Waste reduction is an emergency for the European Union as a whole. In 40 years household waste has doubled in weight and has been growing steadily at a rate of 1 to 2% per year. According to Eurostat, in 2009 512kg of municipal waste was generated on average per person in the EU Member States. This waste is the result of non-sustainable modes of production and consumption. Furthermore, the consumption of products (considering their manufacturing, transport and distribution) is responsible for nearly 50% of CO2 emissions thus heavily contributing to climate change.

In this framework, the European Week for Waste Reduction represents an important opportunity to raise awareness about waste reduction strategies and about the policies of the European Union and its Member States on this subject, as well as to highlight the work accomplished by various actors, through concrete examples of waste reduction.

The week is addressed to public authorities across Europe that have competence in the field of waste prevention, to "Project Developers" interested in carrying out awareness raising actions on the subject of waste prevention during the Week, and to European citizens, who can participate in actions set up by Project Developers during the Week and learn about the kind of waste reduction habits that they can take up in everyday life.

According to the Italian Steering Committee, the validated actions promoted in Italy for the 2012 EWWR amounted to 5.261, thus largely outnumbering those of the previous year. Moreover, public participation was enhanced thanks to the creation of a dedicated website to collect the citizens' comments and individual commitments.

The European Week for Waste Reduction is a 3 year project supported by the LIFE+ Programme of the European Commission until July 2012.

For more information please visit the EU official website.