From the 17th to the 25th of November 2018, the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) is back for another intensive week of awareness-raising events! For its 10th edition, more than 14,000 actionsΉ related to waste reduction, products reuse and materials recycling, as well as clean-ups will be carried out across 30 countries in Europe and beyond.
For more information on the EWWR 2018, please consult our comprehensive Press Kit.
The European Week for Waste Reduction 2018
The European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) is an international initiative aiming to promote the implementation of awareness-raising actions about sustainable resource and waste management during a single week. The objective of EWWR actions is to change the behaviour of European citizens regarding their consumption patterns and waste habits.
In 2018, 14,347 actions will be implemented under the coordination of 32 national or regional coordinators from 20 countries.
Each year, the EWWR offers a special focus on waste prevention via the Thematic Focus. For the 10th edition, the chosen topic is "Hazardous Waste Prevention: Time to Detox!". Hazardous waste poses a greater risk to our health and our environment when compared to other types of waste. Thus, it is even more important to reduce our consumption of products with hazardous contents as well as make sure that they are properly disposed of. 100 million tonnes of hazardous waste are generated each year, a fifth of which comes from households². That's why this year the EWWR encouraged Action Developers to think about ways to detox and diminish the use of such products in their nearest surroundings such as bathrooms, kitchens, sheds and garages. Discover some of the exciting upcoming actions in our 2018 database of actions and don't hesitate to get involved!
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: it is time to make a difference...and every action counts!
Marking 10 years of the EWWR
This year marks the 10th edition of the European Week for Waste Reduction.
Although the EWWR has undergone considerable growth and changes throughout the past 10 years, its core mission has remained the same: to contribute to waste prevention and reduction at source across Europe and beyond, by encouraging and supporting the implementation of awareness-raising actions. In this sense, it has been a trailblazing initiative, acting upon the evidence that our consumption and production patterns lead to unsustainable levels of waste, and reaching out to citizens, organisations and policy-makers across Europe to bring about change, long before the topic became widely-discussed in civil society and high on the political agenda.
Over the past 10 years the EWWR has gone from strength to strength, reaching millions of people across more than 40 countries, and preventing thousands of tonnes of waste from being generated. It has tackled specific challenges such as packaging waste, reuse and repair and food waste. There has been a steady increase in the number of actions, countries, coordinators, action developers. The first edition in 2009 saw 2,672 actions implemented in 14 countries, while the 2018 EWWR has seen over 14,000 actions registered across 30 countries.
The EWWR Steering Committee
The European Week for Waste Reduction is led by the EWWR Steering Committee (ESC). Its members are: ACR+ (Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable Resource management), ADEME (French Environment & Energy Management Agency), Bruxelles Environnement-Leefmilieu Brussel (Belgium), EMWR (The Eastern-Midlands Regional Waste Office, Ireland), the Catalan Waste Agency (Spain), the Environment communication association - AICA (Italy), the European Commission, the European Committee of the Regions, Lipor (Intermunicipal waste management of Greater Porto, Portugal), the North London Waste Authority (UK), the German Association of Local Utilities - VKU (Germany) and WasteServ waste management company in Malta.