European GREENLIFE4SEAS Programme, promising laboratory results for prototypes suitable for industrial production
Applied research. Monitoring of ongoing activities and results, 12 and 13 February at Poliba.
11 February 2026
Green Life 4 Seas (GREen ENgineering solutions: a new LIFE FOR SEdiments And Shells) is the European project, funded under the European LIFE Programme, which aims to transform the problem of the difficult disposal of two categories of marine-origin waste: dredged port sediments and mussel shells, into an industrial resource on a large scale for the production of new products with greater energy savings.
With a five-year duration (2023-2028) and funding of approximately 4 million euros, GL4S is coordinated by the Polytechnic University of Bari. Launched in 2023, the project has achieved promising technical-scientific results that have been translated into several prototypes of industrial products, including full-scale ones, suitable for production and on-site testing, namely in the ports participating in the project: the Port of Bari and Barletta, the Port of La Spezia and the Port of Piraeus (Athens) in Greece.
At the midpoint of the research and experimentation process, GL4S will receive a visit from Dr Yael Meroz, Senior Monitoring expert for the European LIFE Programmes on the days 12 and 13 February near the Polytechnic University of Bari. All project partners will be present at the visit. On this occasion, the Coast Guard, a partner affiliated with GL4S, has organised, for the day 12 February, 3:00 p.m., at the Maritime Directorate of the Bari Coast Guard, a technical session aimed at initiating the concrete implementation of a virtuous supply chain for the collection of mussel shell waste. This is the programme at the Coast Guard.
12 February, 3:00 p.m. . Institutional greetings by Rear Admiral Donato De Carolis, Commander of the Maritime Directorate of Puglia and Ionian Basilicata. The President of AdSPMAM, the Director of DICATECh, CF (CP) Tommaso Capodiferro of the Coast Guard, the European senior monitor of the LIFE Programme, Yael Meroz, the President of AMIU, Antonella Lomoro, and the regional councillors Eugenio Di Sciascio (Economic Development and Employment) and Debora Ciliento (Environment and Climate) will speak. All time 16:45 a visit to the Port of Bari by the participants is scheduled.
Poliba. The scientific sessions that will take place at the Polytechnic, in the Council Chamber of the Department of Civil, Environmental, Land, Building and Chemical Engineering (DICATECh) on the morning of 12 and 13 February, will instead be reserved only for the researchers involved and the representatives of the project partners. These are the topics: technical update on ongoing activities, verification of the milestones achieved and preparation of the final results expected. Treatment, certification and marketing of shell powder. Characterisation, dredging and decontamination of sediments for their reuse. Mix-design engineering of sediments-shell powder-cementitious component. Industrialisation, sustainability and exploitation of the project results. Assessment of environmental and economic sustainability.
The GL4S Italy-Greece partners. Polytechnic University of Bari, Department of Civil, Environmental, Land, Building and Chemical Engineering (DICATECH), CNR-IRSA of Taranto, CNR-IRET of Pisa, ISPRA offices in Rome and Livorno, Southern Adriatic Sea Port System Authority (AdSPMAM), Eastern Ligurian Sea Port System Authority (AdSPMLOr), Port Authority of Piraeus (PPA), Vitone eco, SIMEM SpA,
Other partners of the extended partnership: Coast Guard with the Maritime Directorate of Bari, Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, Municipality of Bari, Municipality of Taranto, ETH Zurich Polytechnic, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (India), Universidade Federal da Fronteira Sul (Brazil), Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Spain), Université Grenoble Alpes (France), Mapei, Heidelberg, Vibrotek, Prefabbricati Pugliesi, Geosintex, W3dshells, Terre Leggere, Sednet, Remtech expo, fish-farming companies and mussel-farming cooperatives.
The article European GREENLIFE4SEAS Programme, promising laboratory results for prototypes suitable for industrial production comes from Poliba Chronicle.
