Today more than ever, the zero waste movement is present all over Europe. In many European countries, such as France, Italy or Lithuania, national networks are being created. They address 3 areas: the zero waste lifestyle, i.e. waste reduction in the daily life through a responsible consumption, zero waste in business, e.g. optimization of production, processes towards waste reduction, and zero waste cities, which means a strong commitment of municipalities to reduce waste according to a concrete plan.

Those networks or NGOs are themselves member of the Zero Waste Europe network which unifies them under a common Zero waste definition (see below). Zero Waste Europe supports national actions, deals with the European institutions and helps members with scientific expertise, provides resources on “best practice” examples, and encourages networking between countries. Zero Waste Europe also provides materials for specific tasks such as road-maps for zero waste cities.

Germany is part of the movement!

In the last few years, many initiatives popped up. About 100 of “unpackaged” shops opened, dedicated Zero Waste organizations were created (we, with zero waste kiel e.v., are one of them) or are on the way to be official. Some enviromental organisation also took “zero waste” among their themes. Many blogs have been set up on the internet, mostly related to the zero waste lifestyle and contributed to sensibilize an even larger public.

This is why, as founder of the first German “unpackaged” shop and founder of zero waste kiel e.V ,I call now for an official creation of “Zero Waste Germany” (start before the EWWR) with the goal of networking these initiatives, as well as integrating them into the European network and to give them a national representation.

The public officialisation of the network in a web presence will occur in the EWWR !

Marie Delaperrière

“We are excited to see how the Zero Waste movement in Germany is coming together! We believe Zero Waste Germany can benefit from the great experience in the European and global zero waste network and we look forward to learning from the best practices in Germany. As ZWE we are delighted to support ZW Germany in any way possible and wish you all the best for this endeavour!”

Joan Marc Simon, Executive Director of Zero Waste Europe (ZWE)