At the end of August, with the support of AS VALMIERAS STIKLA ŠĶIEDRA, the first waste recycling hackathon or DaibeZero idea marathon took place in Latvia. For two days, 6 hackathon teams and their mentors worked on developing tyre and glass fibre recycling ideas by analysing the product potential and markets, and determining the required resources and financial investments. All participants had the opportunity to see waste management as a potential source of income to generate ideas that would allow to make money from waste.
International team Air Glass Technology won the hackathon. They also received the AS VALMIERAS STIKLA ŠĶIEDRA prize for developing the idea of recycling glass fibre into bricks and other building supplies. The team received EUR 10,000 to develop this idea further in cooperation with the Latvian Investment and Development Agency.
In awarding the company prize to the Air Glass Technology team, Ģirts Vēveris, Management Board Member of AS VALMIERAS STIKLA ŠĶIEDRA, underlined: “It is not just about the waste “mountains” disposed of at the Northern Vidzeme household waste processing and landfill site Daibe. We cannot forget about the impact of glass fibre in a wider context, as the material that we produce can be found almost everywhere: in mobile phones in our pockets, in building insulation materials and in other types of products that are available across the world and help make our lives better. In this case, I would like to call it a by-product and not so much ‘waste’, as it offers many unused opportunities. I am really glad that people in Latvia see problems, ask questions and look for answers. That’s the most important thing: to look for solutions. A solution can be found for any problem, it’s just a question of the invested time and resources.”
AS VALMIERAS STIKLA ŠĶIEDRA has made sizeable investments in the development of its production processes to reduce energy and raw materials consumption, prevent environmental risks and look for ways to re-use the remaining product materials in the production of other products. The company has always considered greener and more environmentally friendly production by reducing the volume of disposed waste and taking responsibility for preserving the natural resources of our planet a priority. This approach is also confirmed by our investment in technology and process upgrading, which allows us to re-process a part of the remaining materials into a sought-after product: unwoven materials for the insulation market. Moreover, the glass fibre products of our company help in saving the energy and reducing emissions if used for insulation, as they allow to design lighter and more energy-efficient vehicles and equipment.
For more information about the project and the DaibeZero hackathon, see www.daibezero.lv
Photo© Roberts Āboltiņš, ZAAO