Mission Zero Academy (MiZA)
Strong and ambitious zero waste policies must be accompanied by equally ambitious implementation for them to achieve the best results. The Mission Zero Academy was born to bridge the gap between expertise and the organisations wanting to transform their operation to a more circular way and that way accelerate the transition to a zero waste society.” – Kaisa Karjalainen, Manager of the Mission Zero Academy
Since its creation, the primary focus of Zero Waste Europe has been to support our network of national and local zero waste groups and NGOs to engage with local decision-makers and monitor the ambitious implementation of zero waste initiatives.
Over the years, it has become clear that accelerating this transition will require an additional effort of mainstreaming “how-tos”, especially in training local stakeholders themselves, be it municipalities or SMEs. In parallel, we also witnessed that the increasing use of the zero waste term has also resulted in its definition and approach being diluted and weakened. Today, it is not unusual to discover municipalities or corporations claiming that they or their business are zero waste, without understanding the holistic, community-led approach that this requires.
The Mission Zero Academy (MiZA) was created to fill in these gaps. Established as a separate entity from ZWE in March 2021 and running the world’s first Zero Waste Cities Certification, MiZA is the capacity-building hub for local decision-makers, SMEs, and other organisations wanting to take a step forward in their zero waste strategies and circular economy implementation.
MiZA provides practical tools, resources, online and offline learning opportunities and expert advice as a one-stop-shop to ensure the transition towards zero waste strategies and practices is effective and widespread.