The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA), has been participating in an Interreg Europe project called WINPOL – Waste Management Intelligent Systems and Policies together with eight (8) other project partners from Spain, Belgium, Greece, Slovenia and Romania. The overarching aim of WINPOL is to improve waste management policies through the use of intelligent equipment and innovative systems for waste disposal and collection, and contribute to waste minimisation in European cities and regions, through improved management procedures and awareness campaigns.
The project has reached the end of Phase 1- the Interregional Learning Phase. The partners have had various opportunities throughout this phase to:
- Learn on a number of good practices shared by other partner regions;
- Participate in thematic seminars;
- Organise local stakeholders meetings and targeted events to discuss and help increase knowledge on intelligent equipment and related practices; and
- Attend study visits to understand the situation in the partner territories and see in person the technologies and/or systems applied. Such visits were held in Gijon (Spain), Maribor (Slovenia), Imola (Italy), Antwerp and Ghent (Belgium).
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic hindered the last few months of this phase, forcing the partners to reschedule the last few study visits, namely in Bergen Norway, and even local meetings/events. Nevertheless, the exchange of experiences was still carried out virtually and achieved fruitful results.
Furthermore, the good practices exchanged by the partners throughout Phase 1 were acknowledged through the publication of a Good Practices Guide. This publication gathers over 26 innovative practices collected all over Europe, including Malta, whereby ERA presented two good practices; The iBins and the Solar compact Bins. The good practise are separated into two categories: “Use of data and technologies to optimise systems” and “Innovative models” and can be explored either by geographical location or by the theme(s) associated to it. These themes cover topics as varied as feedback to citizens, civic amenity sites, fly-tipping clearance, and eco-event, monitoring and decision-making.
In addition, as part of the obligations set out by the project, every project partner, including ERA, were required to draft an action plan with one or more actions inspired by the project. The aim is to transfer these actions into the local context. In total, there will be six Action Plans presented and will be monitored throughout the second phase of the project, commencing December 2020. Each project partner will have two years (until November 2022) to implement their action/s and concretely improve their performances in terms of waste management and sustainability.
For more information:
Phone (+356) 2292 3500
Email [email protected]
The WINPOL project – Waste Management Intelligent Systems and Policies – aims to foster and promote the use of intelligent equipment and planning derived from it, through improved waste management policies, thus contributing to waste minimisation in European cities and regions. Find out more information about the project on www.interregeurope.eu/winp
10 December 2020
