Presenting our partners: STS

State Environmental Service of the Republic of Latvia (STS) works under the Climate and Energy Ministry in Latvia. STS handles the environmental protection permits, inspections, and provides legislative feedback. They collaborate with municipalities, businesses, and the public on environmental issues. STS will lead the identification of relevant legislation from other countries, promoting best practices and sustainable use of resources within the project, and will help develop and translate the workbook into latvian.

Similarly to Lithuania, Latvia does not have a long experience in producing renewable energy. As the time goes by, solar panels and wind turbines age, but there is no concrete solution what to do with them in their end-of-life stage.

“Right now, there’s very little clear legislation on how to deal with composite waste, even though the problem is growing quickly,” explains Aiva Kūla, project manager in the Waste Management Department. “We see more renewable energy systems being installed, but few are thinking about what happens to that waste 20 years from now.”

Latvia is already beginning to see this issue firsthand. That urgency motivates to help create a framework that other countries can also benefit from. So far, in the first few months of this project, STS has developed templates for collecting legislative data from all project partners and begun assembling the foundations of the CompositeCircle’s future guidebook. They are also working closely with Latvian ministries and stakeholders to ensure that insights from the project are integrated into national policy discussions.

One of the key challenges in the CompositeCircle project is the complex task of compiling diverse national legislation into a single, unified workbook. Each participating country has its own legal framework, terminology, and regulatory approach to waste management, making it difficult to align and compare information in a consistent format. Translating and interpreting these laws, while ensuring accuracy and relevance, requires significant time, coordination, and attention to detail.

This is precisely where collaboration becomes invaluable. By working together, partners can create something that none of them could achieve alone – a truly comprehensive and practical solution that works across borders.

Aiva’s belief in the project’s impact is echoed by other partners: that by working together and sharing knowledge, the CompositeCircle project can spark meaningful change and drive Europe closer to a truly circular economy. Although the work can be challenging, it is deeply rewarding. “Hope is what moves us forward,” says Kūla. “And with this project, we have every reason to believe that progress is possible.”

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