UrbanWINS Launches Toolkit for Moving to More Effective Waste Policies

de | May 28, 2019 | News

  • The guide is one of the most important results of this EU-funded project and aims to improve the sustainable development of cities, considering waste as a resource.
  • The document contains best practices, recommendations, theoretical and practical considerations, and can be downloaded free of charge

The UrbanWINS team launched the final toolkit entitled “A guide to using urban metabolism and participatory processes to develop more effective urban waste policies ".

The document encourages policy makers, other decision-makers, waste management experts and other stakeholders to contribute to improving the sustainable development of their cities by interpreting waste issues and policies in an innovative way. The UrbanWINS toolkit is a theoretical and practical guide that users can download for free from project_site.

The document is divided into three sections. The first section consists of a set of 70 good practices covering different waste streams useful to cities (eg packaging waste, textiles, electrical and electronic waste, waste oils, etc.).

The second section focuses on urban metabolism and its implementation tools, such as the applicability of Life Cycle Assessment -Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) or indicators of urban metabolism.

The third section highlights the processes and techniques of stakeholder involvement. The aim of this chapter is to show how participatory mechanisms can be set up so that stakeholders can be involved in joint decisions on better waste prevention and management. The ultimate goal of the UrbanWINS toolkit is to present the approach followed by the eight pilot cities involved in the project and to stimulate its replication in other cities and towns in Europe. Local authorities and researchers can also initiate this process based on the results obtained.

Cremona, Albano Laziale, Torino and Pomezia (Italy), Bucharest (Romania), Leiria (Portugal) and Manresa and Sabadell (Spain) shared their experiences as project participants in order to create this set of tools. Their recommendations are also part of the toolkit so that other cities can learn about the challenges they need to overcome.

General information

UrbanWINS is a three-year project that began in June 2016 and is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program. During its development, the project looked at how cities consume resources and products, as well as how which eliminate waste generated, in order to develop and test eco-innovative plans and solutions aimed at better waste prevention and management. The participatory approach was an added value of the UrbanWINS project, by taking into account the vision of all relevant actors for urban waste generation and management.

You can watch the final video of the project here and find out all the pilot actions implemented by the eight European cities involved in UrbanWINS.

 

BRIEF INFORMATION

  Official contact: Mara Pesaro, Municipality of Cremona

                          info@urbanwins.eu

  UrbanWINS toolkit: www.urbanwins.eu/toolkit