Kiel 2019: a milestone for Zero Waste Cities in Germany
[vc_custom_heading text=”Kiel 2019: a milestone for Zero Waste Cities
in Germany” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:60|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1554379643475{padding-bottom: 10px !important;}”]Press Contact: Agnese Marcon, Project and Communication Officer, Zero Waste Europe
[email protected]
+39 347 5509 582
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Kiel 01/04/2019
On March 29 Zero Waste Europe and its member Zero Waste Kiel hosted the international conference Kiel 2019: a milestone for Zero Waste Cities in Germany. In February 2018 Zero Waste Kiel proposed to the city administration the adoption of a Zero Waste road map as San Francisco, their twin city, had done. This road map is embedded in the Zero Waste Cities mentoring and recognition programme run by Zero Waste Europe and its members. On November 22nd Kiel officially became the first German municipality committing to go Zero Waste.
Being the first German city starting its journey towards Zero Waste, Kiel was a strategic choice for the international conference
on Zero Waste Cities, hoping that Zero Waste become a seed that will sprout in the rest of Germany.
Joan Marc Simon, Executive Director, Zero Waste Europe
The morning started with a big announcement: the city of Kiel managed to raise funds to finance the Zero Waste plan for the first year.
The breaking news was cheered by all the audience and the organisations involved, hoping it’s just the starting point of a long term project
which is going to influence the whole country. The conference received local and international interest, with 226 registrants from 36 countries.
It featured 21 speakers from all over Europe, who covered the fundamentals a municipality has to follow on its journey to become a Zero Waste City.
Dr. Ulf Kämpfer, Kiel’s Lord Mayor, welcomed the participants along with the local organisers, Marie & Marc Delaperrière, funders of Zero Waste Kiel,
which is currently pushing for the creation of the national German movement “Zero Waste Germany”.
It is with the perspective of encouraging Kiel on its journey to become a Zero Waste City that Zero Waste Kiel decided jointly with Zero Waste Europe
to organise this conference. It shall provide a concrete view of what a Zero Waste city is and inspire our city, other German municipalities
and also our Baltic neighbours.
Marie & Marc Delaperrière, funders of Zero Waste Kiel
The conference showcased all the key steps for Zero Waste Strategies implementation: biowaste collection, decentralised composting,
economic incentives for waste prevention and reduction like PAYT (Pay As You Throw), Enviromental taxation and new business models
with DRS (Deposit Return Schemes).
The state capital Kiel has not only been a climate protection city for many years and has set itself the goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050.
We are also well on the way to becoming one of the first Zero Waste Cities in Germany. I am sure that the Zero Waste Europe conference
will provide us with many good impulses and suggestions for achieving this goal.
Dr. Ulf Kämpfer, Kiel’s Lord Mayor
The conference also featured a recorded contribution from Alexa Kielty, Zero Waste Specialist at San Francisco Environment
and an introduction on the new Wuppertal Institute Waste Prevention Indicators study.
Such conferences are instrumental in bringing together local change agents and foster cross-pollination of best practices.
The need for further support and training is one of our priority. I very much invite all interested players, local authorities,
social entrepreneurs and civil society, to join us for our future events and Study Tours. We need everyone on board to turn Zero Waste into reality!
Esra Tat, Network & Development Coordinator in charge of the Cities and Communities Programme at Zero Waste Europe
ENDS