden, we’re diving deep into one specific query: How can we transform wood ash – a by-product from our biofuel boilers created during the heating and drying process of wood – from waste to wonder?

Our mission is clear: to uncover a sustainable, profitable, and either circular or renewable avenue for this ash. Annual wood ash production of Holmen factories is approximately 450 tons. While there’s undeniable value in returning some of it to our forests and land, we believe there’s a world of innovative possibilities out there waiting to be discovered.

Register and join the webinar to hear more on the HolmenHackathon and the state-of-play for wood ash in Sweden and Finland. Registration and programme available at https://biofuelregion.se/en/projekt/bioboosters/ash-to-assets-holmenhackathon/

Bio-Plastics Europe is organising the Scientific Colloquium on “Bio-based Plastics: Exploring Perspectives, Risks, and Solutions“, which will take place on September 20-21, 2023, at the Alfred Wegner Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany.

Unite with experts, researchers, and industry leaders to delve into the latest advancements, applications, and future prospects of bio-based plastics. Experience captivating presentations, thought-provoking discussions, and interactive sessions designed to foster collaboration, ignite knowledge-sharing, and inspire collective action towards building a sustainable and circular economy. Seize this opportunity to explore the perspectives for bio-based plastics. Secure your spot today to witness this event! Hurry, as spots are limited!

Stay tuned for updates on the agenda, keynote speakers, and presentations. Together, let’s explore the possibilities of biobased plastics and a sustainable economy.

Don’t miss out on this transformative journey. Register now and join!

To avoid food waste, please let us know if you have any dietary requirements that you wish to be considered: https://ftznk.limequery.com/787796?lang=en

Call for Posters and Speakers

Are you a researcher or industry professional with knowledge about bio-based and/or biodegradable plastics? Share your expertise by becoming a speaker at the scientific colloquium!

Simply submit an abstract of your presentation by sending it to caterina.baars@haw-hamburg.de.
The deadline for the submission of abstracts is the 1st of August. Please do not exceed a maximum of 300 words and 6 keywords.

Additionally, if you have noteworthy projects, case studies, or exciting initiatives that you’d like to present in a visual format, we welcome you to bring a poster for display during the colloquium.
Join us as a presenter or poster exhibitor and be part of bio-based plastics developments.

Do not forget by contributing to this event you can also have your work published in the Springer book “Innovative Approaches to Handle Plastic Waste and Foster Bio-based Plastics Production”. If this is of your interest, we will consider the abstract you send and invite you for a full paper submission.

This summer the Biocircularcities project is coming behind your screen with a series of three exclusive webinars.

Since 2021, three pilot territories have been working on unlocking the circular economy potential of unexploited bio-based waste streams (namely organic fraction of municipal solid waste in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, biowaste from the coffee chain in the metropolitan city of Naples, and residual biomass from forestry and related wood transformation activities in the province Pazardzhik). Thanks to the BBI-JU Biocircularcities project, they have developed new models to boost the circularity of these biowaste chains.

Do you want to know more about these new value chains? Are you eager to adopt the approach followed by the Biocircularcities pilots and spread a circular bioeconomy in your territory? The Biocircularcities Trilogy is for you! The Biocircularcities partners will tell you all about the project, its development, and findings in three webinars.

Time has come for the third and final episode.

Episode 3: The journey of the three pilot territories

The Biocircularcities project brought together three “pilot territories” aiming to improve a specific value-chain focusing on one key bioresidue. The Metropolitan Area of Barcelona in Spain has focused on incentivising quality and quantity of municipal bio-waste separately collected in its urban context, the Metropolitan City of Naples in Italy has tackled the conversion of coffee silverskin from the agrifood industry into high-fibres content bread, and the Province of Pazardzhik in Bulgaria has targeted its forestry residues to collect them for energy or biochemicals production through lignocellulosic valorisation.

Join this third and final webinar of the Biocircularcities Trilogy to follow the journey of the three pilot territories towards these new value-chains and get a taste of the experience they gained during the project. You will hear about a variety of topics, such as how local stakeholders were involved in the process, and how the scientific work of Biocircularcities partners supported the local discussions.

Next 23 June 2023 join the workshop “Marine-friendly biopolymers: characteristics and challenges”, organized by Glaukos project and Bio-Plastics Europe, in collaboration with the European Bioplastics Research Network and the European Bioeconomy Network.

The workshop will take place from 9.00 to 12.00 CEST, online.

Agenda available here.
Register here.

What are the characteristics that marine-friendly biopolymers should have to become a potential solution to prevent and eliminate pollution in the oceans and waters, responding to EU Mission Ocean’s objectives?

In the last years, the EC is funding several projects and initiatives to investigate under which conditions bio-based and biodegradable plastics can contribute to reduce pollution in our ecosystems. Nevertheless, the timescale for biodegradation of unintentional released bioplastics is not short enough in marine environment and doesn’t sufficiently respond to market needs (performance, durability, etc.). In parallel, additional challenges should be considered (e.g. risk assessment, sustainability of bio-based feedstock, programmed biodegradation, standardisation in different environments, ecotoxicity, environmental persistence, entanglement and ghost fishing).

In the search for solutions to these challenges, during this workshop, researchers and stakeholders will be involved in a round table to discuss what are the characteristics and challenges that should be addressed for the definition of marine-friendly biopolymers.

The open discussion will be moderated by Glaukos and Bio-Plastics Europe experts and will be structured along the following topics:

• Definition of marine friendly biopolymers
• Programmed biodegradation
• Ecotoxicity and overall risk assessment
• Standardisation and labelling of marine-friendly biopolymers
• EU projects recommendations for future policies on marine-friendly biopolymers