URBAN-WASTE, the solution to tourist waste management

L’Institut Paris Region/ORDIF, one of the partners of the UrBAN-WASTE project, has recently published a summary with the most relevant results obtained during the project focused on tourist waste management.

This publication, available here, highlights that “the management of waste generated by tourists is a challenge for major European destinations, even though the health crisis and its consequences have temporarily pushed the issue into the background”.

The URBAN-WASTE project, which included the participation of 11 cities across Europe, tested a wide range of measures and strategies to improve waste management in the selected tourist cities. Some of these measures related to plastic waste prevention, improving sorting in tourist facilities, organic waste management, etc. One year and a half after the end of the project, the publication puts an emphasis on some of the most relevant results achieved:

• In terms of how tourists manage their waste, results from a questionnaire to 617 participants from 39 different countries showed that 51% of tourists cared about their waste as much as when they are at home. However, 40% declared to be less concerned when on holidays.
• Asked about sorting of waste fractions, 17% of tourists claimed they do not sort waste when they are on holidays. The lack of information on sorting procedures turned out to be one of the reasons.
• In order to improve waste sorting in tourist establishments, a total of 862 people were trained in 20 hotels and 121 restaurants from Lisbon, Nicosia, Tenerife and Ponta Delgada. In Lisbon, for instance, this led to a reduction of residual waste of 12% in the three participating hotels. Ponta Delgada and the 40 restaurants involved were able to separate and collect 4,900 plastic containers, 4,417 paper containers and 5,300 glass containers, that otherwise would not have been recycled. Moreover, measures to reduce plastic waste from the three participating hotels in Ponta Delgada helped to avoid the generation of 1,350 kgs of plastic in just five months.
• After the application of different measures for food waste reduction in Tenerife, the three hotels involved showed a reduction of food waste by 29%, 43% and 46% On the other hand, Nice distributed 4,000 doggy bags in 39 restaurants while Florence provided 8,900 doggy bags to 128 restaurants. In Nice, the implementation of such measure translated into a reduction of food waste of up to 12% in restaurants with a capacity of 100-150 customers.

The prevention and reduction of food waste is one of the priorities of BIOAZUL. In this sense, we are member of the SAVE FOOD, a global initiative on food loss and waste reduction led by FAO. The ultrasonic humidifiers we offer have been included recently as a good practice that contributes to food waste reduction.