European Waste Reduction Week: Malta's Best NGO based project!

Good news! Our event for European Waste Reduction Week 2010 was selected as the best project in the NGO category from Malta :)

Next Monday the EU level results will be out and we'll know which NGO in Europe carried out the best event to promote Waste Reduction.

Visit the Wasteserv website to learn more about the various projects which were chosen as the best in their category.

Here's a summary of the Greenhouse event held on Campus for EWWR:

Association/ NGO- Greenhouse Organization

The project presented was spread over 4 days during the EWWR week, with each day focusing on a particular issue. These issues, although they might not be in the limelight, when it comes to waste-related issues, they are a major problem. The aim of the action was to make students and staff aware that a big part of the waste produced on a daily basis can be easily avoided by adopting simple actions which would make a big difference to our environment. Monday was dedicated to the distribution of rough paper stands across university facilities such as Student House, Library and computer labs where students could deposit or take rough paper to be used. This was done to promote the reuse of one-sided waste paper as rough paper.

Tuesday was about creating awareness about the large amounts of waste produced due to excessive packaging and to the promotion of fresh local produce and the selection of less packaged items in the marketplace. This was done jointly with a local supermarket where a stand was set up to display the different options there are to reduce this waste stream.

On Thursday a collection of goods which are not needed any longer was organized. The aim was to give these goods to an animal charity shop for reselling and thus reuse. This day served also for the promotion of the free cycling concept via websites. This also reduces the waste going to the landfill and saves the world's resources.

Friday was dedicated to the promotion of effective composting. A stand, which provided ample information about the requirements to make good compost, was set up while an example of the final product was also set on display.

Each concept mentioned above was further promoted by the distribution of bookmarks to the students to serve as a continuous reminder of the benefits of waste reduction.