ACR+ News
De-polluting the Mediterranean by the year 2020
The "Horizon 2020 Initiative" aims to de-pollute the Mediterranean by the year 2020 by tackling the sources of pollution that account for around 80% of the overall pollution of the Mediterranean Sea: municipal waste, urban waste water and industrial pollution.
To implement and monitor actions three working groups were created to address:
- Investments for Pollution Reduction (PR);
- Capacity Building (CB) for achieving H2020 objectives;
- Review, Monitoring and Research (RMR).
This project is funded by the European Commission in the framework of the ENPI and implemented by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) in consortium with:
- Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations Environment Programme and its Regional Activity Centres and Programmes (UNEP/MAP and its RACs)
- National Waste Management Agency (ANGed)/Regional Solid Waste Exchange of Information and Expertise Network in Mashreq and Maghreb Countries (SWEEPNet)
- Umweltbundesamt GmbH – Austrian Environment Agency (AEA)
- Lebanese Ministry of Energy and Water - the General Directorate of Hydraulic and Electrical Resources (LMoEW)
- Hellenic Ministry for Environment, Energy and Climate Change
- UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education (UNESCO-IHE)
- Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development (MIO-ECSDE)
- Arab Network for Environment and Development (RAED)
- WWF Mediterranean Programme Office (WWF MedPO)
- Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling and Sustainable Resource Management (ACR+)
- Arab Countries Water Utilities Association (ACWUA)
TRAININGS 2013:
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De-polluting the Mediterranean by the year 2020 |
The 2013/2014 training programme can be consulted on www.acrplusmed.org/resources/secretariat_initiatives/Horizon_2020
For more information visit the Horizon 2020 website
ACR+ has created the EPR Club, a new exchange platform on EPR schemes in Europe aiming at benchmarking on recycling performances, European harmonization, fair competition, public control or best practices.
New Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) schemes are developed all around Europe, promoted by the European Institutions as a powerful tool to increase recycling of packaging, electronic waste, batteries and other types of waste. The ACR+ EPR Club will gather different stakeholders (public authorities at all levels, EPR schemes, waste management companies, material federations, NGOs, Academics) and allow a dialogue on the EU policy developments and technical implementation of EPR schemes throughout Europe. It will both focus on existing EPR schemes and future perspectives.
See more about EPR Club here: www.eprclub.eu
LATEST NEWS
EPR CLUB LAUNCH EVENT VIDEOS
EPR Club Launch Event - Olivier De Clerq presents the EPR Club
Expectations from EPR club: Jean-Pierre Hannequart, President of ACR+
Expectations from the EPR Club: Mathieu Berthoud, CEO SITA Benelux & Germany
Expectations from EPR club: Eelco Smit, Senior Manager Sustainability, PHILIPS
MORE ABOUT THE EPR CLUB:
- The EPR Club context and objectives
- EPR Club structure
- EPR Club activities / key topics
- Join the EPR Club
- The EPR Club Launch Event, 4th June 2012, Brussels
The European EPR Club is launched as an ACR+ initiative with the dedicated support of the following co-founders among ACR+ members:
- AICA, International Association for the Environmental Communication, Italy
- ARC, Catalan Waste Agency, Spain
- IBGE-BIM, Brussels Environment, Belgium
- ISR, Institute for Resource Sustainability, Spain
- RUDOLOGIA, Pôle Compétence Déchets, France
PRESS COVERAGE
Following the new EPR Club launch event, several articles have been released.
"An Introduction to Our Activities" , the presentation, is now available.
We are also interested in getting your feedback on the webinar, so pelase feel free to complete the following EPR Club 1st webinar evaluation form (for participants only).
Contact:
For more information please contact Françoise Bonnet, ACR+ General Secretary at Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser., tel: +32 (0)2 234 65 02
ACR+ has a keen interest in the collection of quantitative data on waste management at local and regional level in Europe, as well as the links with recycling performance rates. The subject is complex but identifying quantitative recycling targets and best practices incites interest among LRAs, particularly considering the current recycling targets (50% by 2020) set by the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, and the review of the said targets.
In response to the growing need for quantitative data, in 2010, ACR+ launched a European Observatory of municipal waste performances, focusing on the analysis of selective collection performances across different regional/local authorities in Europe.
The ACR+ Observatory’s objective is sharing experiences and demonstrating best practices amongst different cities and regions to help them to:
• achieve higher selective collection and recycling rates,
• improve communication with citizens and stakeholders,
• reduce the negative environmental and financial impacts.
ACR+ Observatory activities
To achieve this objective, ACR+ developed a Waste Data Matrix, completed by approximately 17 members of the Observatory with their data for 2009. This first set of calculation with a harmonized methodology led to interesting comparisons and conclusions summarized in the Observatory Report published in early 2013 (available for ACR+ members only).
All Observatory members agreed to continue this work of data comparison. They also agreed on future work orientations, for instance household/assimilated waste, bulky waste, packaging waste, etc.
ACR+ organises Observatory meetings on a regular basis in order to assess progress, share expertise and define new working areas:
- Launch event (Paris, 16-17 September 2010)
- 1st Observatory working group (Brussels, 1st February 2011)
- 2nd Observatory working group (Brussels, 17-18 April 2012)
- 3rd Observatory working group (Odense, 14 May 2013)
- 4th Observatory working group (Tallinn, 2 December 2013)
The ACR+ Observatory work has also led to a “spin-off” activity: the Regions for Recycling project (R4R), involving a number of ACR+ members, as well as other cities and regions in Europe. The R4R objective is to develop an online tool aiming at helping local and regional authorities to compare their selective collection performances and identify good practices on selective collection and recycling.
Call for participation
Currently, the Observatory is comprised of the following members:
Ile de France, Flemish Region, Catalonia, Barcelona, Milan, Brussels Region, Liège Province, Porto Region, Lisbon, Odense, Besançon, Pamplona, Oeiras, Milton Keynes, Aalborg, Limerick County.
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All ACR+ members are welcome to become part of the Observatory. To do so, please contact Philippe Micheaux Naudet from the ACR+ Secretariat (Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser.) |
For information about the ACR+ Observatory and the methodology applied, please contact Philippe Micheaux Naudet at Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser.
Introduction to the Project
Municipal Waste recycling in Europe: Despite common waste and recycling goals, there are still wide disparities between European Regions
R4R (Regions for Recycling) is an INTERREG IVC project which aims at promoting regional contributions to the European Recycling Society, by allowing local and regional authorities to make consistent comparisons thanks to a common method and exchange of transferable good practices related to local instruments in order to improve recycling performances.
The European Waste Policy aims at preventing waste generation and optimising the use of waste as resources, in order to move towards a European Recycling Society. Regional and local authorities are key actors that concretely implement this concept: many legal, economic and educational instruments are to be decided at this decentralized level. Yet these local authorities face many new challenges with waste management: while generated quantities are continuously increasing, they must comply with stricter legislation and set more complex waste management systems encouraging more active involvement of the population.
Therefore, it is relevant for these local authorities to share good practices and develop benchmarks between them. In 2010, ACR+ created with its members the European decentralised Observatory of municipal waste recycling performances, where local authorities can compare their performances through the use of common concepts and indicators. The R4R project will capitalize on these first efforts towards a better knowledge and monitoring of performances and completes it by identifying conditions and instruments that allowed achieving high performances for waste recycling based on sound comparisons of local data. Its main objectives are to optimize data collection and benchmark on recycling performances as well as to link them with legal, economic, educational, technical and organisational waste management tools allowing high recycling performances. Economics instruments improving recycling performances such as pay as you throw systems, tax on disposal, incentives and extended producer responsibility schemes will be especially analysed.
To expand the dissemination of the project and the collection and exchange of data, an online tool will be set up and free to use for European local and regional authorities. It will allow users to input data, assess recycling performances and have access to benchmarking and good practices related to their context. Several training sessions and EU conferences are planned to improve the participation of European territories.
Project Partners have been selected among public entities involved in waste management, monitoring or planning, presenting a variety of experienced and less experienced territories. To ensure that every partner is actively involved whatever its experience in waste management is, each less experienced partner will be assisted by an advanced one through peer review process throughout the project. Each partner will set an implementation plan stating how outcomes will be used, either by transferring identified good practices or by promoting efficient local instruments.
A website has been built to provide additional information and to publish the outputs of the project. conference handouts
Project Partners:
ORDIF ( Ile de France) ,
ACR+, BE?
OVAM, BE?
Lisbon City Council, PT ?
Efxini Poli, (Greek network of municipalities), GR?
Styrian Provincial Government, AT ?
Tallinn City, EE ?
ARC, Waste Agency of Catalonia, ES ?
Municipality of Sofia, BG ?
City of Zagreb, CR
More information
R4R mid-term conference in Odense (May 2013)
R4R networking event in Athens (December 2012)
R4R launch press release (April 2012)
Contact:
Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser. (Project Manager), Tel: +32 2234 65 07
The European Observatory on municipal waste performances is an ACR+ project launched in 2010 focusing on the analysis of selective collection performances across different regional/local authorities in Europe.
Waste management monitoring at local and regional level is a key issue especially when considering the current recycling targets (50% by 2020) set by the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, and the review of the said targets.
Interested in joining the European Observatory on municipal waste? It is simple, become an ACR+ member and join the Observatory!
More information:
Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser.