During the past 15 years, interests and awareness over the importance of zero waste has grown rapidly. There is a growing recognition on how a zero-waste approach applied locally can benefit to resolving the global crisis facing our communities. There is a growing number of cities and towns across Europe with ambitious strategies and policies designed to prevent waste from occurring. These initiatives often include forming innovative partnerships between citizens, public authorities, businesses and more, these communities are trailblazing a path for the rest of Europe to follow towards a circular economy.
Created by the Zero Waste Cities programme within Zero Waste Europe, this report is a celebration of these pioneering zero waste municipalities. The first zero waste municipality was established in Capannori, Italy in 2007, and the movement has been growing ever since. The variety and number of zero waste municipalities in Europe today proves that it is an approach which can be successfully applied in a range of diverse contexts.
The Zero Waste Cities programme has nearly 400 municipalities who have committed to our vision of zero waste, there are several good practices that tackle certain issues or policies happening in several other municipalities as well which are also detailed in the report. The programme aims to accelerate the transition towards zero waste at the city level, supporting municipalities of all sizes and from all backgrounds. Furthermore, to ensure the ambitious implementation of the latest EU legislation and zero waste strategies, based on citizen-centered models that lead to a substantial decrease in waste generation and increase in separate collection and recycling, and overall improvement of citizens’ quality of life and local resilience
The report gives detailed in information and best practices of initiatives taking place for instance, in Hungary, Italy. Ukraine, Germany, Spain and so on.
You can read the report and find out more information about the programme here. Where you can find many useful interactive materials on how to transform your own community to a Zero Waste Municipality.