Here are some of the success stories we’ve achieved together with communities over the past decade.
At the local level, our work focuses on supporting communities and grassroots groups as they transition to zero waste. This shift not only protects the environment but also helps build strong local economies and strengthens social ties across Europe.
We support ambitious waste reduction strategies that drive change from the ground up, empowering people to rethink how they use resources and relate to nature. By working together, we can create lasting and transformative change.
2025 - Setting a new path for bio-waste management in Europe
Bringing together a set of comprehensive policy recommendations, based upon detailed data and first-hand experiences from local experts and best practices across Europe, for how we can drastically accelerate progress on getting bio-waste out of landfills and incinerators, instead into compost heaps and back to enrich our soils.
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2024 - Building an integrated network and ecosystem to deliver local change
In March 2024, cities and ZWE members got together for the training course “Crafting city-wide plastic prevention and reuse strategies to brainstorm on practical solutions for waste prevention in communities. This event was attended by over 50 people from all over Europe.
2024 - Putting waste prevention into practice: the introduction and growth of plastic prevention policies
Over the past two years, Zero Waste Europe and 10 of its member organisations have teamed up with 30 European cities through the Elevating Reuse in Cities (ERIC) project, consolidating a network now covering over 3 million EU citizens. Together, they are developing and implementing local prevention plans to help reduce the generation of single-use material waste. This network spans from major cities like Nantes, Lyon, Brussels, and Zagreb to smaller communities such as Calatafimi-Segesta (Italy), Viladecans (Catalonia), as well as popular tourist destinations like Bled (Slovenia).
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2024 - Highlighting the gap between policy and reality
We published the second edition of our report which presents pioneering research into how much bio-waste is actually being collected vs what is continuing to end up in landfills and incinerators. This report highlights that whilst progress is being made (8% increase in 4 years), across the EU only 26% of food waste is currently captured for recycling - showcasing a huge need for action and improvements, given the EU mandate for separate biowaste collection in force since 1st Jan 2024.
Read the report
2022 - Training leaders for zero waste solutions
As part of an Erasmus+ project coordinated by our member Zero Waste Estonia, we helped create the Zero Waste Training Handbook and supplementary Ambassador & Trainer curricula. These are the most comprehensive and practical educational resources out there regarding how to teach zero waste to individuals working with communities.
Check out the handbook
2021 - Launching the world's first Zero Waste Cities Certification
Launched in 2021 with our sister organisation the Mission Zero Academy, the world’s first Zero Waste Cities Certification has continued to grow in size and impact ever since. In 2025, we welcomed Europe’s first Capital Zero Waste Candidate City - Tallinn, Estonia.
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