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sustainable built environment

The URBANREC project – new approaches for the valorisation of URBAN bulky waste into high added value RECycled products – aimed to develop and implement an eco-innovative and integral bulky waste management system (enhancing prevention, improving logistics and allowing new waste treatments to obtain high added value recycled products) and demonstrate its effectiveness in different regions.

Project co-funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 programme, 2016 - 2020.

Highlights

November 2019 marked the end of the H2020 URBANREC project and the release of its final results. In addition to the policy recommendations and the demonstrators presented during the project final conference, URBANREC delivered comprehensive guidelines on bulky waste management and knowledge transfer activities, thanks to its regional training sessions, and an online interactive tool and e-learning modules on bulky waste management

The final conference was followed by a working group workshop specifically targetting regional and local authorities where participants discussed the challenges of re-use and recycling of urban bulky waste. The main takeaways are summarised here.

THE PROJECT

THE PROJECT

One of the challenging waste streams for municipal waste management is “bulky waste”, which is defined as “(mixed) waste from households and similar waste from companies that do not fit in the regular receptacle used for the collection of household wastes”. It includes furniture, mattresses, upholstery, garden and outdoor or other large fixtures and fittings, representing a European generation of 19 Mt/year.

Bulky waste is a challenging stream for various reasons. First, its bulky nature makes logistics complicated. Second, bulky waste encompasses very heterogeneous products and materials, which requires either an effective source separation system or a proper sorting technology. Many products managed as bulky waste are also composite products (e.g. a sofa composed of wood, textiles, and foam), that require a dismantlement process to allow the recovery of the various materials included. Other challenges are the lack of stringent regulation, and the lack of market outcomes due to, amongst others, the inexistence of cost-effective valorisation methods. This implies significant environmental impacts and a loss of resources that could be valorised. A comprehensive solution that allows a circular economy approach is required.

The URBANREC project aimed to improve the separation and disassembling of bulky waste – implementing advanced fragmentation techniques to obtain high-quality raw materials, promoting innovative valorisation routes for those considered more problematic (PUR foam, mixed hard plastics and mixed textiles), not recycled due to lack of eco-innovative cost-effective solutions.

GUIDELINES

GUIDELINES

The guidelines developed in the frame of the project are meant for public authorities and waste companies in charge of managing urban bulky waste. They present the main outputs of the URBANREC project in a comprehensive way and provide information for the implementation of URBANREC’s bulky waste management solutions. The guidelines provide an overview of bulky waste in Europe, present data and information collected during the project, and detail its different outcomes that can help improving bulky waste re-use and recycling rates.

ECO-INNOVATIVE AND INTEGRAL BULKY WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

ECO-INNOVATIVE AND INTEGRAL BULKY WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The waste treatments considered in the project include:

rebonding and chemical glycolysis for the PUR materials, to prepare renewable adhesives;
needle felt to obtain isolation panels from textiles;
fibre reinforced composites from textiles;
wood-plastic composites (WPC);
catalytic hydro-gasification with plasma for mixed hard plastics to obtain chemicals or fuel.

These treatments were optimised and implemented at industrial level thanks to the collaboration of the URBANREC partners which include top EU level research institutes, and companies interested in obtaining novel eco-friendly products from waste, under a circular economy approach.

POLICY & LEGAL RECOMMENDATIONS

POLICY & LEGAL RECOMMENDATIONS

The project consortium also produced a list of policy recommendation covering six important aspect of bulky waste management:

General framework:

-Harmonised definition;

-Promoting preserving collection.

Quantitative targets:

-Separate target for preparing for reuse;

-Minimum recycled content.

Designing sustainable bulky items:

-Extending Ecodesign Directive;

-Addressing hazardous substances.

Quality standards, certification, information and warranty:

-Extended warranty for products;

-Mandatory information;

-Standards and certification;

-Extending EU Ecolabel.

Collection and handling of bulky waste by reuse professionals:

-Access to reusable items;

-Exemption to environmental permitting.

Public procurement and other economic instruments:

-Support to GPP criteria for bulky items;

-Social clauses in tenders;

-Using VAT.

Full policy brief available here.

ACTIVITIES

PARTNERS INVOLVED

PARTNERS INVOLVED

Four different geographical areas – Northern, Mediterranean, Eastern and South-Eastern – are represented by the 21 organisations which are partners to the project. The partners also represent the whole bulky waste value chain and include research organisations, SMEs, larger industrial organisations and local authorities.

URBANREC’s project coordinator is AIMPLAS (Asociación de investigación de materiales plásticos y conexas, ES) and its project partners are:

FHG, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft Zur Forderung Der Angewandten Forschung EV (DE)
CENTEXBEL, Centre Scientifique & Technique de l’industrie textile Belge (BE)
IOS – PIB, Instytut Ochrony Srodowiska – Panstwowy Instytut Badawczy (PL)
IYTE, Izmir Institute of Technology (TR)
ACR+, Association of Cities and Regions for Sustainable Resource Management (BE)
IZNAB Sp. z o.o., Iznab Spolka Z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnoscia (PL)
ECOFRAG – ECORETORNO, Ecofrag-Mentation Europe S.L.(ES)
BPP, Blueplasma Power S.L. (ES)
RAMPF, RAMPF Ecosystems GmbH & Co. KG (DE)
RESCOLL Technology Centre of Materials, RESCOLL (FR) Eurospuma, Eurospuma - Sociedade Industrial de Espumas Sintéticas SA (PT)
DELAX, Colchones Delax SL (ES)
PROCOTEX, Procotex Corporation SA (BE)
Vanheede Environment Group (BE)
IMOG, Intergemeentelijke Maatschappij voor Openbare Gezondheid (BE)
CVI, Consorcio Valencia Interior (ES)
OVAM*, Oprnbare Vlaamse Afvalstoffenmaatschappij (BE)
Diputación Provincial de Valencia (ES)
URZAD - City of Warsaw*, Miasto Stołeczne Warszawa (PL)
Bornova Municipality (TR)

*ACR+ members

More information: https://urbanrec-project.eu

The WINPOL project – Waste Management Intelligent Systems and Policies – aimed to improve regional and local waste management processes by promoting intelligent equipment and innovative planning derived from it in order to minimise waste generation and increase the efficiency of waste management processes.

Project funded under the European Regional Development Fund. 2018 - 2022

Highlights

The WINPOL final conference tackled the role of innovation in waste management, especially to successfully transition to a circular economy in Europe. It was the occasion to discuss not only the successes achieved at project level, now that the project is closing, but also the progresses made in the use of intelligent systems and policies in waste management. It included two main sessions combining project partners telling their experience and invited speakers – from Amsterdam, Bergen, Catalonia, and the Life REthinkWASTE project – presenting their innovative practices.

THE PROJECT

THE PROJECT

The WINPOL project aimed at improving policies for waste management so that they increasingly foster and promote the use of intelligent equipment and planning derived of it, significantly contributing to waste minimisation in European cities and regions, through improved management procedures and awareness campaigns.

Intelligent equipment and systems for waste disposal, collection and management bring about the opportunity to improve policies because the detailed information produced makes it possible to develop individual and accurate taxation policies in line with the “who pollutes pays” principles. They also lead to improved resource efficiency in the collection routes, to highly targeted campaigns that address critical groups of waste producers who have been identified thanks to data collected and, in general, to better strategic waste management planning at urban level as well as to cost optimisation in the mid-term, even if initial investments have to be faced.

However, the degree of introduction of innovative equipment varies significantly from one environment to another. The WINPOL partnership gathered together cities and regions with proven experience in intelligent equipment and related waste management policies, and cities and regions planning to introduce them in the mid-term.

ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITIES

As advisory partner ACR+ was in charge of providing expertise to the partnership in the different stages, helping to consolidate the knowledge base of the project. A Capacity-Building event was organised by ACR+ to present tools already existing and developed by other projects (Pre-waste, Miniwaste, R4R, among others) and train partner cities representatives in using them.

In addition, ACR+ provided an inventory of good practices, capitalising on the experiences from its members throughout Europe, the various projects ACR+ is involved in and other sources. It also took experts in the different topics to the thematic seminars. Last but not least, ACR+ coordinated the communications activities of the project, aiming at ensuring consistent and efficient communication, ensuring the visibility of project and programme.

PARTNERS INVOLVED

PARTNERS INVOLVED

WINPOL's project coordinator was EMULSA* (the Municipal Company of Urban Environment Services of Gijón, ES) and the other partners involved were:

City of Antwerp (BE)
ERA, Environment and Resources Authority (MT)
Region of Crete (GR)
Municipality of Heraklion (GR)
SNAGA, company for waste management and other utility services (SI)
Drobeta Turnu Severin City Hall (RO)
Mehedinti County Council (RO)

ACR+ is acting as advisory partner on the project and will be providing expertise to the partnership, as well as coordinating the communication activities of the project.

*ACR+ member

The LCA4Regions project – Improved Environment and Resource Efficiency through use of Life Cycle Instruments for implementation of regional policies of the European Union – endeavored to enhance the effectiveness of environmental policies through the adoption of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies. The project aimed to integrate this typical business-related expertise into public policy implementation, in order to boost more efficient use of natural resources.

Project funded under the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union, 2019 - 2023

Highlights

LCA4Regions project partners gathered in Brussels to present their work and take stock of the situation regarding the use of life cycle analysis (LCA) in both policy planning and implementation, taking as an example the sustainable built environment. The discussions concluded that applying LCA to local policy making requires taking simplified steps, one of which is to find a common language between public authorities, research centres, and business sector.

THE PROJECT

THE PROJECT

LCA4Regions started from a common challenge faced by participating regions: how to better implement public policies to obtain a greater degree of concordance with stated sustainability objectives, fewer unwanted spill-over effects, and better transparency in the compromises and offsets that needed to be made to move ahead on sustainable economic targets. Project partners saw the application of Life Cycle Methodologies as a solution to improving the implementation of environmental policy instruments on their territories. During four years, project partners worked on expanding the use of this method to governmental authorities when conceiving and implementing public policies related to environmental protection and resource efficiency.

It was expected that the project would contribute to:

Improving policy instruments by introducing LCA in all steps of the policy management cycle;
Enlarging the circle of end-users that would benefit from making conscious decisions on resource efficiency and investments using LCA.

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT

LCA is a technique to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life from raw material extraction through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, and disposal or recycling. This involves a broad examination of the life of the product - a holistic approach.

LCA methodologies are already widely used in the business sector to identify impacts along the life chain of products and materials and to avoid deleterious side effects.

The application of LCA to environmental policies could generate better results in terms of reduction of waste and material flows and pollution that could be considered as the main challenges of the EU regions for the next ERDF programming period.

ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITIES

During a first phase (lasting 5 semesters), dedicated to exchanges and learning, expertise was shared, good practices were identified, and a policy road map was established with the aim of elaborating Action Plans to improve policy instruments in the 7 represented territories (Kaunas, Navarra, Lombardy, Lodzkie, Pyhäjärvi, Baixo Alentejo intermunicipal community, and Ljubljana).

These activities were intended to clarify the success factors and barriers for the application of life-cycle management approaches for policy implementation. This first phase was based on thematic workshops (Transnational Learning Journeys – TLJ), during which the following areas of interest were analysed:

Implementation of LCA in environmental and resource efficiency policies
LCA for resource efficiency
LCA in waste and material flows
LCA in public procurements
Training and capacity building in LCA
LCA in monitoring and evaluation

During the second phase of the project (2 semesters), the 7 Actions Plans were implemented and evaluated.

ACR+ ROLE

ACR+ ROLE

As advisory partner ACR+ brought to the project its extensive expertise in the subject of circular economy and in activities aimed to increase the capacity of partners and enable the learning of public authorities and stakeholders, with the view of a better implementation of Structural Funds.

ACR+ also provided technical guidance to support the baseline situation analysis and guidance for local Action Plans, coordinated the gathering and benchmarking of good practices, facilitated peer working between partners, and managed the expert committee made of non-local stakeholders.

Last but not least, ACR+ contributed to the development of the Policy Road Map and was in charge of the international dissemination of the project results.

PARTNERS INVOLVED

PARTNERS INVOLVED

LCA4Regions' project leader was the Government of Navarra (ES)* and its project partners were:

ACR+, Association of Cities and Regions for Sustainable Resource Management (BE)
AIN, Industrial Association of Navarra (ES)
UKT, Kaunas University of Technology (LT)
Pyhäjärvi Institute (FI)

CIMBAL, Baixo Alentejo Intermunicipal Community (PT)
NIC, National Institute of Chemistry (SI)
Lombardy Region (IT)
Lodzkie Region (PL)

*ACR+ member

The URBAN-WASTE project – Urban strategies for Waste Management in Tourist Cities – aimed to support policy makers in answering to the challenges of booming tourism in European cities, including high levels of unsustainable resource consumption and waste production.

Project co-funded by the European Commission, under the Horizon 2020 programme, 2016 - 2019

Highlights

After three years, the project ended in big style with a memorable final conference which presented the findings and outcomes of the long work of the 27 project partners, including 11 pilot cities and regions. It also included a signing ceremony of the Charter of Commitments launched in January 2018.

The end of the project also saw several crucial deliverables being published, with the Guidelines for City Managers targeting local and regional authorities and a unique paper on gender mainstreaming and gender equality in waste management being the most significant.

THE PROJECT

THE PROJECT

The URBAN-WASTE project’s objective was to help develop strategies aimed at reducing the amount of municipal waste production as well as strategies to further develop re-use, recycling, collection, and disposal of waste. In doing so URBAN-WASTE adopted and applied the urban metabolism approach to support the switch to a circular model where waste is considered as resource and reintegrated in the urban flow.

The project developed eco-innovative and gender-sensitive waste prevention and management strategies in cities with high levels of tourism in order to reduce the urban waste production and improve municipal waste management. These strategies facilitate the reintroduction of waste as a resource into the urban metabolism flows and address waste management, risk prevention and land-use as an integral part of urban development.

11 pilot cities and regions were on the frontline of the project, implementing the developed tools and strategies: Tenerife (ES), Tuscany region (IT), Kavala (GR), Copenhagen (DK), Lisbon (PT), Metropole Nice Cote d’Azur (FR), Nicosia (CY), Ponta Delgada (PT), Santander (ES), Syracuse (IT) and Dubrovnik-Neretva County (HR).

The participatory approach was structured in a mobilisation and mutual learning action plan for waste prevention and management in tourist cities and attracted a number of non-partner cities, too.

THE WASTEAPP

THE WASTEAPP

The project delivered a set of ICT tools, namely the WasteApp mobile application and gather key stakeholders along the tourism and waste value chain around Communities and Practice.

The WasteApp is a mobile phone application designed to promote users’ good behaviour regarding waste, to have a positive impact on waste management and follow cities’ litter policies. Based on gamification strategy’s use to encourage good practices, it has been created mainly for tourists, but can be used also by residents.

Go to the WasteApp

THE URBAN-WASTE AND BLUEISLANDS CHARTER

THE URBAN-WASTE AND BLUEISLANDS CHARTER

The URBAN-WASTE project put forward a “Charter of Commitments for Sustainable Material Resources Management and Circular Economy”. It represents a manifesto aimed at local and regional authorities who want to express their intentions to adapt their tourism sector to the given environmental capacities of the area of interest and further develop and enrich their tourism offer with eco-innovative strategies and measures which will turn tourism more sustainable and environmentally-friendly. The 11 pilot cities and regions represented the core mass of the campaign and were the creators of the mass effect, encouraging other cities and regions to join the network.

The Charter was developed in partnership with the BLUEISLANDS project, which aims at identifying, addressing and mitigating the effects of the seasonal variation of waste generation on Mediterranean islands as an effect of tourism

GUIDELINES

GUIDELINES

To support city managers and policy makers in replicating the URBAN-WASTE strategies in tourist cities, guidelines have been prepared and published. They allow city managers, including decision and policy makers, to understand the underlying liaisons between tourism and waste management processes and enable them to recreate some of the URBAN-WASTE processes in order to improve their local waste management practices and adapt them to their local tourism patterns.

The Guidelines are enriched with 22 factsheets which serve as manuals for the implementation and multiplication of the 22 eco-innovative measures the cities were implementing.

Read the Guidelines

Discover the 22 eco-innovative measures.

Read the Guidelines for City Managers and Policy Makers to Mainstream Urban Strategies for Waste Management in Tourist Cities.

WEBINARS

WEBINARS

6 webinars were organised as a part of the capacity building activities of the project on the following topics:

Waste and tourism: how to set a participative approach;
Implementation of innovative waste management measures in tourism: who and why?;
Communicating good practices and innovative measures to appropriate target groups;
Quantifying the environmental impact of waste management practices in tourism;
URBAN-WASTE and ConsumeLess Med: teaming up for sustainable tourism;
URBAN-WASTE: Guidelines for City managers.

PARTNERS INVOLVED

PARTNERS INVOLVED

URBAN-WASTE’s project leader is the Government of Canary Islands and its project partners are:

AU, Aarhus University - AU Herning (DK)
ACR+, Association of Cities and Regions for Sustainable Resource Management (BE)
AGORAH Agence d’Urbanisme à La Réunion (FR)
AI, Ambiente Italia s.r.l. (IT)
ASHOTEL, Tenerife Hotel and Accommodation Association (ES)
BIOAZUL sl (ES)
CPH, City of Copenhagen (DK)
CE, Consulta Europa Projects and Innovation (ES)
TUD, Delft University of Technology (NL)
DUNEA , Dubrovnik Neretva Regional Development Agency (HR)
Florence Metropolis Municipality (IT)
FRCT, Fundo Regional para a Ciência e Tecnologia (PT)
Nicosia Municipality (CY)

ULPGC, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria University (ES)
LU, Linnaeus University (SE)
Lisbon Municipality* (PT)
MNCA, Nice Metropolis Municipality (FR)
ORDIF*, Observatoire Régional des Déchets d'Île-de-France (FR)
Region of Epirus* (GR)
Santander Municipality (ES)
SLU, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE)
Syracuse Municipality (IT)
CIT, Tenerife island authority (ES)
BOKU, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien (AT)
UCPH, University of Copenhagen (DK)
DIAAMATH, Waste Management Authority of Eastern Macedonia – Thrace S.A. (GR)

*ACR+ members

The EURE project – Effectiveness of Environmental Urban policies to improve Resources Efficiency – proposed the exchange of experience among local authorities as methodology to evaluate the different ways to articulate the 5% of their European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to support integrated sustainable urban development.

Project funded under the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union, 2019 - 2023

Highlights
The EURE project has been working to improve the participation of small, medium and peripheral cities in the definition and more effective implementation of European Urban Policy. On 22 and 23 March 2023, EURE partners and stakeholders came together for a final congress in Alba Iulia, Romania, to review the effectiveness of environmental urban policies to improve resource efficiency.

THE PROJECT

THE PROJECT

The Europe 2020 strategy recognizes that urban areas are the main resources consumers and the main responsible for the urban environment quality. The project aimed to improve the regional development policies in order to increase resource-efficiency, green growth, eco-innovation and environmental performance management of the urban areas. The EURE project’s objective was to improve the way the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Regulation addresses the environmental urban challenges of cities, paying also attention to those cities of small dimension but with influence in the sparsely populated areas where they are located. The final aim was:

to support European urban areas in being more resource-efficient
to include, as transversal priority of the integrated urban policies, the principles of circular economy, and
to assure a proper environmental performance management at urban level.

ACTIVITIES

ACTIVITIES

As Advisory partner, ACR+’s role in the project was two-fold. On the one hand, ACR+ supported the baseline situation analysis on urban environmental policies, gathering and benchmarking of good practices. Furthermore, ACR+ supported the design of local action plans, facilitating capacity building activities and peer working between partners and the project’s pool of experts.

On the other hand, ACR+ supervised the project’s communication activities, in particular managing the website and publishing newsletters and press releases, to ensure visibility, engagement and networking.

PARTNERS INVOLVED

PARTNERS INVOLVED

EURE’s lead partner was Eixo, Atlantic Axis of Peninsular Northwest (ES)*. The other partners were:

ACR+, Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable Resource management (BE)
ASEV, Agency for the Development of the Empolese Valdelsa (IT)
Municipality of Alba Iulia (RO)
Lubelskie Voivodeship (PL)

UKEP, Department of coordination of European projects of the Pilsen City (CZ)
ANEL, Nicosia Development Agency (CY)
Conference of Atlantic Arc Cities (FR)
Riga City Council (LT)

*ACR+ members

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