G.A.T.E.: Green plAntations in The circular Economy
The aim of G.A.T.E. system is to support trees in the early stages of their life working as a backup water tank that keeps feeding the plant roots during the first 4 to 5 years of growth
G.A.T.E. re-uses scrapped metal coffee containers, filled with water-retaining materials and nutrients to increase seedling success rate up to 90% and to reduce the carbon footprint of the metallic can, the irrigation needs up to 90%, and the cost of planting and plant caring compared to competition.
Cross-border/international
Cyprus
Greece
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Plantations
250 Trees - Dali, Nicosia, Cyprus
500 Trees - Paphos , Cyprus
200 Trees - Academia Park in Nicosia, Cyprus
300 Trees - Athalassas Park in Nicosia, Cyprus
300 Trees - Limassol, Cyprus
250 Trees - Mammari, Nicosia, Cyprus
150 Trees - Larnaca , Cyprus
100 Trees - Geri, Cyprus
100 Trees - Egkomi , Cyprus
50 Trees - Lakonia, Greece
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Yes
EIT Climate-KIC Accelerator Program - 2021
No
Yes
2022-09-30
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): THINGS GREEN LTD Type of organisation: For-profit company First name of representative: Eleftherios Last name of representative: Asteris Gender: Male Nationality: Greece Function: Managing Director Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Korai 27 Town: Nicosia Postal code: 1016 Country: Cyprus Direct Tel:+357 96 263892 E-mail:lefteris.asteris7@gmail.com Website:https://thingsgreen.org/index.php/el/
The primary objective of our project is to develop and commercialize a groundbreaking planting system that significantly contributes towards environmental sustainability. This is accomplished through the implementation of a more effective planting mechanism compared to currently available solutions, which lies on specific aspects of waste management, giving a significant impact to the environment and contributing to circular economy. Specifically, the project introduces a novel planting technique called G.A.T.E., which is based on the re-use of metallic coffee containers that would otherwise be scrapped or recycled. These containers are filled up with water-retaining materials, which in combination with used coffee grounds, are placed in the ground underneath a tree seedling. In addition, the metal box contains several nutrient materials that help new trees grow healthier at the first crucial years of their development, using minimal water resources and watering efforts.
Circular Economy
Water Savings
Efficient Plantation
Waste Management
Environmental Sustainability
In terms of environmental sustainability, the project addresses top priorities of the EU Green Deal; mainly the “fresh air, clean water, healthy soil and biodiversity” as well as “cleaner energy” through the reduction of carbon footprint. On a national level, there has been a growing realization in governments that it is impossible to separate economic issues from social and environmental ones, an opinion also shared by multilateral institutions. It is therefore critical to embody
sustainability in environmental, social, and business environments, but also in people’s everyday life. This can be achieved through the creation and diffusion of novel knowledge and orientation towards sustainable business models and practices, to help build a “more prosperous, just and secure future”. After all, as the World Commission on Environment and Development puts it, “it’s up to the people to change attitudes” to achieve sustainable results.
General Impact: G.A.T.E. project has a wider environmental, economic, and social impact, which lies along three main characteristics: Sustainable growth; Resources savings; and Carbon footprint reduction.
- Sustainable growth of trees through (i) plantation activity that presents higher success rate than current solutions, (ii) trees with higher growth rate, and (iii) trees with improved nutrition as estimated by leaf analysis
- Resources savings through (i) less water to be consumed for watering the trees, (ii) a smaller number of trips required for watering the trees and thus lower energy consumption (iii) lower energy consumption by skipping the energy-consuming metal recycling process
- Carbon footprint reduction through (i) skip of carbon emissions during recycling process, (ii) skip of carbon emission during trips to transfer water to the trees and (iii) increase carbon absorption by growing tree.
G.A.T.E. enhances the entire tree planting process by providing a novel product, a new technique and a holistic operational model. The projects positively impacts all involved stakeholders in the ways described below:
- Providers of coffee cans and waste: are able to: (i) significantly reduce their waste, which is currently a caveat that causes environmental, social, economic, and legislative problems, (ii) leverage their participation in the project to significantly improve their image and goodwill, and (iii) enhance their CSR activities with actions that create value.
- Organizations and institutions addressing environmental issues: Specifically, for local authorities, municipalities, NGOs, and large enterprises that undertake tree planting initiatives, the biggest impact arises from:
(i) the use of a tested and proven tree-planting technique, (ii) the inherent increase in tree-planting success rates, (iii) the potential collaboration with local industry, (iv) the significant impact their participation in this project will have on their image and goodwill, and (v) the opportunity to achieve real impact.
Overall, the project outcomes result in an increased awareness about the environment, the successful completion of reforestation/afforestation projects, and bonding between local businesses and authorities, for the benefit of the entire community.
G.A.T.E. enhances the entire tree planting process by providing a novel product, a new technique and a holistic operational model. The project aims to include the wider society toward its key environmental objectives:
(A) Add value to waste materials such as coffee cans and used coffee grounds, strengthening the circular economy.
(B) Reduce carbon footprint due to less number of trips required for watering plants, more CO2 absorption attributed
to higher surviving rate of the trees planted with G.A.T.E., and reduce the needs for tree fertilization.
(C) Increase water savings in plants growth, which is crucial for countries with drought or limited water supplies like
Cyprus and other countries in the Mediterranean region and elsewhere.
(D) Increase the chances of successful tree planting/growth.
Overall, the project outcomes result in an increased awareness about the environment, the successful completion of reforestation/afforestation projects, and bonding between local businesses and authorities, for the benefit of the entire community.
Results will be disseminated to the widest possible community through various channels and instruments toward social inclusion:
• Project Branding. Project logo for the project identity.
• Website and Social Media. A dedicated website and Social media accounts
• Exhibitions: Participation in international exhibitions
• Newsletters. G.A.T.E. has planed an edition of a newsletter to highlight project results and include project news, external news, and relevant information. This will be sent to project collaborators, stakeholders, local press, and other interested individuals.
• Press Releases: News of the project will be disseminated via press releases to media outlets (press, journals, web portals) to ensure that industry, civil society organizations, policy-making authorities, potential end-users, and the wider community are aware of the project, its objectives, and its outcomes.
Since 2017, the team has been implementing and developing the G.A.T.E. tree planting methodology. It has since been planting more than 2000 trees in the municipalities of Cyprus (Idalion, Latsia, Yeri, Nicosia, Aradippou, Egkomi, Aglantzia, and the Livadia) and Greece (Lakonia). Toward the plantation system and technique development, the team behind G.A.T.E. project has also focused on the added value of the project to the society.
Specifically, the team has collaborated with the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority for their Corporate Social Responsibility actions, whilst working closely with Green Dot Cyprus and the Commissioner of Environment on several projects in Cyprus. To date, the team has provided consultation in this respect, and has collaborated with, the aforementioned municipalities. It has also successfully participated in relevant actions led by organizations such as the “Tree for every child that is born”, “Let’s do it Cyprus”, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with Cyprus Telecommunications Authority.
The project has targeted the following stakeholders:
1. State governments. The majority of states around the world launch long-term, nation-wide reforestation and afforestation programs as part of their environmental policy to contribute to the emergence of green economy, the fight against climate change, and poverty. The need for water savings and high success rate is apparent. (ex. Cyprus Gov)
2. Local authorities/municipalities. A lot of reforestation and afforestation programs have a community component as they are planned, organized, and deployed by local authorities, with the support of volunteers due to limited staff available. (ex. Municipalities in Cyprus and Greece)
3. Large enterprises. Boardrooms of numerous large enterprises deal with the phrase “corporate social responsibility”. (ex. Avon, Dell, etc.)
4. NGOs. The “third sector” is organized around various conservation/environmental organizations working around the world to protect places of ecological importance. (ex. Green Dot, etc.)
5. Coffee suppliers (ex. illy, etc.), who can re-use their scrapped metallic containers and coffee leftovers for the plantation of trees closing the circular economy of coffee. It is essentially a circle starting from the coffee tree via harvesting of coffee beans, ending in the plantation of a new tree using the coffee leftovers and coffee metal containers to make plantation successful and to minimize watering needs. Coffee suppliers are engaged by framing metal containers and coffee leftovers collection toward G.A.T.E. plantations. Such an engagement by coffee suppliers allows them to comply with new environmental regulations and promote to the wider public a green and environmental sensitive-profile.
G.A.T.E. enhances the entire tree planting process by providing a novel product, a new technique and a holistic operational model. The projects positively impacts all involved stakeholders in the ways described below:
- Providers of coffee cans and waste: are able to: (i) significantly reduce their waste, which is currently a caveat that causes environmental, social, economic, and legislative problems, (ii) leverage their participation in the project to significantly improve their image and goodwill, and (iii) enhance their CSR activities with actions that create value.
- Organizations and institutions addressing environmental issues: Specifically, for local authorities, municipalities, NGOs, and large enterprises that undertake tree planting initiatives, the biggest impact arises from:
(i) the use of a tested and proven tree-planting technique, (ii) the inherent increase in tree-planting success rates, (iii) the potential collaboration with local industry, (iv) the significant impact their participation in this project will have on their image and goodwill, and (v) the opportunity to achieve real impact.
Overall, the project outcomes result in an increased awareness about the environment, the successful completion of reforestation/afforestation projects, and bonding between local businesses and authorities, for the benefit of the entire community.
G.A.T.E. introduces a new methodology that re-uses 3kg metal coffee containers (used in cafeterias, hotels, restaurants, etc.), which are filled with water-retaining materials that blend with used coffee grounds, and places them 100 cm in average below the ground surface underneath the tree seedling.
The container, with all nutrients inside (floricultural minerals with emphasis in zeolite and perlite among others), helps new trees grow healthy at the first crucial years of development. The main advantages of this technique are:
- It increases seedling success rate up to 90%
- It helps significantly reduce the flow of waste, since the metallic box that is used for backup water tank decomposes in five years’ time if placed inside the soil.
- It reduces the carbon footprint of the metallic can by returning it to nature, while helping a new tree to grow securely, which in turn will continue to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.
- It significantly reduces the volume of water needed to grow trees in the early years of their development (official measurements show a 70 to 90% reduction in irrigation needs). Deeper digging does not imply higher costs, since the cost difference from 30 to 100 cm digging, when larger diggers (augers) are used, is not significant.
- It significantly reduces the cost of planting and plant caring compared to competition offering a process with further added value in the circular economy.
In addition, G.A.T.E. benefits customer organizations by providing continuous consulting on tree-planting projects before and after plantation, including sustainability reports. This service has been designed to include:
- All technical information required for the planting project,
- Information related to trees’ needs in water and nutrients post-planting, and
- Information regarding the environmental impact per project with actual measurements of contribution to positive effects on the environment for every action undertaken (based on practices).
The aim of G.A.T.E. system is to support trees in the early stages of their life. Its rationale is that it essentially works as a backup water tank that collects water during the winter and allows increased level of soil moisture during summer for feeding the trees’ roots during the first 4 to 5 years of their growth, until the roots reach at depth of more than 2 meters, where soil moisture levels can sustain further development of trees. This support is vital for new trees, which usually reach a withering point during summer due to absence of soil moisture within the ground as well as lack of nutrients that would feed roots to grow deeper.
The exact depth that G.A.T.E. system needs to be located during plantation depends on the tree, since roots of different trees can grow from 2 to even 25 meters or deeper. Preparing a database that will relate depth with climate and soil characteristics is one of the project objectives. GATE is unique for urban or close to urban plantations, where soils are softer, however, it can be used in mountains and places with reduced rainfalls.
The desired size of the container is the one that is slightly smaller than the bulk ball of roots that trees usually have at plantation. This size allows roots to grow either in or around or both in and around of the metal boxes, while at the same time maintain a level of water to increase soil moisture and attract root growth in larger depths. Although larger cans could provide higher volume of backup water, they could prevent the growth of roots in depth.
The materials involved within the metallic can, (i.e. zeolith, perlite, coffee grounds) maintain water and do not allow significant water diffusion toward soil surface, where water evaporates, which usually happens due to temperature difference between soil surface and metal box. Finally, although coffee grounds may be toxic for some plants, it has been observed that they act as fertilizer to the trees included in G.A.T.E. database.
The project has different arms to address different aspects of implementation.
A first aspect focuses on dissemination, communication, and exploitation activities including internet presence, marketing campaign, IP strategy, and commercialization plan throughout the project duration as well as in the future.
In addition, the business aspect gives emphasis on how to penetrate the market. Toward this direction, activities such as market analysis, competition analysis, market strategy, business model development are continuously up to date.
Development and operation activities involve continuous GATE system optimization via investigation of system’s key elements as well as the expansion of a large database that includes combinations of minerals in a variety of pedoclimatic conditions. Such a database gives a competitive advantage to GATE to further improve seedling success rate by addressing the nutrients needed per land/ground/climate type.
At the same time, by using current experience as well as the database findings, planting activities keep growing in higher volumes across Europe.
Eventually, the focus is on the optimization and launch of the web-platform to further engage stakeholders. This will also involve strategic marketing of G.A.T.E. via advertising across communication channels.
A market penetration strategy in EU and global markets has been designed. Typically, a tree planting activity is organized by a government, local authority or NGO, which assigns the purchase of trees, watering and support to local vendors. Through the G.A.T.E. web-platform local vendors and interested-in-tree-planting entities can be engaged accessing G.A.T.E. system for trees to be planted. .A.T.E. system can be reached either via entities' requests for the trees to be planted or via selection by local vendors for increased success seedling rate. Following the first years of growth, international expansion will include local agents and distributors to maximize sales.
Due to its inherent capacity for affecting positively the environment, G.A.T.E. exhibits great prospects for wide expansion into international markets.
In a nutshell, the project has targeted a universal and urgent problem confronted by humanity on a global scale, namely deforestation and associated environmental degradation, for which governments, independent organizations, and international institutions are highly concerned with.
G.A.T.E. thus presents a solid growth potential, and a strong capacity for global outreach, both in terms of market size and need, as well as scalability/expandability/transferability. It provides an effective solution that also brings together the industry and local authorities, something not sufficiently addressed by competing products/services. Given the limited competition, and provided that a solid marketing strategy is in place, there is great scope for obtaining a substantial market share, both locally and globally.
Scalability/expandability/transferability of G.A.T.E. system and methodology is also triggered by the current afforestation and reforestation programs across the world: Starting locally, in Cyprus, according to the director of the Cyprus Department of Forest, a total of 60,000 trees are planted every year by the department. Around the globe, large afforestation/reforestation programs have been launched by many countries such as the UK, USA, Brazil, Chile, New Zealand, China, and South Korea. A large driver is certainly the relevant EU program. EU has announced the tree planning target of 3 billion trees by 2030, with only 9.4 million to have been planted as of Jan 2023. This demand supports the need for practices such as G.A.T.E., both at a national and international level, for supporting afforestation and reforestation initiatives, which are currently on the rise.
1-Environmental sustainability: The project addresses top priorities of the EU Green Deal; mainly the “fresh air, clean water, healthy soil and biodiversity” as well as “cleaner energy” through the reduction of carbon footprint.
2-Environmental degradation: As of now, 6 million hectares of productive dryland turns into worthless desert annually. At the same time, more than 11 million hectares of forests are destroyed every year, much of which are converted to low-grade farmland, unable to support the farmers who settle it. In Europe, acid precipitation kills forests and lakes. The burning of fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide, which causes a rise in global warming. Also, industrial gases threaten to deplete the earth's ozone shield, leading to several well-known consequences for the planet and the humanity.
3-Deforestation and reforestation/afforestation.: Farming, grazing of livestock, mining, drilling, forestry, wildfires, and urbanization account for deforestation. Between 1990 and 2016, the world lost 1.3 million sq. kilometers of forest. Since humans started cutting down forests, 46% of trees have been lost. About 17% of the Amazonian rainforest has been lost since 1970s. Major consequences of deforestation include damages in climate stability and biodiversity.
4-The institutional dichotomy: Figuring out (and maintaining) the ‘appropriate’ balance between two contradictory by nature goals, (1) "increasing economic development", on one hand, and (2) "reducing any adverse implications this may have to the environment and the society", on the other, is a rather challenging problem for institutions.
5-Sustainability in business: Ecological degradation has a detrimental effect to business reputation. It is increasingly difficult for companies to ignore environmental risks in their supply chains, thus they revert to sustainable business models. Also, a new requirement for companies is to produce sustainability reports in addition to their financial statements.
