The reduction of plastic waste is the overall goal of this project with its slogan “Supporting EU regions to curb plastics waste and littering”.
Project goal and activities
The Department of Environment, Sustainability and Migration of the City of Augsburg has mandated the Cluster of Environmental Technologies Bavaria with the PLASTECO project. The “Forum Plastic-free Augsburg” as well as the Sustainability Office of the city of Augsburg actively support the project.
The topics which will be addressed within the next three year are:
- eradication of single-use plastics from regional value chains and introduction of alternative products to single-use plastic products
- waste management and usage of secondary raw materials
- micro plastics and waste water management
- awareness raising
- public procurement of plastic-free products or made out of recycled materials
Consortium and partner countries
The Cluster of Environmental Technologies Bavaria is one of eight project partners of PLASTECO. The partners are located in these eight European countries: Greece, Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Rumania, Latvia. The lead partner is the Municipality of Rethymno, Crete, Greece.
Project consortium at the kick-off-meeting in Rethymno, Greece (picture: PLASTECO)
Future Guidelines for Augsburg
The main activity of the project is the development of an action plan for the City of Augsburg addressing the topic of plastic waste reduction. The „Future Guidelines for Augsburg” with the goals “Ö2 Improve energy and material efficiency” and its subgoals “Ö2.1 Promote resource efficient and resource preserving management” and “Ö2.2 Strengthen circular processes and recycling” are the foundation of the action plan.
Exchange of experiences
Exchange of experiences between the different project partners and key stakeholders is one very important pillar of the project. This takes place during four interregional workshops and two field trips. In addition to the interregional exchange, the regional exchange between relevant stakeholders is another pillar. Therefore, regional stakeholder meetings are organised twice a year in order to develop the action plan.
Funding program and project duration
PLASTECO is a project from the EU program Interreg Europe and cofounded by the European Regional Development Fund. The funding program Interreg Europe is a policy learning program. The exchange of experiences between policy bodies is the main goal. The project started in August 2019 and will end in July 2023. The main activity within phase 1 (3 years) is the development of the action plan. Its implementation will start in phase 2 (1 year).
Current situation
The “European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy” and the “Single-use plastics directive” which will ban certain single-use plastic products as well as the current political and medial attention of the topic of plastic waste provide a good basis for a successful project.
Further information
...can be found here: https://www.interregeurope.eu/plasteco/
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