MUNICIPAL WASTE EUROPE

2 #NordicPictogram – Waste sorting made simple This isn’t the periodic table, but Sweden’s national system for waste fractions. Here’s how it works: 🏷 Every product and material has its own symbol, colour, and fraction name. The label is placed on the product and on the waste collection containers. Depending on the municipality, the container may bear other symbols for the same bin. For example, plastic #packaging (purple) and metal packaging (grey) may share a bin. The circled map of pictograms indicates what can be placed in the kerbside collection and what other types of waste need to be transported to the closest recycling centre or station. In this way, waste is safely transported and ready to be treated or given a second life in the #valuechain. 💡 Did you know? ❇ The pictogram system is voluntary for all municipalities and producers. Those who choose to implement this system have the flexibility to change the language and use additional symbols. However, they cannot modify the colours, except in cases where all symbols are white or black, in which case they must be against a contrasting black or white background. ❇The system also facilitates waste sorting for the blind and partially sighted through the use of tactile pictograms. 🇪🇺 In the next post, we will explain the future plans for waste sorting in the EU. Stay tuned for more posts. For more information, read Sweden's user manual labelling system for kerbside collection and recycling centres https://lnkd.in/dpnZ8Gzu #circulareconomy #wastemanagement

☀ Sorting was once a simple task, like when we were children and played with shape sorters. We only needed to recognise and compare the symbols using our senses. 🌩 Fast forward to adulthood and responsibility for public waste management, and sorting is no longer child's play. Waste sorting has become much more complex, less intuitive, and generally an inconvenience. Products are made from different materials and take various forms, and they need to be manually disassembled. To add to the difficulty, we must also follow carefully-guided instructions and make sure that we know which coloured bags to use for each type of waste. 🗑 This wide range of challenges proves overwhelming for many people, causing them stress and leading them to give up and throw everything in the residual waste bin. 1 #NordicPictogram – Waste sorting made simple 🔎 It’s not your fault; it’s the system. Like kids' toys, sorting shouldn’t be complex. That’s why, after many years of collaborative efforts and research, Denmark developed a simple waste sorting system based on pictograms in 2017. Its success has since spearheaded to other waste streams and to various Nordic municipalities and countries (Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland). 🇪🇺 The EU’s recently revised #packaging regulation aims to establish a harmonised labelling system which is to be used on packaging waste throughout the EU. With this in mind, MWE wants to share a series of posts telling you all that you need to know about the Nordic pictogram sorting system. So, stay tuned for future posts. #circulareconomy #wastetoresource

We are thrilled to announce that the Municipal Waste Europe Board has been re-elected for another two years! Federico Foschini from Utilitalia will continue to lead the board as President, alongside Tony Clark from Avfall Sverige as Vice-President and Carla Velez from ESGRA as Treasurer. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Hans Mayr from ARGE, who has retired from his position as Vice President after many years of dedicated service. His commitment to sustainable waste management has been an inspiration to us all. 🌟 With the re-election of our board, MWE is well-positioned to continue promoting sustainable waste management practices and advocating for a circular economy in Europe. 💻 Learn more about our board and their work here: https://lnkd.in/d3H8h-k9

🥂 Exciting news about the record collection rate of glass packaging in Europe! Glass is one of the most reliable, effective, and #sustainable materials available, making it a valuable resource for businesses.   ♻ With its infinite recyclability and ability to maintain quality and purity, glass is essential for a #circulareconomy.   We hope to see even more progress in the coming years, with a milestone to reach 90% collection by 2030. #glassrecycling

Municipal Waste Europe would like to express our gratitude to IOK & IOK Afvalbeheer Geel, a public waste management company and member of MWE member Interafval, for hosting us at their offices and one of their civic amenity sites. We also thank Matras Recycling Europe for guiding us through their waste mattress dismantling plant in Antwerp, Belgium. 🛏 The visit provided our members with valuable insights into the successful implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (#EPR) for #mattresses in Flanders. The system covers most of the collection, logistics, administrative and communication fees for waste mattresses, making it easier for citizens and other end users (e.g. hotels) to dispose of their old mattresses. 🤝 This is the result of constructive discussions between the regional government, municipalities (Interafval) and the PRO Valumat vzw/asbl over the last few years, the kind of collaboration we would like to see for all EPR schemes! 🛑 However, mattress collection and recycling still face many challenges, including logistics and material composition. Despite the impressive results achieved in Flanders, waste mattresses are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of bulky waste management. ⛳ #Ecodesign measures are needed to achieve higher preparation-for-reuse, reuse and recycling rates. ➰ Producers must focus on closing the loop by designing mattresses that facilitate the separation of materials and enable more secondary materials to be reintroduced onto the market. This would reduce the amount of bulky waste that ends up in incineration and landfills.

The Transforming Textiles mini-series is a wrap! 🔚 Over the past few weeks, Municipal Waste Europe and RREUSE - Reuse and Recycling European Union Social Enterprises have shared our joint position paper tackling the challenges and opportunities of implementing Extended Producer Responsibility (#EPR)  schemes in the textile industry, as part of the ongoing Waste Framework Directive (#WFD) revision. ✍ Municipalities and social enterprises are advocating to close loopholes in the waste hierarchy system on textiles and be granted decision-making powers in the design, functioning, and governance of the future textile EPR scheme. 💥 2025 will be a challenging year, for municipalities and social enterprises, as the separate collection of textiles will become mandatory across the EU. Municipalities and social enterprises will have to bear the costs of purchasing the necessary infrastructure and communication before EPR financial support systems are in place. 🔄The collection mandate alone only encourages citizens to sort their unwanted textiles away from the mixed fraction, but it won't solve the linear, #fastfashion production model. That's why Municipal Waste Europe and rreuse are urging policymakers to implement an effective EPR scheme, holding producers accountable for their waste and pushing them towards a circular, sustainable model. 🌱Explore our slideshow and joint paper with rreuse to learn more about shaping a sustainable future for textiles!

👇 The EEA textile report highlights the challenges we face in dealing with textile waste. Are we ready to transition to a circular textile model? 👚 In 2020, the EU generated almost 7 million tonnes of #textilewaste, with only 27% separately collected for reuse and recycling. Fast forward to today, we are less than 6 months away from mandatory separate collection of textiles in the EU. While this is a positive step towards increasing collection rates, the EEA report warns of potential issues in our sorting and recycling textile waste industry. The report states that the EU and Europe are under-equipped to sort and recycle textiles. The current sorting capacity in the EU is 1.5 million tonnes per year, while the recycling capacity in Europe is 1.3 million tonnes. 🏭 With sorting and recycling plants already operating at full capacity, they will also have to contend with the constant influx of cheap, low-quality textile products. ⚠️ The textile #wastehierarchy is under threat. The decrease in textile quality and the rise of synthetic clothes mean less reuse and more recycling, which requires more energy and perpetuates the linear textile production model. We need to extinguish the fire, not fan the flames. 💡Solution: To reduce the amount of textile waste, it is essential to phase out the exploitative #fastfashion linear production model and switch to circular business models based on design for durability and repairability. Easier said than done, for this reason, funding and investments should be directed to build up sorting, preparing-for-reuse, and recycling capacity in the EU without undermining the waste hierarchy. From everything that needs to be done, the effective implementation of an Extended Producer Responsibility (#EPR) on textiles is crucial, giving decision-making power to relevant local actors on separate collection (Municipalities and social enterprises). Find more information in our timeline and joint position paper with RREUSE - Reuse and Recycling European Union Social Enterprises. 💫 Joint position paper: https://lnkd.in/dYNAPRF2

🛏 #TransformingTextiles: A Miniseries on Making EPR Work 6 #Bulkywaste textiles, such as mattresses and carpets, need to be collected and managed differently than apparel, footwear, and accessories as they are a separate waste stream. Due to their size and weight, municipal waste operators and #socialenterprises are usually involved in the collection of these items, often through door-to-door collection and disposal in civic amenity sites. This reaffirms our call for both these actors to be included in the decision-making process of the #EPR schemes. 💫 For this reason, it is necessary to organise them in a separate EPR organisation dedicated to these products when they become waste. 👉 Read our joint statement on our website for more details: https://lnkd.in/dYNAPRF2 #Textilewaste #circulareconomy

👗 Race to the bottom - Low fees & no budget 💸 #Transformingtextiles: a miniseries on Making EPR Work 5   If a Member State decides to give operating permits to more than one #PRO (Producer Responsibility Organisation) for #textiles, meaning apparel, footwear and accessories, it is essential that an independent mechanism is set up at national level to ensure #faircompetition and that all collectors are correctly compensated 👞 👔 👜   ⚔ When there are several PROs competing for the same waste stream in a Member State, it can become a fierce competition. Producers prioritise the PRO with the lowest fees, making it a race to the bottom for some. This leaves the cheaper PROs without sufficient funds to fulfil their obligations to cover the costs of collection, transport, sorting, recycling and recovery. ✅ MWE and RREUSE - Reuse and Recycling European Union Social Enterprises advocate for the establishment of a single national PRO per waste stream as the preferred option. A single national PRO ensures a fair and level playing field for all producers and actors in the waste treatment chain. ❌ We do not support the Commission's approach of promoting competition among different PROs. 👉 Stay tuned for our next post, where we'll reveal the last measure on bulky waste responsibility. In the meantime, you can read our joint statement on our website for more details.: https://lnkd.in/dYNAPRF2 #TextileWaste #CircularEconomy #Governance #SocialEnterprise

♻ MASS IMBALANCE ⚖ This Wednesday, MEP Jutta Paulus will call on the European Parliament Plenary to vote a motion for a resolution against the draft Implementing Act for the calculation of recycled plastic content in single-use plastic beverage bottles under the Single Use Plastics Directive (#SUPD).   🔎 Why is this important? MWE believes that the Commission's draft decision would jeopardise the mechanical recycling system by prioritising #gasification and #pyrolysis #chemicalrecycling systems that inflate the real percentage of recycled content, leading to unfair competition for access to plastic waste feedstocks and leading to greenwashing.   👇 Read our collaborative joint paper to learn more: https://lnkd.in/dQ7UKkRa European Environmental Bureau ECOS ALPLA Group Ecopreneur FEAD - European Waste Management Association Zero Waste Europe Rethink Plastic Alliance Werner & Mertz GmbH Deutsche Umwelthilfe  Euractiv Contexte