Projects involving recycled textiles, eco-labelled school buildings and remanufactured furniture emerged as Europe's most sustainable and innovative public procurements at the 2017 Procura+ Awards held on 17 October in Tallinn (Estonia) as part of the eafip Conference on Innovation Procurement. The conference was held in the context of Estonia's Presidency of the EU. The winning public procurers were:

Municipality of Hyvinkà¤à¤, Finland: Sustainable Procurement of the Year was awarded to the first Nordic Swan eco-labelled pre-school in Finland, which was constructed after a market dialogue process and included sustainability measures on energy use, chemical products, building products and health factors.

Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands: Innovation Procurement of the Year was awarded for two contracts supplying towels, cloths and overalls to Dutch military personnel. This produced estimated savings of 233 million litres of water and 69,000 kg of CO2, based on a technical requirement of textiles containing at least 10% recycled post-consumer textile fibres.

Public Health Wales (National Health Service, UK): Tender Procedure of the Year was awarded for the use of a supplier open day and contracting social enterprises, Public Health Wales was supplied with over 2,500 furniture items of which only 6% were new purchases. This diverted 41 tonnes of waste from landfill with a CO2 saving of 134 tonnes, creating full time jobs for seven disabled and long term unemployed people.

For more information about the finalists and winners, visit the Procura+ website.Image copyright: sourced from ICLEI Europe by " Raigo Pajula" more   16 October 2017 Paris to host RESIN Knowledge Transfer WorkshopThe RESIN project will hold its second Knowledge Transfer in Paris (France) from 18-19 October 2017. At the workshop, Marie Gantois of the City of Paris, will share the city's goals, activities and challenges related to climate change adaptation, outline how the city has been using the RESIN project to address these challenges, and present the key results for the French capital from participation in the project so far. Miguel Gonzà¡lez Vara and Susana Ruiz Fernandez of the City of Bilbao (Spain) will discuss Bilbao's adaptation context and activities, and present how the city is adapting to climate change through RESIN.

During the Knowledge Transfer Workshop, cities will receive interactive training on three of RESIN's tools: Impact and Vulnerability Analysis of Vital Infrastructures and built-up Areas (IVAVIA), the Adaptation Options Library, and the e-Guide. The RESIN project's IVAVIA tool supports and guides the process of impact and vulnerability analysis for critical infrastructures and built-up areas. The Adaptation Options Library is a searchable archive that hosts the suite of RESIN tools as well as documentation on adaptation measures implemented in different cities.

The RESIN project will hold two Knowledge Transfer Workshops and two Stakeholder Dialogues. One workshop per core city - Bratislava (Slovakia), Paris Greater Manchester (UK) and Bilbao, (Spain) - will be organised to kick-off the 2-tier group engagement. The 17 Tier 2 cities are: Alba (Italy), Almada (Portugal), Athens (Greece), Burgas (Bulgaria), London (UK), Lahti (Finland), Newcastle (UK), Nijmegen (Netherlands), Padua (Italy), Radom (Poland), Reykjavà­k (Iceland), Sfà¢ntu Gheorghe (Romania), Strasbourg (France), Ghent (Belgium), Vilnius (Lithuania), Warsaw (Poland) and Zadar (Croatia). Crucial local infrastructure stakeholders from the core cities will attend the workshops and exchange with their Tier 2 peers.

The first Knowledge Transfer Workshop was held in June in Bratislava. This has already led to exchange and collaboration, as Bratislava visited their Tier 2 equivalents in Reykjavik following the first Knowledge Transfer Workshop.

For more information, visit the RESIN website.Image copyright: View on Paris, France by "Iakov Kalinin, Fotolia " more

» Publication Date: 18/10/2017

» Source: Iclei Europe

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