R&D

Projects

Environmental trends and the growing need to develop business models that foster the circular economy underline the importance of measures to promote research and development (R&D).

Rethink & Repack: New trends in the packaging sector

In the context of the Novo Verde Packaging Enterprise Award’21, Novo Verde is organizing the event:

Rethink & Repack: new trends in the packaging sector

The special characteristic of this event is that it brings together the stakeholders of the entire value chain to discuss topics such as eco-design and innovations in the packaging sector.

With the support of the Expresso newspaper as a media partner and EY (Ernst & Young) as a technical partner, it will take place on March 8th at 14:30.

Program available for consultation here.

Link to access the online event.

Novo Verde Packaging Enterprise Award 2021

Environmental trends and the growing need to develop business models that promote the circular economy show that research and development (R&D) actions are essential.

In this context, the Novo Verde Packaging Enterprise Award’21 was created to promote research and development activities that are of strategic interest to the packaging sector and the country.

The Novo Verde Packaging Enterprise Award’21 aims to identify and implement the best projects on a range of topics related to the activities of Novo Verde – Packaging Waste Management Society and its members, addressing industry, commerce, universities and technical sectors related to packaging in Portugal.

This edition has Expresso newspaper as a media partner and EY (Ernst & Young) as a technical partner.

In order for your application to be considered for the Novo Verde Packaging Enterprise Award’21, you must complete the application form. After valid submission, the applicant will receive an email confirming their participation.

Rules of the Prize here.

Applications here.

Novo Verde – Packaging Entreprise Award

It was within this context of environmental trends that the Novo Verde – Packaging Entreprise Award was established, envisaging the dynamization of research and development actions of strategic interest to the packaging sector and the country.

The first edition of the Novo Verde – Packaging Entreprise Award has been completed and the winner is Packaging Matters by Feel Matter. This product embodies the concept of the circular economy, as it uses waste from the wine industry to produce new, sustainable packaging for the same sector. 

The 2020 edition addresses companies that produce packaging, with the aim of finding the best solutions that meet the objectives of the circular economy. 

With a total value of €25,000, Novo Verde aims to boost the sector and promote business competitiveness. The Packaging Enterprise Award’20 had three levels, with a total amount of €15,000 for first place and €6,000 and €4,000 for second and third place, respectively.

The results:

Novo Verde thanks all the companies for participating in the Novo Verde Packaging Entreprise Award’20 competition.

All the projects submitted in this competition were analyzed and classified according to the criteria contained in Article 12 of the Regulation. The jury unanimously voted for the selection of the winning project (1st place) as well as for the classification of the 2nd and 3rd places.

POLIVOUGA – Indústria de Plásticos, SA was the big winner of the second edition of the Novo Verde Packaging Entreprise Award’20, with the project “Helix® BOPE”.

Second and third place went to INTRAPLÁS – Indústria Transformadora de Plásticos, SA and PLASTIMAR – Indústria de Matérias Plásticas, SA, which received €6,000 and €4,000 respectively.

Award Regulation available here.

EEA Grants – Mafra Reciclar a Valer+

The project Mafra Reciclar a Valer+, of which Novo Verde is part, aims to create a living laboratory of incentive systems that allows testing of different technological solutions and monitoring their results, contributing to increasing knowledge about these systems and promoting their effectiveness and economic efficiency, in the sense to prepare the implementation of the deposit system.

This project is one of 13 applications supported by the European program EEA Grants, which promotes the application of principles of the circular economy in production and consumption.

The elements to be considered are:

1. Different types of deposit equipment, to identify the most suitable for different locations and groups of users;

2. Sensing and artificial intelligence technologies that provide information on the system’s effectiveness and efficiency;

3. Platform for monitoring the equipment network in real-time, with automatic management of collection operations.

The project also aims to promote the appropriate use of these systems through an awareness campaign taking place in the Municipality of Mafra through events in stores and markets, schools and other places close to the communities. This initiative will make it possible to collect indicators of citizens’ perception of solutions and answer key questions such as the value associated with incentives, and accessibility of equipment, among others.

It is also intended that the accumulated knowledge be made available to all interested parties in an open way, giving rise to the development and implementation of more effective and efficient deposit networks or systems.

Reciclar a Valer+

Since October 1st, 2019, Novo Verde has developed a pilot project at Pingo Doce da Malveira, made up of a vending machine that delivers vouchers in exchange for PET plastic bottles. For each beverage and soft drink bottle delivered, customers can receive €0.02 or €0.05 coupons that they can use for their purchases at the store.

In the first year of the initiative more than 500 thousand PET beverage bottles were collected, equivalent to more than 13 thousand kilograms of this type of packaging waste. Consumers who participated in the pilot project received coupons with a total value of around 20 thousand euros.

This initiative is part of the European Union’s action plan regarding waste management, as well as of the European Strategy for Plastics, according to which by 2030 all packaging of this material placed on the market must be reusable or easily recyclable. Plastic beverage bottles, as single-use plastic products, should be subject to deposit systems or other measures that have a direct positive impact on the collection rate and, consequently, on the quality of the material collected and recycled.

The pilot project Reciclar a Valer+ is an initiative of Novo Verde in collaboration with the City Council of Mafra and Tratolixo – Treatment of Urban Solid Waste.

Novo Verde Packaging Universities Award

The Novo Verde Packaging Universities Award 2019 resulted from a partnership between Novo Verde and the European Blue Flag Association (ABAE) / Eco-Schools Program following the environmental education initiatives already developed within the compliance scheme strategy, in which the training of citizens is the engine of this responsibility.

This challenge aimed at Higher Education establishments and the application presupposes the fulfillment of 2 stages, subject to evaluation by the Monitoring and Jury Commission: environmental audit to the Education establishment and responses to environmental problems in the first stage, gathered in the action plan focused on packaging waste management.

In each region of the country a winner was selected (North, Center, Lisbon, Alentejo, Algarve, Azores and Madeira), and the project with the best national ranking (University of Aveiro) was also verified.

Each distinction was equivalent to the value of € 7500 used in the implementation of the proposed solutions.