April 13, 2021

The following is a press release from the European Committee of the Regions:

The 16 shortlisted projects come from eight EU countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden

The European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) Awards has selected the finalists of its 2020 edition. The high-level jury has shortlisted sixteen creative and effective actions carried out by 8 Member States on the theme of invisible waste. Winners will be announced at the EWWR Awards Ceremony on 1 June 2021 within the framework of the European Green Week. Finalists were selected from a total of 84 nominations from over 10,600 actions that were organised during the 12th edition of the EWWR (21 to 29 November 2020). The 2021 EWWR will take place from 20 to 28 November. The European Committee of the Regions is a member of the EWWR steering committee.

The European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) is the biggest Europe-wide initiative promoting the implementation of awareness-raising actions about sustainable resource and waste management during a single week. From 21 to 29 November 2020, over 10,600 actions related to waste reduction, product reuse, recycling, as well as clean-ups were carried out across 33 countries in Europe and beyond.

The 2020 theme was invisible waste. The objective was to raise awareness on the need to prevent waste during the entire life cycle of a product, challenging participants to make invisible waste visible and to get to know the “real weight” of any purchase.

The EWWR 2020 finalists to each of the five award categories are the following:

Public administrations / Organizations

Another new shoe does not bring happiness (JP VOKA SNAGA d.o.o., Slovenia)

A magical week with invisible waste (Gästrike återvinnare, Sweden)

Prevention of marine pollution in Barcelona: #beuresenseplastic challenge and 'the sea starts here' campaign (Zero Waste working group and Barcelona City Council, Spain)

Business / Industry

Against food waste: Act differently (Corporación Alimenntaria Peñasanta (CAPSA), Spain);

Kaledobox (ECOCUP NC, France);

The future of the planet is not recyclable & Ecovalor, schools to recycle & Tons of aid & Recycle Bingo2 (EGF - Environment Global Facilities, Portugal).

Associations / NGO

Acción plena: por el fomento de las 3R (boosting the 3R) (Federación Plena Inclusión Asturias, Spain);

Making the invisible visible: EWWR 2020 (Mannheim Climate Protection Agency, Germany);

Re'Compota (Re'Jam) (Associaēão de Desenvolvimento do Concelho de Espinho, Portugal).

Educational establishment

Movilizate por la Selva! (CPI Castillo Qadrit, Spain);

Questionnaire, games and launch of lasting actions during EWWR week (Ecole Don Bosco, France);

#MissieMinder (#MissionLess) (MOS Vlaanderen, Belgium).

Citizen(s)

Bye Bye Plastik Sylt (Bye Bye Plastik Sylt Citizens, Germany);

TOYS STORIES: Re-have fun! (Teresa Monguilod Villa, Spain);

Village of Climate Elves (Idikó Szabó Bozókiné, Hungary).

European Special Prize

The sole winner will be announced together with the winners in the five categories above.

The jury has selected a winner for the European Special Prize, which awards the action that best exemplifies the European spirit of cooperation towards waste prevention.

The jury’s selection was based on the following criteria: communication and visibility, quality of the content, originality and long-lasting impact and follow-up on the action. This year, the six members of the EWWR Jury are:

Tjisse Stelpstra, European Committee of the Regions (CoR);

Stefanie Sieberer, Eurochambres;

Piotr Barczak, European Environmental Bureau (EEB);

Shimon Ginzburg, Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE);

Franc Bogovic, European Parliament (EP);

Chiel Berends, European Commission (EC).

This edition of the EWWR came in an unprecedented time of crisis and uncertainty. Nevertheless, the campaign has once again received impressive traction and mobilised thousands of people who found creative ways of raising awareness far from crowds. For the second year, the winners will be announced online due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. This year, the Awards Ceremony will be a pre-conference event of the European Green Week 2021 that focuses on "Zero pollution", one of the key aspects of the European Green Deal. The EWWR Awards aims to celebrate and spread awareness on best practices in order to highlight the link between waste and pollution.

Background:

The European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR), born in 2009 as an EU-funded LIFE+ project, is the biggest campaign to raise awareness about waste prevention in Europe. Driven by local and regional public authorities, it brings together all types of actors (citizens, schools, businesses, NGOs, associations) who organise activities to raise awareness about waste reduction. It focuses on the 3R: Reducing waste, Reusing products and Recycling materials.

For more information about the EWWR 2020 edition, have a look at the press file.

The next EWWR will take place from 20 to 28 November 2021. For more information click here.

Contacts:

EWWR:

Serena Lisai // sli@acrplus.org

European Committee of the Regions:

Berta López Domčnech // Berta.LopezDomenech@cor.europa.eu

David Crous // david.crous@cor.europa.eu