Barcelona, 15 March 2010 – European experts on packaging waste management and life cycle gather in Barcelona to celebrate the kick-off meeting of the European FENIX project financed by the LIFE+ Programme of the European Commission.

On 15-17 February 2010, the FENIX partners celebrated the project kick-off meeting in Barcelona, Spain. “FENIX - Giving Packaging a New Life” aims at developing a software tool to assist Spanish and Portuguese municipalities in the decision-making for packaging waste management from a life cycle perspective, integrating environmental, economic and social aspects. Partially financed by the European Commission LIFE+ programme, the tool will allow the different users to introduce and modify parameters (km travelled, selection between different collection and treatment options, plant efficiency, etc.) to adapt the models created in the tool to the real situation. With the aim of promoting more sustainable packaging waste management and minimizing environmental impact, the tool will aid in creating more sustainable collection systems adapted to the different situations of today’s European societies, fostering sustainable development and the protection of our environment.

During the meeting that took place in Barcelona, GiGa (ESCI-UPF) together with the project partners, Ecoembes (Spain), Sociedade Ponto Verde (Portugal) and PE International (Germany), discussed and planned the work for the three year duration of the project. During the meeting, different current technologies for urban solid waste treatment were presented. Partners also decided on some of the technical specifications to be included in the software, and the legal framework on packaging waste management in Portugal and Spain were presented. During the last day of the meeting, GiGa (ESCI-UPF) presented the communication and dissemination strategy to be adopted to promote the project results.

In order to undertake the planned activities, GiGa (ESCI-UPF) will work with, in addition to the project partners, more than 15 universities and technological centres from Spain and Portugal for the data collection and modelling of the collection, transport and waste treatment processes.

Over the following months, the project website will be launched, acting as a virtual space to promote the ongoing FENIX activities.