The European Week for Waste Reduction rewards its best actions implemented in 2020

​​​​The award-winning initiatives come from cities and regions in Spain, Germany, Belgium, France, Bulgaria, Finland, Italy and Romania.

​​​The ceremony was held as a pre-conference event of the European Green Week 2021 focused on “Zero pollution”, one of the key aspects of the European Green Deal. The EWWR Awards will contribute to celebrating best practices and highlighting the link between waste and pollution. Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Françoise Bonnet, Secretary General at ACR+ and Tjisse Stelpstra, member of the European Committee of the Regions and member of the Council of the Province of Drenthe, opened the ceremony and welcomed the participants to this great celebration of the European Week for Waste Reduction.

Tjisse Stelpstra , member of the European Committee of the Region, declared: "There is no waste! We need a mind shift in how to look at resources. Too often in our linear economy, materials are simply discarded and tossed away. But materials we no longer use, are the resources of our future. Governments at all levels have to lead in regulating and stimulating to make a fair transition to a circular economy possible. The Action Plan of the European Commission says good things on re-use and the right to repair. We can prevent a lot of waste if products are designed accordingly. Many people have excellent ideas, but more than that, there is a lot of activity. So this award ceremony is for me also a ceremony of hope and confidence."

Virginijus Sinkevičius , European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, stated: “The circular economy is a core priority and it’s one of the pillars of the European Green Deal. Our new Circular Economy action plan offers a model to reduce consumption and to double the use of circular materials in the next ten years. The transition towards a circular economy will not be easy but people like you are showing it can be done. In a moment, the most outstanding actions carried out during the Wee will be rewarded, but every action counts and the biggest award is to be part of the movement that brings about a more sustainable future.”

Françoise Bonnet , Secretary General at ACR+, said: “The 12th edition of the EWWR was a great example of how much this campaign can be powerful. Regardless the Covid19 restrictions, more than 10,600 actions were registered. The involvement and commitment of many action-developers and coordinators makes this initiative very impactful in promoting the waste prevention at local level and spreading the message of a transition towards a circular economy.”

Out of the 16 finalists pre-selected by the EWWR Jury in March 2021, six actions were awarded during the ceremony. As a recognition, the winners received a recycled wood trophy crafted by a Maltese local artist. For the first time, the EWWR Secretariat awarded an additional action voted by the participants of the Ceremony.

The European Week of Waste Reduction (EWWR) is the biggest campaign to raise awareness about waste prevention in Europe. Driven by local and regional public authorities, brings together different actors, such as citizens, schools, businesses, NGOs and associations, who organise activities to raise awareness about waste reduction. The initiative was born in 2009 as an EU-funded LIFE+ project. The funding partners were ACR+, the Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable Resource management; AICA, the International Association for Environmental Communication (Italy); ARC, the Catalan Waste Agency (Catalonia, Spain); Bruxelles Environnement/Leefmilieu Brussel (Belgium); NWMD, the National Waste Management Directorate for Hungary; and ADEME, the French Environment and Energy Management Agency.

The European Committee of the regions supports the European Week of Waste Reduction initiative and is a member of its steering committee.

More information on the EWWR Awards can be found here and in the press file.