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More than two hundred
people meet for the fourth time in Barcelona to exchange
their most successful recent experiences in municipal
waste prevention.
Barcelona, November 2006
On 23rd November the 4th Conference on Municipal
Waste Prevention was held at the Cosmocaixa Science
Museum in Barcelona, organised by the Catalan Recycling
Centre, part of the Agència de Residus de Catalunya
of the Department of the Environment and Housing of
the Government of Catalonia.
The conference opening address was given by Ms Genoveva
Català, Director of the Agència de Residus
de Catalunya.
The main aim of the Conference was to continue advancing
and deepening the different experiences of municipal
waste prevention. This year the programme of speakers
and discussions centred on two specific topics:
- The reduction of the organic fraction of municipal
waste, which is the largest fraction by weight,
and
- Pay as you throw systems, which have proven effective
in reducing waste generation and in increasing recycling
levels.
With these objectives in mind the Conference programme
was divided into three main sections:
| I. |
The role of administrations in promoting
municipal waste prevention.
A representative of the Ministry of the Environment
explained the waste prevention actions being undertaken
by the Spanish government. A representative of
the ARC explained the new actions proposed in
the PROGREMIC 2007-12, such as the next call for
funding applications for prevention projects and
the new application for obtaining the map of municipal
waste prevention for Catalonia.
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II. |
Experiences in reducing the organic fraction
of municipal solid wastes (OFMSW).
With the aim of making known the possibilities
for reducing the organic fraction, a representative
of the ARC explained the overall possibilities
throughout the whole OFMSW cycle. Three experiences
were then presented: the Food Bank, home composting
in the Gironès region and the use of aerated
bins with compostable bags. |
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III. |
Experiences of pay as you throw.
To provide information on this prevention instrument,
a representative of Eunomia Research and Consulting
Ltd explained the conclusions of a study carried
out by the OECD on the costs and benefits of pay
as you throw programmes. Afterwards, a representative
from the Flanders region described the actual
experience in this region. Finally, a representative
of the UAB spoke about the background and the
future possibilities of pay as you throw systems
in Catalonia. |
Parallel to the Conference, five maps were exhibited
with the distribution of the 178 prevention projects
in Catalonia: a general one for the whole of Catalonia
and one for each province. These maps give a visual
representation of the implementation of waste prevention
actions in Catalonia, as well as informing on the
project status (finalised or in development) and the
type of authority carrying out the project (local
authority, non profit-making organisation, university
or company).
Centre català del reciclatge
Agència de Residus de Catalunya
Tel. 93 567 33 00
E-mail: ccr.arc.dmah@gencat.net
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