Creation of the association of Italian Zero Waste communities in Capannori, Italy

Last weekend (3-5/02/12) mayors and representatives of Italian Zero Waste municipalities met in Capannori, Italy, to formally create the association of Italian Zero Waste communities.
Despite the difficult weather conditions which made it impossible for some representatives to participate in the event, the turnout was very good and balanced with mayors coming from the northest region of Piemonte to the southest region of Sicily.

Currently 72 municipalities -2,2 million inhabitants- have joined the Zero Waste strategy in Italy. All in all, around 4% of the population of the country are now in the road towards Zero Waste!

The Zero Waste strategy in Italy started in 2007 when Capannori declared the Zero Waste goal for 2020, in this declaration Capannori was committing to:
- Increase the separate collection of waste to 75% for 2015,
- Introduce a fee for the non-recyclable waste –Pay-As-You-Throw system-,
- Create at least one repair & reuse centre,
- Phase out incineration and landfill,
- Prioritise waste prevention with special emphasis on the extended producer responsibility.

Since then, Capannori has not only accomplished these goals -82% separate collection in 2011 and inaugurated the repair & reuse centre and a ZW research centre- but has managed to rally more than 70 other municipalities to create what will be the association of Zero Waste Italian communities.

The event was also attended by organisations, activists and experts which highlighted the social and economic benefits of Zero Waste. A couple of examples of how Zero Waste helps the economy, culture and society as much as it helps the environment;


First experience; the association of hotels of the famous Island of Capri presented their initiatives to radically reduce waste generation in the hotels and hence the tourist sector. In this pilot project 3 hotels have replaced all water plastic bottles –a normal hotel uses 20.000 bottles per year-, all the soap dispensers are now refillable and the newspapers are only available in tablets instead of paper. The waste separate collection rates in Capri are already above 70% but these prevention measures help reduce the disposal costs.

Second experience, the mayor of the municipality of Castelbuono, Sicily, explained about the successful experience of reintroducing donkeys to do the collection in the narrow, steep streets of the old town. Using donkeys is not only cheaper than using trucks, it also helps reintroduce the typical Sicilian endangered breed of Ragusa whose milk –donkey’s milk is the closest to human milk- is known to be beneficial for those who suffer allergy to cow’s milk protein allergy. Because of its energy and its friendly nature these donkeys are also employed in recreational and therapeutic activities as well as traditional events and local feasts.

These kind of best practices were shared during the event in an atmosphere of creativity, cooperation, commitment and inspiration. From now on there will be periodical meetings in order to organise together the better implementation and the expansion of the Zero Waste network in Italy and in Europe.

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Zero Zabor - new Zero Waste groups in the Basque Country

New Zero Waste groups are appearing in the Basque Country. Following the experience of Usurbil, a municipality that has achieved 88% separate collection after only two years of implementation of the door-to-door collection, and after the municipalities of Hernani and Oiartzun have joined this system of separate collection, 7 new groups of citizen-led Zero Zabor (Zero Waste) groups have appeared in the region of Guipuzkoa in the spanish Basque Country.

Usurbil was pioneer in challenging the separate collection by means of road container (which was achieving rates always below 40%) and decided to implement door-to-door system. Hernani (20.000hab) and Oiartzun followed this example a year later and currently the three of them are all above 75% of separate collection.

However the region of Guipuzkoa still insists in building an incinerator and, in view of the success of the Zero Zabor experiences, has speeded-up the works to stop other municipalities from joining the Zero Waste model. Moreover the Guipuzkoa region refuses to increase the current composting capacity of only 2.500tn and the 4.400tn of high quality organic waste that is separately collected can’t be composted –as the European waste hierarchy would request-.

But the Zero Waste philosophy counts with the support not only of some engaged municipalities but also of citizen groups that are tirelessly working to spread the word that reducing waste and increasing recycling is not only necessary but also possible. By replicating the experienced pioneered by Usurbil and followed by Hernani, Oiartzun and others, Guipuzkoa could create more jobs, less pollution and more local economy and save the 400 million euros that the new unnecessary incinerator will cost. In Guipuzkoa a struggle between the past and the future is taking place, between those who want to burn waste and those who want to reuse and recycle resources. The Zero Waste strategy is showing the alternative to end-of-pipe obsolete technologies and with the new groups in the Basque Country and the already existing Catalan Zero Waste network the change is advancing in Spain.

Websites of the Zero Waste groups in Euskadi -Spanish Basque Country-:
• http://www.gipuzkoazz.com/zerozabor
• http://zerozabor.ning.com/
• http://zarautz0zabor.wordpress.com/
• http://zerozaborzumaian.wordpress.com/
• http://usurbilzz.wordpress.com/
• http://www.blogak.com/gipuzkoasinincineradora/

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Constitution of the Catalan Zero Waste strategy (Residu Zero) in Barcelona

Following the example of Italy and the UK, last Friday 4th of March took place in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, the succesful launch of the Zero Waste catalan strategy!

More than a hundred people representing local organisations, companies, universities and research centers gathered for a whole day to discuss the goals and aims and set up the forum for a Zero Waste strategy in Catalonia. Note that in Spain the waste management is a delegated competence and Catalonia –like any other spanish autonomous region can decide on waste management-.

This initiative was possible thanks to the colaboration of all catalan universities, the association of municipalities for door-to-door collection, municipalities already developing the model of “Residu Mínim” (minimum waste) and the local and international organisations such as GAIA, CAPS, Ecologistes de Catalunya, Cepa and other members of the steering committee.

In the conference we had the chance to learn about the best zero waste practices in the world (such as San Francisco in the US or Kovalam in India) as well as european best practices such as the first European Zero Waste town; Capannori. Rossano Ercolini from the Rete Italiana di Rifiuti Zero and head of the Zero Waste Research Center in Capannori was present to explain the success of the italian experience.

The “Estratègia Catalana pel Residu Zero” (the Catalan Zero Waste Strategy) will organise sinergies between academics, practitioners, policy-makers and civil society to channel the change of paradigm from a recycling society towards a zero waste society. In this sense, the catalan ZW strategy wants to advance in the direction of a more efficient management of resources, more environmental justice and de-carbonisation of the economy.

The Catalan Zero Waste strategy is born in a context of insustainability in the management of municipal, construction and demolition and industrial waste.

Catalonia, despite very good scattered practices of high separate collection in some towns, still sends 70% of its waste to disposal which represents a clear inneficient use of materials, a lot of avoidable GHG emissions and a threat for the health of the citizens.

The solution is not to build new incinerators or burn municipal waste in cement kilns but rather to work on the replication of the best practices of separate collection (in some cases above 80%) in order to increase prevention and recycling.
A change of paradigm is necessary and this is exactly what the citizen driven Catalan Zero Waste strategy pursues.

In the meeting it was discussed that Zero Waste meant:
- Advancing towards a circular economy in which waste can become the raw material of the future,
- Avoid the generation of any waste that can be avoided
- Ban the disposal of any waste that can be reused, recycled or composted
- The redesign and substitution of those wastes which can’t be reused, recycled or composted.

The Catalan Zero Waste strategy proposes to:

1. Invert the tendency and instead of disposing of 70% and recycling 30% reverse the trend and move towards recycling 70% and disposing of 30% for 2020. Zero Waste -less than 10kg of residual waste per capita- for 2030.

2. Set up a network of organisations, institutions, companies and universities to plan and implement this change of paradigm.

3. Promote the best local and international practices of source separation, separate collection, waste prevention, etc so that they can be replicated elsewhere in Catalonia.

4. Promote innovation in the production and legislative process in view of creating the right climate for a zero waste strategy.

5. Create a Zero Waste Research Center in which the residuals can be examined to detect failures in the design which justify a substitution for a newly designed recyclable product.

The most important thing of the event, besides the high attendance and motivation from all sectors of society, was the commitment of the participants and the concreteness on the next steps to take to make it possible to advance towards a Zero Waste future.

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Zero Waste initiative in Coventry, England

Here we have an example of an inclusive Zero Waste initiative which brings together the actors of society to organise the phasing out of waste from our societay. In October 1999, at a public meeting to discuss greener low carbon alternatives to a proposal of a giant waste incinerator, Coventry's Director of City Development, John Mc Guigan, proposed the challenge of finding a long-term solution for waste which would be both economically and environmentally viable.

Over 2010 the 2020 "Zero Waste Initiative" has begun to take shape. It has drawn people together from the main areas involved or interested in developping "waste" as a resource. Over a hundred people have attended meetings and have come from public bodies such as WRAP and DEFRA, local business and commerce, environment and recycling groups, garden organic, councillors and officers, community groups, professional bodies and academics from the two local universities. There were several meetings over the year and in one of them the "Building Research and Innovation Networks" (BRAIN) Department at Coventry University produced the following 5min video in which Professor Paul Connett describes the basis of a proper Zero Waste strategy.

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New Zero Waste Group in Sicily

On August 31st it was constituted a new Zero Waste local group in Sicily.

The Zero Waste Association in Sicily declared its commitment to work for a responsible waste management system in Sicily aiming at increasing waste reduction, reuse and recycling and continuosly reduce the amount of waste send for either landfill or incineration.

The majority of municipal solid waste in Sicily being biowaste the organisation Zero Waste Sicily will focus on promoting separate collection of biowaste, composting and anaerobic digestion of this waste fraction.

For more info: http://www.rifiutizerosicilia.it/

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