Zero Waste Europe Joan Marc Simon GAIA Coordinator in Europe
Why Zero Waste in Europe now? 1- Climate change - emissions 2- Resource scarcity – higher prices 3- Economic crisis – unemployment 4- Urban ecological security 5- Sustainability 6- From combustion to digestion 7- Change of paradigm – do more with less 8- Communication – new goals for new century
Changing the paradigm in Europe : From Recycling to Zero Waste
If we look at recycling rates (2007)
But if we bring in waste generation(2007) (pounds/cap/year)
As important as building a circular economy is to reduce the materials use
Resource use in Europe has grown 34% between 2000 and 2007
Work on all levels of waste hierarchy Reduce disposal + increase collection and recycling + stabilise waste generation... Flanders, Belgium
Zero Waste network in Europe so far...
Italy – Rifiuti Zero
Rifiuti Zero Municipalities CAPANNORI (Lucca) població CARBONIA (Carbonia Iglesias) AVIANO (Pordenone) 9252 GIFFONI SEI CASALI (Salerno) 5272 VINCHIO (Asti) 677 COLORNO (Parma) 8979 SERAVEZZA (Lucca) CALCINAIA (Pisa) MONSANO (Ancona) 3223 MONTIGNOSO (Massa Carrara) LA SPEZIA VICO PISANO (Pisa) 8417 SOMMA VESUVIANA (Napoli) CORCHIANO (Viterbo) 3826 BOSCOREALE (Napoli) MONTE SAN PIETRO (Bologna) MAIORI (Salerno)* 5649 COLLESANO* (Palermo) 4254 FORTE DEI MARMI* (Lucca) 7760 SASSO MARCONI (BO) MARINEO (Palermo) 6814 PIETRASANTA (Lucca) ————————————————————Total
Netherlands Region of hab
Catalonia, Spain
Basque country, Spain
Creation of Zero Waste network in Europe 13 countries represented Brussels 14, March
Does Zero Waste actually mean ZERO? What matters is the vision – never giving up the idea to further reduce residuals and minimise the use of hardly or non-recyclable materials Add «minimise residuals» to «separate collection» Cold pretreatment (MBT with recovery of materials) to keep the system flexible It can mean «less than 22 pounds of MSW residual»
Eurostat – 63% of europeans declares being active in the fight against climate change For 75% of them the first action they do against climate change is separating waste and recycling. For Europeans separating waste and recycling are the preferred way to fight Climate Change