Water2REturn General Meeting in Porto

4^th General Meeting of Water2REturn in Porto

On January, 22^th and 23^th, the 4th  Bioazul attended  the General Meeting of Water2REturn project in Porto, Portugal.

Coinciding with the end of the first reporting period (18 months), the aim of this meeting was to share the latest updates of the project development among all consortium partners, being especially focused on the construction of the demonstration site in “Matadero del Sur” slaughterhouse. It has been the most interactive and participatory meeting held during Water2REturn lifetime, constituting a truly discussion and exchange forum for the project members.

This event was divided into two days:

22^nd January – Round table on technical issues. During the first day of the meeting, all issues related to technical aspects were discussed in a round table session. Each of the technical partners in charge of the demonstration site implementation was able to present the latest developments of each of the treatment lines, as well as the problems encountered and the proposed corrective measures. This was a very fruitful discussion, as the partners did not limit themselves to present their achievements, but participated in a debate where each one could give their impressions on each particular treatment line, offer solutions and collaboration and work together on common implementation issues.

Above all, they focused on logistic issues regarding the demonstrator’s installation, as it is necessary to define an implementation roadmap (it is not possible that all partners are installing on site at the same time). In addition, it was important to define the stream’s flux among the water, sludge and algae treatment lines, as well as the energy recovery module.

In addition, and taking into account the first reporting period had just finalised, the project coordinator summarised all needed information to prepare the mandatory technical and financial reports to be submitted to the EC.

To conclude the day, a dinner was organised, where the attendees continued discussing and enjoyed the Portuguese cuisine.

23^rd January – Participatory Workshop. On the second day, a workshop named Social LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) was held. Social LCA is carried out to assess the social and sociological aspects of products, and their actual and potential positive as well as negative impacts along the life cycle. In this sense, all partners worked on a questionnaire in which the positive and/or the negative impact of a set of variables was evaluated for each of the five Water2REturn stakeholders’ target groups: farmers, consumers and end users, wastewater industries, fertiliser industries and slaughterhouses. This workshop was a first approach to the surveys that will be shared with relevant stakeholders in further stages of the Social LCA development.

After this workshop, the partners continued discussing about the rest of the ongoing workpackages.

This meeting has contributed to strengthen the relationship between all partners and create synergies for the development of the project.