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URBAN-WASTE: Urban strategies for waste management in tourist cities

URBAN-WASTE

was a 36 months project that developed and implemented eco-innovative and gender-sensitive waste prevention and management strategies in 11 cities with high levels of tourism. The main goal was to reduce urban waste generation and improve municipal waste management. The cities and regions participating in the project were Florence (IT), Nice (FR), Lisbon (PT), Syracuse (IT), Copenhagen (DK), Kavala (GR), Santander (ES), Nicosia (CY), Ponta Delgada (PT), Dubrovnik – Neretva county (HR) and Tenerife (ES).

These strategies facilitated the reintroduction of waste as a resource into the urban metabolism flows and addressed waste management, risk prevention and land-use as an integral part of urban development. They were collectively-built through a participatory process based on the quadruple helix, where policy makers, researchers, industry and civil society stakeholders worked on designing, implementing and evaluating integrated waste prevention and management measures.

BIOAZUL contributed to the development of the eco-innovative waste prevention and management measures to be adopted in the 11 cities, and supported some of them (Lisbon and Ponta Delgada) in the monitoring and follow-up of the data during the implementation phase. We also participated in the general evaluation of the measures and strategies implemented and the environmental, social and economic impact assessment of each of them, including the replication potential in other tourist cities in Europe. Another key activity carried out was the identification and analysis of regulatory frameworks in the cities of Santander, Tenerife, Lisbon and Ponta Delgada in relation to different areas of waste management (e.g. biowaste, sorting and recycling, reuse and prevention, environmental certification, etc.) with the goal of supporting policy makers in the selection of the measures and strategies proposed by URBAN-WASTE. BIOAZUL also identified and carried out a review of specific methodologies (e.g. Urban and Industrial Symbiosis, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Balanced Scorecard Approach, etc.) to be adopted within the project and contribute to the assessment of the results obtained.

RESULTS

The project finalised on May 2015, and very valuable results for the sector development have been obtained:

  • Creation of a knowledge-base on urban metabolism and better understanding on how cities are influenced by tourism and its waste generated.
  • Generation of a compendium of waste management and prevention best practices.
  • Establishment of a baseline scenario of each pilot city that fed into the LCA performed to assess the environmental impacts and socio-economic aspects.
  • Development and implementation of a participatory approach that led to the engagement of over 500 stakeholders in the co-development, co-implementation and co-monitoring of the strategies.
  • Better understanding on waste prevention behaviours and how consumer and professional attitudes and behaviour towards waste management are gendered amongst individual tourists, tourism industry staff and waste management staff.

Identification and development of 22 eco-innovative and gender-sensitive waste prevention and management measures, including ICT tools.

  • Guidelines for implementation of the measures, including recommendations for gender mainstreaming, sustainable business model, and methodology to set and organize the monitoring of the results.

Guidelines for local policy makers for the integration of the measures into their existing or future waste management plans and strategies.

  • Over 3,000 downloads of WasteApp.
  • Proactive sensibilization of tourists in waste separation and minimization that contributes to increasing recycling rates.
  • 34 stakeholders implementing the Food Tracking Device in 6 pilot cities.
  • 20,133 kg of food waste tracked, which combined with other food waste prevention actions, contribute to the reduction of biowaste production.
  • Between 3 and 5 strategies implemented and monitored in each pilot city for 4-6 months and related to prevention, reuse, waste collection, sorting and recycling.
  • Provision of dedicated trainings for policy makers and Public-Private Partnerships, including Operative Plans

LCA approach applied using data from the baseline and the monitoring of the strategies, allowing to determine the potential environmental impacts in terms of greenhouse gas emissions savings, as well as social and economic aspects from the different pilot cases and strategies.

Comparison of situation in terms of tourism and waste generation from the 11 pilot cities related to 500 other EU cities and identification of key factors for potential replicability.

  • Increased skills from staff and policy makers from within and out of the consortium in waste management and prevention actions.
  • Step-by-step, comprehensive guidelines for city makers for potential replication of UW strategies.
  • Effective dissemination of activities and outcomes through project website, social media channels, newsletters, and conferences and events.
  • Creation of synergies with various like-minded projects and engagement of external public authorities through the Charter of Commitments.

Gallery

consorcio

GOBCAN (España)

TUD (Holanda)

ACR+ (Bélgica)

AU (Dinamarca)

ADS (España)

BOKU (Austria)

CPH (Dinamarca)

CIT (España)

DIAAMATH (Grecia)

UCPH (Dinamarca)

SI (Italia)

ORDIF (Francia)

BIOAZUL (España)

SLU (Suecia)

DUNEA (Croacia)

CE (España)

AGORAH (Francia)

LI (Portugal)

ULPGC (España)

AI (Italia)

ASHOTEL (España)

MNCA (Francia)

EPI (Grecia)

FRCT (Portugal)

LU (Suecia)

NI (Chipre)

RT (Italia)

 

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Status: Finished

Funding program: Horizonte 2020

Contract nº: 690452

Duration: 01/06/2016 – 31/05/2019 (36 meses)

Budget: 4.248.782,50 € (financiación CE: 4.248.782,50 €)