Waste Prevention

A key factor in any waste management strategy

Reducing the amount of waste generated at source and reducing the hazardous content of that waste automatically simplifies its disposal. Waste prevention is closely linked with improving manufacturing methods and influencing consumers to demand greener products and less packaging. The Thematic Strategy on the prevention and recycling of waste (COM(2005) 666 final) addresses waste prevention as one of the priority issues. According to the Strategy, although waste prevention has been the paramount objective of both national and EU waste management policies for many years, limited progress has been made in transforming this objective into practical action. Neither the Community nor the national targets set in the past have been satisfactorily met. As a result, the Strategy concludes that prevention can only be achieved by influencing practical decisions taken at various stages of the life cycle: how a product is designed, manufactured, made available to the consumer and finally used.

PRE-WASTE - waste prevention project involving 10 European partners and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund

Reducing the amount of waste at source means reducing the cost of waste management and lowering the ecological footprint. Though a tempting solution, waste prevention is not necessarily easy to implement, due to the lack of knowledge about what strategies are efficient, difficulty to assess the results of a prevention action, etc. Hence, the PRE-WASTE project has developed a consistent and comprehensive approach to help local and regional authorities to prevent waste generation.

The European Week for Waste Reduction is a 3-year project supported by the LIFE+ Programme of the European Commission until end 2011. The EWWR aims to organise multiple actions during a single week, across Europe, that will raise awareness about waste prevention. It is addressed to public authorities, project developers, and citizens, and uses a range of communication tools that can reach various stakeholders. If you are interested in joining, please go to the EWWR website.