Promateris was awarded a new grant from EEA & Norway Grants within the "Green energy for bio-based and compostable packaging production" project. Promateris develops the project in partnership with the Norwegian company Norsk Energi. The project aims to implement a photovoltaic system of 1 mwp at the company's plant in Buftea, Ilfov County. This project will help Promateris' transition to green energy by replacing traditional fossil fuel energy with solar energy. The investment value amounts to approximately 1 million euros, of which 597,000 euros are non-reimbursable Norwegian funds.

"In 2019, we started the decarbonization of Promateris, a project developed in several stages: the first one was the development of a new generation of bio-based, biodegradable, and compostable packaging. Therefore, in a period of only three years, we managed to implement a series of measures to decarbonize the company, such as: 100% recycling of industrial waste, local integration of raw material production, product eco-design, the manufacturing of bio-based and compostable packaging instead of the traditional polyethylene packaging. This new project aims to replace the use of traditional energy in the production process with energy from renewable resources. Our commitment to the environment is solid, and this project will bring us even closer to our goal of manufacturing packaging with the lowest carbon footprint in the entire CEE market," stated Tudor Georgescu, CEO of Promateris.

The project developed by Promateris together with Norsk Energi is expected to be completed in May 2023. The photovoltaic system that will be installed at the Promateris plant will bring significant savings for the company. The green energy obtained will be used to produce bio-based and compostable packaging and represents approximately 19% of Promateris' energy needs. The system will protect the company from changing electricity rates and will reduce its dependency on external energy sources.

The green energy produced by the photovoltaic system will reduce the carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 341,053 tons/year, which is in line with EU and national regulations and targets, contributing to the EU's strategy of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

For Promateris, this project will help increase the company's competitiveness and improve its product portfolio, further reducing the carbon footprint of the Buftea plant. This will facilitate Promateris' expansion into new markets in the CEE region.

The benefits of this project will be reflected in the next 5 years in the reduction of 5.703.240 kWh fossil fuel-based energy and the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 1,705,265 tons.

This is Promateris' third project to be carried out with EEA and Norwegian funds. In June2021, the company completed the first project - "Green Europe - Efficient technologies for manufacturing innovative and environmentally friendly products." The project had a value of 2.6 million euros, of which the value of the grant was 950,000 euros, and aimed at the development of innovative products made of bio-plastic based on corn starch. The second project developed by the company was "Decarbonizing the local economy by manufacturing bio-based products." The total investment amounted to 1.6 million euros, of which the value of the grant was 744,000 euros. The project will be completed in October 2022 and targets the production of biodegradable and compostable raw materials based on corn starch in the Buftea factory. Following the completion of this project, Promateris will become the first company in Eastern Europe to produce raw materials based on corn starch.

‍