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MISSION

The European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) is the biggest campaign on waste reduction in Europe. Driven by local and regional public authorities, we bring together all sorts of other actors — citizens, schools, businesses, NGOs, associations — who organise activities to raise awareness about the different challenges and impacts of resource use and management, proposing waste reduction as a common approach.

The Week, as we otherwise call it, is just that: a week in November, normally the penultimate or last week of the month. What makes it special are the efforts and passion invested by the thousands and thousands of volunteers who raise awareness, engage and act for sustainable and circular consumption and production in their communities.

What are the EWWR’s objectives?

  • To raise awareness about waste reduction, (re)use, repair and material recycling strategies.
  • To raise awareness about related European Union and national policies.
  • To highlight the work accomplished by EWWR participants.
  • To mobilise and encourage action developers to organise activities that spread the message of the EWWR to a broader audience.
  • To reinforce EWWR stakeholders’ capacities by providing them with targeted communication tools.
  • To provide a space to learn about the latest challenges in terms of resource use and to inspire change at national, regional and local levels.
  • To inspire communities to come together for grassroots action against pollution.
  • To activate imagination and foster creative solutions for waste prevention.

Our messages

Waste prevention starts long before something becomes waste. It starts with the choices we make about what we buy, how we use products, how long we keep them, and what we do with them when we no longer need them.

The European Week for Waste Reduction puts waste prevention at the heart of the waste hierarchy. The familiar 3Rs — Reduce, Reuse, Recycle — provide a simple starting point. But preventing waste requires us to look beyond these three actions and rethink the entire way we produce, consume and use resources.

STEERING COMMITTEE

The EWWR Steering Committee is the group of organisations that makes all the strategic decisions about the project and finances it.

The members of the EWWR Steering Committee are:

The benefits of being a member of the Steering Committee

  • Being part of a network that promotes and upholds authentic actions towards waste reduction.
  • Getting more visibility across Europe (EWWR website and all EWWR communication).
  • Shaping the future development of the EWWR.
  • Setting the annual thematic focus of the EWWR.
  • Deciding on the composition of the European Jury for the EWWR Awards Ceremony.
  • Deciding on the agenda and structure of the EWWR Awards Ceremony.
  • Collaborating on waste prevention, reuse, and recycling with leading public authorities and exchanging ideas and strategies.
  • Being part of the Steering Committee of one of the biggest European initiatives on waste reduction.

How to join the EWWR Steering Committee

The Steering Committee is open to public (or publicly owned) authorities and organisations (national, regional or local level) involved in the sector of sustainable resources management and waste reduction.

Non-profit organisations with a strong expertise on stakeholder engagement and raising awareness communication are also welcomed.

Joining the Steering Committees means accepting the following commitments:

  • to join the quarterly EWWR Steering Committee meetings
  • to help promoting the EWWR to new actors and spreading it to new countries
  • not to use the EWWR for any commercial, political or religious purpose
  • to adhere to the objectives of the EWWR;
  • to use the EWWR graphic charter and logo only for purposes related to the EWWR
  • to support the campaign with an annual fee of 5000€, or with a specific activity agreed with the European Coordinator (ACR+)

Interested organisations can fill the Steering Committee Commitment Charter and send it to the European Coordinator (contact@ewwr.eu), which will evaluate the application and reply within one week.

Our numbers

coordinators
countries involved
actions in 2025
editions so far
actions organised since 2009
followers
followers
subscribers

Waste problem

Europe’s growing demand for resources is putting increasing pressure on the environment, climate, and our economy. Every product we buy requires raw materials, energy, and water to be produced, transported, and used. When products are discarded too soon, these valuable resources are lost, and more waste is generated.

The challenge goes far beyond waste management. Preventing waste means reducing the need for new resources, extending the life of products and materials, and embracing more circular ways of producing and consuming.

WHY we need to prevent waste

this is the size of the problem:

The EU generates
almost 5 tonnes of waste
per person per year (2022)

The EU extracts 14.8 tonnes
of material from nature
per person per year (2022)

The average EU resident generates
517 kg of municipal waste
per year (2024)

Only 11.8% of the materials
used in EU come
from recycled materials

so, what can I do?

take part
get inspired
discover the project

Waste generation in Europe has remained stable over the past decades. Despite years of recycling targets and environmental legislation, the total volume of waste produced across the EU has decreased only very slightly by 0.5% between 2010 and 2022 and reached 5 tonnes per capita in 2022. This is not, at its core, a waste management problem – it reflects how much we produce and consume in the first place.

The Planetary Health Check 2025 puts the scale of the problem in sharp relief: the global economy has now breached 7 out of 9 planetary boundaries – the thresholds within which human societies can safely operate. Better waste treatment and recycling rates matter, but they only address the symptoms. The underlying driver is the rate at which resources are extracted, used, and discarded.
Waste prevention is the first and most effective step towards a circular economy. By preventing waste before it is created, we can reduce environmental impacts, conserve natural resources, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and build more sustainable communities.

Our coordinators

The coordinators are the organisations supporting the promotion and management of the EWWR at national and regional levels. Contact the EWWR coordinator of your region/country to have information about the campaign in your language, request support for your action, translations of the EWWR communication tools or for collaboration opportunities.

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History

The European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) was born in 2009 as an EU-funded LIFE+ project. The initiative came from public authorities around Europe willing to join forces on waste prevention. The funding partners were:

  • ACR+, the Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable Resource management.
  • AICA, the International Association for Environmental Communication (Italy).
  • ARC, the Catalan Waste Agency (Catalonia, Spain).
  • Bruxelles Environnement/Leefmilieu Brussel (Belgium).
  • NWMD, the National Waste Management Directorate for Hungary.
  • ADEME, the French Environment and Energy Management Agency.
  • LIPOR, the Municipalities Association for Sustainable Waste Management of Greater Porto (Portugal).

After four successful years, the project was further funded by LIFE+ from 2013 until 2017. For an overview of the project during this period, you can consult the EWWR Layman’s report.

Since 2017, the project has been independently financed and coordinated by a Steering Committee.

Since 2013, the EWWR addressed many different challenges linked to waste reduction selecting an annual thematic focus: