Kiel 2019: A milestone for Zero Waste cities in Germany
The International conference “Kiel 2019: A milestone for Zero Waste Cities” presented the vision and the implementation of the Zero Waste strategies, through the most innovative and successful experiences at both the European and national level. It covered overall Zero Waste strategies and waste prevention with families as well as decentralised composting, PAYT (Pay As You Throw) and reuse systems at the municipal level. The conference aims to provide a European overview of some exemplary initiatives across Europe and help regions and cities in their transition towards Zero Waste.
On Friday March 29th in Kiel, our last Zero Waste Cities conference, co-organised by Zero Waste Kiel e.V., brought together no less than 226 registrants: representatives of NGOs, innovative businesses and public authorities, as well as University students and private citizens from across Europe, gathered to learn more about the municipalities’ journey towards Zero Waste. This has indeed recently become a hot topic in the country: last November, thanks to the support of Zero Waste Kiel e.V., Kiel was the first German municipality to officially commit to Zero Waste.
In total, 21 speakers from all across Europe showcased encouraging best practices and the numerous Q&As gave the audience the opportunity to exchange ideas, compare experiences and find inspirations. In the words of Zero Waste Europe Network and Development Coordinator in charge of the Cities programme Esra Tat:
“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 priorities. 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!”
ORGANISERS:
Zero Waste Europe
Zero Waste Europe was created to empower communities to rethink their relationship with resources. In a growing number of regions, local groups of individuals, businesses and city officials have taken significant steps towards eliminating waste in our society. Zero Waste Europe engages these groups at two levels: supporting local groups with independent knowledge and streamlined tools to drive change more efficiently, structuring the movement internationally to better represent the interests of our communities at the EU level and engage policymakers with a unified voice. We are both a knowledge network and an advocacy group, representing active communities in countries across the EU. We want to redesign our society so that all superfluous waste is eliminated and everything that is produced can be reused, repaired, composted or recycled back into the system. Anything that can’t be repaired, composted or recycled should be re-designed and replaced or banned from entering the market.Zero Waste Kiel e.V.
Created in 2016, the association “Zero waste Kiel e.V.” is dedicated to reducing and avoiding unnecessary packaging and waste in the private (Zero Waste Lifestyle), commercial (Zero Waste in Business) and public (Zero Waste in Cities) areas. We collect technical, scientific and organizational solutions that serve this goal and report on it. Another focus of our work are public relations and events on waste prevention. Zero Waste does not mean having to give up everything. It is rather a gain in knowledge about appreciation, recycling and circular economy of the resources of our earth. We believe that thoughtful consumption creates the basic prerequisite for a sustainable world and resource conservation. With our 30 active members, we network with other associations, institutions or non-profit organisations in Schleswig-Holstein that are promoting projects on waste prevention or environmental issues.SUPPORTERS
This project was financed with support from the Environmental Protection Fund of the city of Kiel.
