Project name: EcoXperience EC

Project number: 040780

Project code: CENTRO-02-0853-FEDER-040780

Thematic objective: OT3 - Strengthen the competitiveness of SMEs

Intervention Region: Central Regional Operational Program

Lead Promoter: Ecoxperience, Lda

Approval date: 01/16/2019

Start date: 02/27/2019

Completion date: 02/26/2020

Total Eligible Cost: 10,000.00 EUR

Non-Refundable ERDF Fund Incentive: 7,500.00 EUR

Project description: The company's activity focuses, to a large extent, on the topic of the circular economy, as its business model consists of using and valuing polluting waste, reducing the environmental impacts caused by inefficient oil management used food. As a result of the company's positioning, in order to have coherence in the message sent to the public, it is considered that the use of other materials whose use causes environmental damage should be avoided. Therefore, the promoters of EcoXperience, Lda defined that it was the company's objective to reduce (or, if possible, eliminate) the use of plastics in its production and commercial process. This material is not biodegradable and has harmful effects on nature, particularly on biodiversity. Since the company positions itself as environmentally responsible, there is a pressing need to replace the use of this material with another that fits within the context of the circular economy. Therefore, the company is faced with a challenge that it does not have the capacity to respond to through the use of its current resources. In this sense, the Circular Economy Valley meets a pressing and previously identified need. The plastics to be replaced are present in the packaging sold in two of the company's products. The educational line (through the Soapy Kit) is one of those that will benefit from this intervention, as plastics would be replaced by another renewable or reusable material. In this case, the product includes some items that come packaged in plastic, which is the material that is intended to be replaced. This case is particularly important as these kits are intended for children aged 6 to 12 and this change would help with the environmental education of young Soapy users. Additionally, the company, as already mentioned, operates in the business segment, mainly targeting hotels, restaurants and cafes. In this case, exactly the same problem arises. The product in question is slightly different, since the industrial line requires a product of greater size and weight. However, the problem is the same, given that the containers used in this company's line are packaged using plastic. Replacing the plastic in this product may eventually involve greater implementation difficulties, which is why it is necessary that the specialized consultancy to be hired can correctly assist the company in this matter. In both cases, the specialized services to be hired are expected to study the existence of alternative materials, giving priority to the use of renewable materials, as well as indicating, among the existing alternatives, which ones best suit EcoXperience, Lda. Furthermore, it is expected that the consultancy will take into account the two lines that the company currently sells and the differences between the two products, since the material to be used may not be exactly the same. Additionally, it should be noted that the company is developing a line for domestic use, which will allow the transformation of cooking oils into cleaning products based on a small tablet (one-n-one). In this sense, specialized consultancy can take charge, if possible, of studying which materials will be used in the new line, which will be launched in the short term. In this way, by acting proactively, the new line could even reach the market without plastics.