Welcome to the new IMPEL newsletter! The aim of the newsletter is to give you a quick overview of some of the recent news stories and activities in the network. If you have any feedback or would like to see additional topics covered in the newsletter, please send an email to info@impel.eu.
IMPEL National Peer Review Initiative (NPRI) Meeting in Èvora, Portugal
12 Dec, 2023
Èvora, Portugal
At the invitation of the Comissão de Coordenação de Desenvolvimento Regional do Alentejo, I.P. (CCDR-A, I.P.), an NPRI meeting was held in Èvora, Portugal, on November 30, 2023. Twelve participants attended the meeting, eight of whom represented the CCDR-A. The meeting was also attended by two colleagues from the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy, the IMPEL NPRI project manager and the project consultant.
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IMPEL National Peer Review Initiative (NPRI) Meeting in Romania
08 Dec, 2023
Bucharest meeting attendees
An NPRI meeting was held in Bucharest, Romania on November 15-17, 2023, as a follow-up to the successful stakeholder consultation held in Oradea in February 2023.
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SWEAP Contributes to WCO Operation Demeter in Fighting the Trafficking of Waste and Ozone Depleting Substances
07 Dec, 2023
Chile Customs intercepted 23,400 kg of plastic waste
The ninth iteration of WCO Operation DEMETER, which targets waste trafficking, as well as the illegal trade in ozone depleting substances (ODS) and potent greenhouse gases, took place from 1 October 2023 to 31 October 2023. It saw the participation of a record number of 106 Customs administrations and led to the detection of a record number of 338 infringement cases.
Operation DEMETER dates back to 2009 and is perhaps the most well-known of the efforts deployed by the Customs community to implement the provisions of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, and since 2019, to implement the provisions of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
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26th IMPEL GA elects new Chair and Vice Chairs
06 Dec, 2023
Impel welcomes new chair and vice chairs
On 29-30 November, the IMPEL General Assembly (GA) elected a new Chair and two new Vice Chairs for a two year period, starting in 2024.
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IMPEL Joint Network of Wild Fungi (JoNeF) Site Visit in Rome
04 Dec, 2023
Project team on Site Visit in Rome
On 29, 30 November and 1 December 2023, ISPRA hosted at its headquarters in Rome, a working group of international experts of the IMPEL Network to carry out, in hybrid mode, the meeting of the project IMPEL JONEF (Joint Network of Wild Fungi), coordinated by ISPRA.
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IMPEL Wastewater in Natural Environment (WiNE) Project Team made a site visit in Zilina, Slovakia
29 Nov, 2023
Project team in Zilina, Slovakia
As part of the IMPEL project WiNE (Wastewater in Natural Environment), a site visit to a pulp and paper mill (Mondi SCP a.s.) took place in Ružomberok (Zilina), Slovakia, on 23-24 November 2023. The event was attended by eight environmental experts from Belgium, Finland, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain.
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IMPEL Waste Incineration Subgroup Visit to London
22 Nov, 2023
Project team visit to London
On 1-2 of November 2023, a two-day event took place in London, UK, organised within the umbrella of the IMPEL project “Waste Management and Circular Economy”.
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Council and Parliament Reach Agreement for Revised Waste Shipment Regulation
17 Nov, 2023
Cargo ship in import export and business logistic
The Council and the European Parliament’s negotiators reached a provisional political agreement to update the regulation on shipments of waste. The revision of the regulation aims to reduce shipments of problematic waste to outside the EU, update shipment procedures to reflect the objectives of the circular economy and improve enforcement.
It sets procedures and control regimes to ensure that international shipments of waste do not pose a threat to human health and the environment, and to promote the use of waste as a resource in a circular economy within the EU.
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Tackling environmental crime in Europe
17 Nov, 2023
Europe unites to tackle crime
The Chair of IMPEL, Ms Ana Garcia participated in workshop in Zagreb this week with a focus on strengthening the fight against crimes that affect the environment in Southeast Europe. The event was organised by the French Embassy in Croatia & Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Croatia.
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IMPEL participates in Seminar on organised crime
14 Nov, 2023
Spanish Civil Guard
The Chair of IMPEL, Ana Garcia represented the network at a seminar to analyse and promote the priorities identified by the European Commission in the European Union Strategy against organised crime 2021-2025
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IMPEL Participates in seminar in Ukraine for the SEI
10 Nov, 2023
Ukraine
On the 25th October, the chair of IMPEL, Ana Garcia was invited to the opening remarks of a seminar for the State Environmental Inspectorate (SEI) of Ukraine supported by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OCSE) together with the OSCE Ambassador to Ukraine Mr. Marcel Peshko, Acting Head of the Division of the OECD Environment Directorate Krzysztof Michalak, Deputy Head of the Parliamentary Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management Ms. Olena Kryvoruchkina and acting Head of the SEI Mr. Ihor Zubovych.
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SWEAP Presented at EUROPOL Waste and Pollution Crime Conference
07 Nov, 2023
Europol Waste & Pollution Crimes Conference
Europol’s first ever conference on Waste and Pollution Crimes, held 30 and 31 October 2023, targeted heads of specialised criminal investigation services. The meeting focused on two objectives: 1. to add more partners to the fight against waste & pollution crimes and 2. support the creation of national focal points and specialised units.
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Environmental Protection Agency of Montenegro joins IMPEL
07 Nov, 2023
Montenegro
IMPEL is pleased to announce that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Montenegro has now joined IMPEL as new member. This was agreed unanimously in a written procedure of the General Assembly.
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Originally shared via the IMPEL email newsletter on Friday 15 December.
