Green Leadership Partner Meeting 4 took place in Helsinki, Finland on December 11-12, 2024, and was hosted by Sykli Environmental College. Project Coordinator Yurijs from LCCI introduced the new Coordinator Linda who is taking over the management and coordibation responsibility. Partners discussed the progress with Green hackathons: Mariliis from Tartu VOCO and Katrīna from Vidzeme Technology and Design Vocational School shared the exciting stories of the recent hackathons in Tartu and Priekuļi. Aušra from VESK informed about the preparations for January 16 hackathon in Vilnius.  Most of the discussion time was devoted to organization of Baltic International hackathon in spring. Partners agreed to continue planning process in January. 

The first Green Hackathon at Tartu Vocational College, held on November 4, brought together over 100 vocational students to develop innovative solutions for real-life challenges. The hackathon was part of the Erasmus+ “Baltic Green Leadership” project.

Students’ teams could choose one of the 3 challenges:

– How to reuse small home appliances presented by Tartu Association of Local Governments;

– New ways to recycle zipper waste left over from production presented by company Coats Estonia

– Sustainable solutions for utilising (monetizing) seasonal crops grown by the Estonian Museum of Agriculture

The students teams were supported by experienced mentors from the business and sustainability fields. The teams applied “Sustainable Business Model Canvas” developed by the Finnish partner Sykli Environmental College. Throughout the day, there were sessions on generating business ideas, developing business models, and prototyping solutions. Atend of the day, teams were required to pitch their solutions.

The hackathon jury included Viljam Viljasoo, Business Consultant at Tartu Business Advisory Service; Villem Lõbu, Project Manager at the Tartu Association of Local Governments; Ilze Salnaja-Värv, Head of Exhibitions and Education at the Estonian Agricultural Museum; Vitali Tkatšuk, Production Engineer at Coats Estonia; and MariliisMaremäe, business teacher at VOCO. Based on the jury’s decision, three prizes and two special awards were given out.

Winners:

– First place went to the team Ringlus, which proposed creating a sharing economy application to rent out small home appliances and other short-term use items.

– Second place went to the team Maheamps, which proposed producing vegetable chips from crops to sell at the Agricultural Museum. They also suggested a mystery pack idea to increase playfulness and user experience.

– Third place went to the team Wrap&Zip, which created packaging from zipper and textile waste to promote greater textile recycling.

In addition, two special awards were given for best pitch and realistic community project. The top teams will compete in international Green Hackathon in Latvia in March.

The lead organizer, teacher Mariliis Maremäe, commented that the Green Hackathon was an excellent example ofstudents’ involvement and collaboration. “We had outstanding cooperation with companies who came to seek solutions to their problems, excellent mentors from both within the school and outside, and students who joined us not only from VOCO but also from Räpina School of Horticulture and Tartu Art School. I was especially pleased to see the young participants forming mixed teams and stepping out of their comfort zones.”

On September 17th, fourth-year automotive students from the Vidzeme Technology and Design Vocational School (VTDT), accompanied by their class teacher, Kristīne Krodziniece, went on a study visit to SIA “Getliņi EKO.”

During the visit to the “Getliņi” landfill, students learned about the differences between landfills and dumps, waste sorting, biodegradable waste processing, and gas extraction. They also explored the energy block’s role in converting gas into electricity and heat, as well as the site’s high-tech greenhouses and their link to the circular economy.
A big thank you to SIA “Getliņi EKO” for providing valuable insights, knowledge, and the opportunity to deepen the students’ understanding of environmental protection, proper waste management, and efficient energy production.

The visit to the landfill took place within the framework of the project “Baltic Green Leadership: VET Students as Agents of Change” (2022-1-LV01-KA220-VET-000089171).

The VOCO Sustainability Week culminated in a teacher training day on Friday, April 12, bringing together nearly 30 teachers interested in green topics.

During the day, teachers were introduced to the materials created by the Baltic Green Leadership project that they can use in their teaching. Teachers participating in green consortia also presented what has been done so far and what innovations are planned to introduce more green skills into the vocational curriculum. Karin Traks, a teacher, helped to recall the most important concepts related to sustainability, the European Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as the GreenComp framework of sustainability competences in green skills.

In the workshops that followed, participants were introduced to practical methods to help integrate sustainability themes into different lessons. Teachers Helin Liiv, Heike Toomik and Anette Teesaar presented their inclusive methods and everyone had the opportunity to try out role-playing, problem cards or board games.

The day ended with a trip to the Cider House in Valgjärve, where a superb example of circular economy in a production company was explored.

The focus of the VOCO Sustainability Week was on the textile sector. During the week, both teachers and students could participate in various workshops, discuss in panel discussions on reuse, recycling, and reducing textile waste,  watch a fashion show, and visit the exhibition “Out of the Closet – Clothes Between the Body and the Weather” set up by the Tartu Nature House.

On  March 27, 2024 partner representatives had study visits to find out about sustainability approaches in business and other sectors.  Partners visited Tartu Food Bank, brewery A.Le Coq and had a lunch meeting with the sustainability representative of European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024 office.

 Tartu Food Bank works to reduce food waste of retailers by collecting the food with close expiration dates from the shops, repacking it and donating it to low income and needy people. 

 Brewery and producer of beverages A.Le Coq has won the title of the Most  Sustainable Company of the Year 2023 in Estonia. The sustainability specialist of the company informed about sets of measures implemented in several areas to reduce negative impact for environment and about the ambitious targets for the coming years. 

During an informal meeting with the representative of European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024 partners learned about the guidelines by Tartu 2024 for organizing environmentally friendly events.