INTERREG HAZGONE

Project name: HAZGONE
Project management: Riga State City Municipality
Subject areas: Chemicals management, Water management and marine protection
Funded by: INTERREG Baltic Sea Region
Duration: 07/2025 – 06/2028
Project website: https://interreg-baltic.eu/project/hazgone/

HAZGONE equips public authorities, NGOs, and businesses in the Baltic Sea region with knowledge, best practices, and training to tackle hazardous substances and micropollutants through the first holistic strategy, combining prevention at the source and advanced clean-up at the end of the pipe. HAZGONE consolidates outcomes from 14 EU projects.

There’s no doubt, that hazardous substances (HAZ) and micropollutants (MPs) are two sides of the same coin and a big issue in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR). In practice however, these topics are divided into two categories: „upstream“ (prevention, substitution, disposal of HAZ) and „downstream“ (removal, monitoring, analysis of MPs). The HAZGONE platform aims to connect these, equipping local and national authorities, non-governmental organisations, business associations and others with a holistic understanding of the HAZ sources and pathways.

Strong outputs have been created in Interreg BSR projects such as NonHazCity 1-3, EMPEREST, ChemClimCircle1-2, APRIORA and many others, which the platform brings together using Baltic Smart Water HUB as a digital headquarters.

Using these collected materials, the project will: 1) establish a network of stakeholders providing three years of active exchange through public forums, online events, and other engagement tools; 2) bring tailored outreach materials to the target groups, enabling them to reach their communities; 3) assist national authorities and treatment plants with the adoption to the revised Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive; 4) take the collected knowledge to the policy level and ensure an equal presence of both up- and downstream measures. The holistic approach to HAZ is vital for tackling the problem from both ends of the „pipe“ and ensuring a better state of the Baltic, both for the environment and our own health.