Duration of the project:

1.10. 2015. – 31.3. 2018.

Total value:

€ 605.496,00

EU co-financing:

€ 340.613,00

Beneficiary coordinator:

AIMPLAS – Technology Center for Plastics

Partners:

City of Koprivnica; Croatia, Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling and Sustainable Resource Management (ACR +); Belgium, AIJU Instituto Tecnológico de producto infantil y ocio; Spain, Valencia InnDEA Foundation; Spain, Universitat Jaume I; Spain

Web page: LIFE FUTURE

LIFE FUTURE is a European project that includes the development and validation of the GUF tool, which is an online tool to support public bodies in making decisions on the procurement of more environmentally friendly urban furniture. LIFE FUTURE aims to promote green procurement by focusing on the urban furniture sector. The project will enable overcoming the difficulties encountered by persons working in public procurement in cases when they perform procurement procedures in which they must include an environmental clause and evaluate the received bids due to limited knowledge of environmental issues. The GUF tool will guide users through the entire procurement process, from determining the environmental requirements that must be stated in the public tender to comparative environmental impact assessments of products from different suppliers. The GUF tool will be used in conducting actual public procurement for at least 200 urban furniture products over the life of the project. The number of products to be procured using the tool is estimated at 17.500 (over 5 years after the project is completed).

Project goals:

• Preserve and improve the environment
• Create and expand the market for environmentally friendly products
• Encourage companies to develop better environmental solutions
• Raising the competitiveness of EU industry by promoting eco-innovation
• Encourage the use of green standards in public and private procurement

Expected project results:

• Updated analysis of green public procurement (GPP) for urban equipment in the European Union, with a special focus on Spain and Croatia
• Verification and demonstration of the economic benefits of the proposed analysis and evaluation system (GUF tool)
• Reducing the environmental impact of urban equipment by using the GUF tool. The projected average environmental benefits of urban equipment after the application of eco-design criteria are as follows: – global warming: 26.5% (reduction of 1.870 kg of CO₂ equivalent per unit of urban equipment); acidification: 28.7% (reduction of 51 kg of SO₂ equivalent per unit of urban equipment); eutrophication: 25.5% (reduction of 0.9 kg of PO₄ equivalent per unit of urban equipment); energy consumption: 15.5% (reduction of 27.000 MJ per unit of urban equipment); amount of waste: 10.8% (reduction of 116 kg of waste per unit of urban equipment).