On 02.10.2020 the Municipality of Blagoevgrad held a final press conference on the project “Green employment in the management of biodegradable waste” (Green_Crew), Subsidy Agreement № B2.9c.11 from 06.10.2017. The project is funded by the Cross-border Cooperation Program INTERREG VA “Greece – Bulgaria” 2014-2020

The project team presented the final results of the project. With its implementation, the Municipality of Blagoevgrad successfully partners with the Municipality of Serres, Greece (leading partner), with the University of Thessaloniki “Aristotle” (Faculty of Chemistry), Greece and with the Municipality of Nestos, Greece.

With the end of this project, the Municipality of Blagoevgrad successfully completed another project funded by the Cross-Border Cooperation Program during this programming period.

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The Municipality of Serres, the Lead Partner of the cooperative scheme that implements the project
"GREEN EMPLOYMENT IN MANAGEMENT OF BIOWASTES under the INTERREG VA GREECE – BULGARIA 2014-2020 C& Program, Priority Axis 4, Objective 9c: Enhancement of Social Entrepreneurship in the cross-border area , in cooperation with the partners, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki-Special Healthcare Account -Department of Chemistry, Municipality of Nestos and Municipality of Blagoevgrad, invited on March 5 th 2019, the residents of the Municipalities of Serres, Thessaloniki and Nestos that belong to the following groups:

• – Unemployed people included in the registers of Manpower Employment Organization (OAED)
  – Existing Executives of Social Enterprises and other forms of Business
• to apply for membership in the Training Week action.
  The process of selecting trainees followed a series of procedures and steps:
  Step 1: Electronic submission of applications and in case of failure, submission of an application in the protocol department of the Municipality of Serres
  Step 2: Edit – Classify applications – Separate applications that are not eligible.
  Step 3: Set up a list of final beneficiaries

Due to the reduced interest shown by the potential beneficiaries for their participation in the Training
Week, the educational week could not be implemented on 26.03.2019 as initially defined and the
completion of the specific deliverable was extended until 26.06.2019. Finally, it was decided to take place from the 6 th to 10 th of May 2019, in the city of Serres at Philippos Xenia Hotel.

In the training week, participated people who would like to take action in the management of bio-waste through Social Entrepreneurship, residents of the city of Serres and other cities. The participants were transferred to and from Serres as well as the participants were transferred from the hotel to the training venue and vice versa. Moreover, the participants outside the Municipality of Serres stayed in a hotel in the center of the city of Serres.

On Monday, May 6 th 2019 at 10:00 am the training week began in the Philippos Xenia Hotel room. In the reception area of ​​the room, there was an office for the conference secretariat, where there were placed the folders that were given to each guest upon arrival, including a pen, notebook, a curriculum of the week, informative material about the project of the educational week, a map and informative material about the area of ​​study. Also, entries were made in the list of participants per day. At the entrance of the room there was also a dining room with beverages, coffee and sweets for the attendees.

The greeting on behalf of the Municipality of Serres was addressed by the Mayor of Serres, Mr. Petros
Angelidis, followed by a greeting from the Vice Mayor of the Municipality of Serres, Mr. Pantelis Chrapas.
Then, a brief presentation of all participants of the training week followed, including a presentation of
their CV. Mrs. Athina-Maria Papika, an employee of the Planning Department of the Municipality of
Serres, made a brief presentation of the Green Crew project. Mr. Petros Daskalopoulos, Head of the
Cleaning Department of the Municipality of Serres, presented the "Actions of the Municipality of Serres
Cleanup Directorate". Then followed a 20-minute break for beverages, coffee and pastries for the
participants, and after the short break Mrs. Maria Termenzidou, Head of the Environment Department of the Municipality of Serres, made a presentation on Creating a Green Recycling Point in the Municipality of Serres Mr. Giannakis Dimitrios, Vice President of the Chamber of Serres, made a speech on the topic Social Economy – Actions to Promote Entrepreneurship”. After the presentation there was a short break for lunch. All the participants went to the hotel restaurant and after thirty minutes they went to the hall for the last presentation on the topic: The Cooperation of the TEI of Central Macedonia with the Local Social Organizations. Experience of Joint Actions and especially in Entrepreneurship. The presentation was delivered by Dimitris Kydros, Associate Professor of the TEI of Central Macedonia. Finally, there was a constructive dialogue between the participants and the rapporteurs.

The next day, Tuesday 7.05.2019 at 10:00 am, the participants of the training week went to Philippos
Xenia’s room. The training seminar opened with the presentation of Mr. Karanasios Nikolaou, Professor of Accounting – Economics of Mathematics at the Department of Business Administration of Technological Educational Institute of Serres. Mr. Karanassios presented the Social-Cultural and Cyclical Entrepreneurship. There was a short break for beverages, coffee and cakes for the participants and the training seminar carried on with the presentation of Mrs. Panou Chrysanthi, member of IONIAN RECYCLE HELLAS Environmental Protection Committee on The Cyclical Economy in Civil Society. After the presentation, all participants went to the hotel restaurant to enjoy the light meal and after thirty minutes they went to the room for questions and discussion with the rapporteurs.

On Wednesday, May 8 th 2019 at 10:00 am Mr. Konstantinos Karpouchtsis, Executive Director of the
Programming and Development Department addressed a greeting and then Mrs. Rizopoulou Anastasia, Food Technology Technician, gave a speech on Social Entrepreneurship in the field of waste management. Then a presentation with the title Waste Management and Composting of Organic Residues followed by MSc in forest waste management, Maria Giortsou. A short break for beverages, coffee and cakes for the participants followed and after that Mrs. Mihailidou Elisavet-Irini, a member of the Social Enterprise Hours made a presentation on Applying the principles of ZeroWaste to personal and business routine. Finally, there was time for a constructive dialogue between the participants and the rapporteurs who attended the training week and the guests were then able to enjoy the light meal offered at the hotel restaurant.

On Thursday, May 9 th 2019 at 10:00 am the participants confirmed their attendance in the participation list outside the Philippos Xenia Hotel, where a bus was located to transfer the participants in the Waste Treatment Unit and in the XYTY Unit of Palaiokastro area in Serres. The visit to the Waste Treatment Unit and in the XYTY Unit, gave the participants the opportunity to visit all the facilities and also to visit the departments where all the works were completed. After a visit to the Waste Treatment Unit, a light meal was served in Lefkonas, Serres, and then all the participants returned with the bus to the city of Serres.

On the last day of the training week, Friday 10.05.2019 at 10:00 am all participants in Philippos Xenia
Hotel were gathered and the registrations were confirmed. At the entrance of the hotel there was a bus parked in order to transfer the participants in Nigrita area in Serres, to the company Bioenergy Nigrita Ο.Ε., a company that produces electricity through the exploitation of agricultural and animal wastewater as well as wastewater from cheese and oil mills. At the end of the tour, pastries were given to the participants and brochures of the company. During the return to the city of Serres, the bus made some stops both in the city and at the Serres Transportation Center to allow the participants to go to their home cities. A light meal was offered to the participants on the bus and they were informed about the certifications for their participation in the training week.

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This method has now come to an end!

The transition to the Circular economy is the challenge of our time and one of the greatest challenges in the world, in order to build a truly viable growth model. Waste is now of value and benefit to the citizen as well as to the society, the environment and the economy of a place. In this context, it is particularly important to realize the opportunities and prospects that arise for our place, within this new productive model .It can be easily realized that a Prefecture such as Serres, which basically relies on agri-food activity, could exploit much of the waste from agricultural and livestock activities in a cyclical economy model. With the implementation of the cyclical economy, in the Prefecture of Serres we can transform our agricultural and livestock waste into a comparative advantage.
Responding to the challenges of the times, we have the opportunity to capitalize on this advantage in combination with European financial instruments, with the aim of economic growth, promoting new forms of healthy business and creating new jobs, integrated into a sustainable environmentally friendly model of our country and not only. So far , in our Municipality , we are implementing actions to promote the culture of the circular economy.
We participate as Lead Beneficiary in the cross-border Green Crew project, which highlights the role of the social economy in management of  green waste  and in the circular economy.
In the framework of the implementation of the Green Crew project, a Training Week will be organized by the Municipality of Serres, which will be held in the first half of 2019 in order to inform citizens about the business potential that arise from the use of Green waste . Additionally, the Municipal Council approved the establishment of a cooperation agreement between the municipality, AUTH, TEI of Central Macedonia and ECOCITY, aiming at the exchange of know-how and experience, training and implementation of actions to promote the cyclical economy to the citizens, as well as the integration policies and strategies in the production process of enterprises.

Recently, ELSTAT figures show the prefecture of Serres as the poorest in Greece, with GDP per capita at 9,863 euros, the lowest in the Region and the whole of Greece. These elements, at any rate, must be a matter of concern to us and mobilize us all, especially the institutions of the wider region, about the development of a single and integrated action plan. Circular Economy can be one of the areas of action among others and, perhaps, a good start. We have to leave back the anchorages of the past and the meticulous tactics .The time has come to overcome our weaknesses, to cooperate intelligently, quickly and methodically under a common vision and to go forward, capitalizing on the potential of our place and our age .

Written by Mr.Kostas Karpouchtsis , Economist, Business Consultant and Municipal
Councilor of the Programming & Development Department of Municipality of Serres

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Circular Economy and opportunities that arise in Serres

The Circular Economy is the new EU policy which aims at a more sustainable production model. Through the Circular economy, waste is converted into raw material and either reused to create new products or processed for the purpose of producing energy, for example what is known in many people as bio-gas. So far, the global economy is working on the linear take-consuming-reject model, a philosophy in which each product arrives sometime at the end of its useful life. This process creates a problem of sustainability, as the one-off use of resources, combined with the ever-increasing needs of
the world’s population, leads to depletion of the planet’s natural resources.

This method has now come to an end!

The transition to the Circular economy is the challenge of our time and one of the greatest challenges in the world, in order to build a truly viable growth model. Waste is now of value and benefit to the citizen as well as to the society, the environment and the economy of a place. In this context, it is particularly important to realize the opportunities and prospects that arise for our place, within this new productive model .It can be easily realized that a Prefecture such as Serres, which basically relies on agri-food activity, could exploit much of the waste from agricultural and livestock activities in a cyclical economy model. With the implementation of the cyclical economy, in the Prefecture of Serres we can transform our agricultural and livestock waste into a  comparative advantage.

Responding to the challenges of the times, we have the opportunity to capitalize on this advantage in combination with European financial instruments, with the aim of economic growth, promoting new forms of healthy business and creating new jobs, integrated into a sustainable environmentally friendly model of our country and not only. So far , in our Municipality , we are implementing actions to promote the culture of the cyclical economy. We participate as Lead Beneficiary in the cross-border Green Crew project, which highlights the role of the social economy in managing "green waste" and in the cyclical
economy.

In the framework of the implementation of the Green Crew project, a Training Week will be organized by the Municipality of Serres, which will be held in the first half of 2019 with the aim to inform citizens about the business potential that arise from the use of Green waste . Additionally, the Municipal council approved the establishment of a cooperation agreement between the municipality, AUTH, TEI of Central Macedonia and ECOCITY, aiming at the exchange of know-how and experience, training and implementation of actions to promote the cyclical economy to the citizens, as well as the integration policies and strategies in the production process of enterprises.

Recently, ELSTAT figures show the prefecture of Serres as the poorest in Greece, with GDP per capital at 9,863 euros, the lowest in the Region and the whole of Greece. These elements, at any rate, must be a matter of concern to us and mobilize us all, especially the institutions of the wider region, about the development of a single and integrated action plan. Circular Economy can be one of the areas of action among others and, perhaps, a good start. We have to leave back the anchorages of the past and the meticulous tactics .The time has come to overcome our weaknesses, to cooperate intelligently, quickly and methodically under a common vision and to go forward, capitalizing on the potential of our place and our age . Written by Mr.Kostas Karpouchtsis , Economist, Business Consultant and Municipal Councilor of the Planning & Development Department of Municipality of Serres

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The 5th Call of Project Proposals “Grant scheme for supporting SMEs to grow and expand beyond local markets”, under Priority Axis 1 “A Competitive and Innovative Cross-Border Area” of the Cooperation Programme INTERREG V-A “Greece-Bulgaria 2014-2020” has been announced!
Information Days for potential applicants will be organized in both countries on the following dates:
– Friday, the 1st of February 2019 in Thessaloniki, Greece
– Thursday, the 7th of February 2019 in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria
– Wednesday, the 20th of February 2019 in Alexandroupoli, Greece
– Wednesday, the 20th of March 2019 in Haskovo, Bulgaria

Stay tuned for updates and possible rearrangements!

For more information about the Call click here.

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Press release for the “Training Week” which took place in Municipality of Blagoevgrad (22.10.2018-26.10.2018)

In connection with the implementation of a project ““Green” employment in the management
of biowastes” (Green_Crew), funded under the INTERREG V-A “Greece-Bulgaria” 2014-2020
Cooperation Programme, Priority axis 4: A Socially Inclusive Cross-Border Area, Thematic
objective 09: Promoting social inclusion, combating poverty and all discrimination, Investment
Priority 9c: Providing Support for Social Enterprises, Specific Objective 9: To expand social
entrepreneurship in the CB area, a seminar was held on the separate disposal of biodegradable
waste and the system of composting. The event was attended by representatives of various
institutions from Blagoevgrad – Blagoevgrad municipality, Southwest University “Neofit
Rilsky”, Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water – Blagoevgrad, Regional
administration – Blagoevgrad, National park “Rila”, Basin Directorate West-Aegean Region,
Regional education management-Blagoevgrad, representatives of childcare facilities, partners
from the municipality of Serres, representatives of the Greek Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki, etc. The participants had the opportunity to hear the lectures of Bulgarian and
Greek lecturers related to the topic of the seminar.
On one of the days of the training week, participants and organizers visited the Regional
Landfill in Razlog to get acquainted with the techniques of composting and the finished
compost.
Apart from the promotional materials, the participants received materials, such as a gardening
set and a composter for creating a finished product – compost.

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Activity report  by Mrs Desislava Kuzmnova-Ivnova,manager of the enterprise which organized the “Training Week” in Municipality of Blagoevgrad”

In connection with the implementation of contract № 98-00-270/04.10.2018 for: “Organization of a “white-shared” training week”, regarding the implementation of project “Green” employment in the management of biowastes” (Green_Crew), funded under Priority axis 4: A Socially Inclusive Cross-Border Area, Thematic objective 09: Promoting social inclusion, combating poverty and all discrimination, Investment Priority 9c: Providing Support for Social Enterprises, Specific Objective 9: To expand social entrepreneurship in the CB area under the INTERREG V-A “Greece-Bulgaria” 2014-2020 Cooperation Programme” and Request № 1/05.10.2018 of the Assignor, I have implemented the following activities:

 Prepared an Agenda for the training, which is applied in Annex 1
 Provided lecturers, moderator and translator for the event. The lecturers for the days
were: Anny Vassileva, Georgia Papapanagiotou, Maria Giortsou, eng. Diana Stefanova
 Prepared and disseminated invitations for the training
 Provided hotel accommodation for the participants, lecturers and the moderator
 Provided transportation to and from the hotel for the participants, lecturers and the
moderator;
 Provided catering for 60 participants, including: breakfasts, lunches, coffee-breaks and
dinners
 Provided a training hall for 60 participants in the hotel
 Provided presentation equipment
 Elaborated materials for the participants – 80 pcs, including:
– Eco notebook with eco pen, color indexes, sticky notes with bamboo covers.
Notebook size: 14x18x1cm,
– Composter for each of the participants – color: black, 320 litres,
– Cotton shopping bag – dimensions: 380х420 мм,

– Gardening kit, including 4-piece tools – a hand shovel, weeding shovel, hand paddle
and hand digger,
– Raincoat.
 Prepared Participant list, which is applied in Annex 2
 Provided photos from the training, which is applied in Annex 3
 Ensured practical training on the third day of the training – the photos are applied in
Annex 3
 Prepared Questionnaires for feedback, which are applied in Annex 4
 Prepared and disseminated an Activity Report from the “white-shared” training week.

In the preliminary preparation of the event were prepared the Invitation and the Agenda of the event which were sent to the Contracting Authority. The training was attended by representatives of different institutions, such as: Municipality of Blagoevgrad, South West University “Neofit Rilski” Blagoevgrad, RIEW – Blagoevgrad, District administration –Blagoevgrad, Directorate National Park “Rila”, Regional Education Management – Blagoevgrad, the project partners of Municipality of Blagoevgrad from Municipality of Serres, representatives from the AUTh, and others.

On October 22, 2018 (the first day of the “white-shared” training week) specialized transport transferred the participants, lecturers, translator and the moderator to the hotel and the conference room. The attendance list of the event was completed. The event was opened by Mrs Zornitsa Kraleva-Toncheva, Deputy Mayor for european projects and programmes in Municiplaity of Blagoevgrad, the lecturer Anny Vassileva and the moderator Yana Yanakieva. After presenting the topic of the “White Training Week” and the introductory words, the participants were acquainted with the first topic: “Undrstanding European, National and Local legislation in the context of the set targets for limiting the amount of biodegradable waste destined for landfilling”. A translator was provided who translated during all the lectures from Bulgarian to Greek and vice versa. After the lecture,
the participants had free time and dinner.

On October 23, 2018 (the second day of the “white-shared” training week), was presented the second topic of the training, which was explained by the Greek lecturer Georgia Papapanagiotsou – representative of the AUTh. The topic was “Social cooperative enterprises in Greece” and triggered a detailed discussion after its presentation. After the coffee break, the Greek lecturer presented the next theme from the Agenda: “Good practices in social cooperative enterpreunership in Greece”.

After the coffee-break the discussion continued with the presentation of the lecturer Anny Vassileva on topic: “Waste management practices in the region of Blagoevgrad. Morfology and quantities of biodegradable waste in the main striems of domestic waste”, where detailed practices for separate collection of household waste were described.

After the coffee-break Mrs Anny Vassileva introduced the participants in the composting techniques. The theme of her presentation was: “Composting technologies and practices”. With this presentation, the lecturer prepared the participants for the next day of the “white-shared” training week (23.10.2018), when the participants visited the Regional waste landfill in the town of Razlog in order to get acquainted with the techniques of composting and the finished compost. After the practical training the participants were transferred back to the hotel.

On October 24, 2018 (the third day of the “white-shared” training week) the training continued with a lecture of Maria Giortsou from Greece on topic: “Process of waste management in Greece”, followed by the next presentation on topic: “Best practices of waste management in Greece”. After the organized lunch the participants and the organizers visited the Regional waste landfill in the town of Razlog in order to get acquainted with the techniques of composting and the finished compost. They were welcomed by a representative of the landfill – Mr. Petar Belchev – Director of the regional
landfill. He presented how the compost was prepared by showing and explaining the techniques of waste treatment. The main theme of the event was: “Understanding the operation of the installation”. The visitors had the opportunity to see the facilities as well as to observe the process of waste reprocessing.

On October 25, 2018 the training was conducted in the conference room of the hotel,
starting with the lecture of Mrs. Anny Vassileva on the tgopic: “Participation of the public.
Possible scenarios at the local level – Blagoevgrad and the region” – Part I. The coffee break broke the lecture in two parts and after the prologue of the second part: “Participation of the public. Possible scenarios at the local level – Blagoevgrad and the region” – Part II, the participants formed a discussion related to the topic.
After the organized lunch, the training of the participants continued with the presentation following presentation: “Municipal structure of wastes: Infrastructure, recultivation of the waste depot, landfill gas” of the lecturer eng. Diana Stefanova. She explained to the participants the municipal structures for separate waste collection. The lecture was again divided into two parts and after the coffee break and presentation of the second part, the participants again held a discussion.

On October 26, 2018 (the last day of the “white-shared” training week), the participants
participated in the Questions/Answers panel, finalizing the topics and the overall training.
To all of the participants were given materials including the following:
– Eco notebook with eco pen, color indexes, sticky notes with bamboo covers;
– Composter ;
– Cotton shopping bag;
– Gardening kit, including 4-piece tools – a hand shovel, weeding shovel, hand paddle
and hand digger;
– Raincoat.

During the implementation of the above-mentioned activities, I took due account of the
requirements of the Contracting Authority, the technical and price proposal I submitted and the
requirements set out in the Information and Publicity Project Partners Guidebook and the
Brand Design manual of the INTERREG V-A “Greece – Bulgaria” 2014-2020 Cooperation
Programme.

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