From March 26 to 29, 2024, the LIFE IP CYzero WASTE Project team attended the Circular Economy Information Day and Regional Workshop, in Rhodes, which were co-organized by the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy, the Green Fund , the Region of the South Aegean, the Solid Waste Management Agency of the South Aegean, the Municipality of Rhodes and the DAFNI Sustainable Islands Network, in the framework of the LIFE-IP CEI-Greece Project – LIFE18 IPE/GR/ 000013 “Implementation of the Circular Economy in Greece”, which is coordinated by the Ministry of the Interior.
More specifically, on March 26, 2024, the Information Day was held, which aimed to inform the general public, regarding the actions of the LIFE-IP CEI-Greece Project and the successful practical circular economy models that can be applied in the islands of the South Aegean.
The Three-Day Regional Capacity Building Workshop held from 27 to 29 March 2024 aimed to train all stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of waste management solutions, including Municipalities, industries, mass media, farmers’ associations, chambers, local tourism associations, Non-Governmental Organizations and others. During the workshop, topics and examples of circular economy were presented, covering the institutional framework of waste management in Greece, the ways to solve the problem of the high production of textile waste, the practices of proper management of toxic materials in products, the positive effect of the existence of the Centers of Creative Reuse of Materials, the role of digital tools in the circular economy, ways to tackle the problem of plastic pollution, and the benefits of Green Public Procurement, the sharing economy and the use of products as a service.
The workshop featured a high degree of interactivity through hands-on exercises focused on topics such as reuse, product-as-a-service and Green Public Contracts.
The board game learning approach, focused on circular entrepreneurship, encouraged the active participation of participants, promoting the generation of new ideas and contributing to a better understanding of circular economy issues.
In addition to the knowledge gained and which will be replicated in the workshops that will be organized in Cyprus, the networking with various stakeholders who participated in the Workshop created the conditions for future collaborations, enhancing the possibility of transferring good practices between the two Projects. The ideas, various circular economy tools, good practices and experiential exercises that emerged through the Workshop provided the driving force to further enhance creativity and the search for new or combined strategies to address the challenges of municipal waste management in Cyprus and the transition from a linear to a circular economy.
More information on LIFE-IP CEI-Greece and the presentations of the Three-Day Circular Economy Workshop are available on the Project website www.circulargreece.gr
