The UrbanWINS Toolkit - A guide for more efficient urban waste policies and actions
Date
31 May 2019
Sections
Climate & Environment
Do you want to improve your waste management activities?Check the UrbanWINS Toolkit - A guide on urban metabolism and participatory processes for more efficient urban waste policies!
The toolkit is an online instrument that can be used by any European public authority, urban policy maker, decision maker, private organization, waste expert, NGO and other organizations looking for effective measures to prevent, reduce and improve waste management. Users can download for free the toolkit from the project website.
Current strategies for waste prevention and management from a total of 24 European cities were analyzed during UrbanWINS, an European project funded by the Research and Innovation Program Horizon 2020 in order to find the best policies and concrete actions than can be implemented across Europe.
UrbanWINS follows the urban metabolism approach, in which cities are considered living organisms that use natural resources and create a flow of materials and energies.
Over the past 3 years, many tools have been tested in UrbanWINS in order to support the project stakeholders in having a better understanding of waste prevention and management strategies in their cities. UrbanWINS project combines different quantitative–analytical and qualitative methods and tools, together with a participatory process. The methodology was tested in 8 European cities:
- Stakeholders in the 6 participating countries from the project were interviewed to identify 50 best waste management strategies and practices from Europe;
- Online and face-to-face meetings – „agoras” were organized to analyze and establish objectives and indicators for the development of Strategic Plans for waste prevention and management within the 8 pilot cities involved the project and
- A series of actions aimed at preventing and improving the waste management system in pilot cities were implemented during the project using the approaches developed within the Strategic Plans. Click here to watch the final video of the project showcasing all pilot actions implemented by the eight European cities involved in UrbanWINS.
All the tools and aproaches used in UrbanWINS are integrated in one of the final outcomes of the project The UrbanWINS Toolkit.
What you can find in the toolkit?
- 70 best waste management practices implemented across the European Union, covering all relevant waste streams that are really inspirational and deserve replication
- Specific examples from the experiences of the 8 pilot European cities involved in UrbanWINS project - step-by-step participatory processes (meetings) organised for improving waste management strategies/activities: Manresa, Sabadell (Catalonia, Spain), Leiria (Portugal), Torino, Cremona, Pomezia, Albano Laziale (Italy), Bucharest (Romania).
- Innovative tools to improve waste management (for example: Life-cycle assessment (LCA) applications or urban metabolism indicators)
- Lessons learned, challenges and opportunities
The final goal of the UrbanWINS toolkit is to showcase the approach followed by the 8 pilot cities involved in the project, and to spur replication by other towns and cities in Europe and beyond. Local authorities and researchers can also build upon the results.
Cremona, Albano Laziale, Torino and Pomezia (Italy), Bucharest (Romania), Leiria (Portugal), and Manresa and Sabadell (Spain) have shared their experiences as part of the project to produce this toolkit. Their testimonials are also part of this toolkit, so that other cities can learn about the challenges they had to overcome.
More information about UrbanWINS project you can find here.
