Europe’s cities are some of the world’s greatest tourism destinations. The socio-economic impact of tourism is extraordinary, but it brings at the same time a range of negative externalities, including high levels of unsustainable resource consumption and waste production. In comparison with other cities, tourist cities face additional challenges related to waste prevention and management due to their geographical and climatic conditions, the seasonality of tourism flow and the specificity of the tourism industry and of tourists as waste producers.

UrBAN-WASTE performed a metabolic analysis of the state of urban metabolism in 11 pilot cities: Copenhagen (DK), Dubrovnik – Neretva county (HR), Florence (IT), Kavala (EL), Lisbon (PT), Nice (FR), Nicosia (CY), Ponta Delgada (PT), Santander (ES), Syracuse (IT) and Tenerife (ES).

In parallel, a participatory process involving all the relevant stakeholders was set up through a mobilisation and mutual learning action plan. These inputs were integrated into the strategies along with a review of the most innovative existing technologies and practices in the field of waste management and prevention. The strategies were then implemented in the 11 cities and the results were monitored and disseminated, facilitating the transfer and adaptation of the project outcomes in other cases.

The project developed eco-innovative and gender-sensitive waste prevention and management strategies in cities with high levels of tourism in order to reduce the urban waste production and improve municipal waste management. The project developed Guidelines to support city managers and policy makers in replicating the UrBAN-WASTE strategies in tourist cities. The Guidelines summarise the work that the project consortium did over the years, including the initial mapping and identification of local stakeholders involved in waste management and tourism processes, community-based decision making, implementation of eco-innovative measures and the final environmental, social and economic impact assessments. These guidelines can allow city managers, including decision and policy makers, to understand the underlying liaisons between tourism and waste management processes and enable them to recreate some of the UrBAN-WASTE processes to improve their local waste management practices and adapt them to their local tourism patterns (http://www.urban-waste.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/D2.1-Literature-Review-on-Urban-Metabolism-Studies-and-Projects.pdf). In addition, the project developed Guidelines for local policy makers for mainstreaming of UrBAN-WASTE strategies into Waste Management Plans, with the focus on European countries such as Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. View guidelines.

In addition to the Guidelines for city managers and policy makers to support with replicating UrBAN-WASTE strategies in other tourist cities, the project has a number of relevant and useful outputs:
 

• UrBAN-WASTE developed prevention and management strategies for tourist cities and guidelines for implementation. The guidelines are presented in a format of a list of waste prevention and management strategies, designed and proposed through a participatory approach. The strategies address different types of tourist cities and include several prevention and operational steps to be taken, as well as monitoring and evaluation indicators. Each strategy is gender-sensitive and supported by a financial plan.
• The UrBAN WASTE gender strategy elaborates on gender-sensitive waste prevention and management strategies, including the activities that were organised in each pilot city to support the achievement of the gender objectives. These can be used as inspiration for other cities and regions.
• The Guidelines for local policy makers for mainstreaming of UrBAN-WASTE strategies into waste management plans are intended to support policy makers in the integration of the developed strategies into existing or future waste management plans. The guidelines address synergies in terms of common objectives, impacts, shared use of infrastructure and cost saving opportunities.
• UrBAN-WASTE mobilisation plan. It describes the overall concept of civic mobilisation and provides operational guidelines for policy makers to implement the mobilisation and mutual learning activities in their cities. The monitoring system description is also included in the plan.
• An overview of current waste prevention and management practices in pilot cities and best practices in touristic cities, which can be relevant as a source of inspiration for other cities and regions across Europe.

Programme:
 

• H2020-EU.3.5. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Topic:
 

• WASTE-6b-2015 - Eco-innovative strategies

Government of the Canary Islands

Contact the project.

• Technische Universiteit Delft
• Association of Cities and Regions for Sustainable Resource Management
• Aarhus Universitet
• Ayuntamiento de Santander
• Universitaet für Bodenkultur Wien
• Kobenhavns Kommune
• Cabildo Insular de Tenerife
• Anaptixiaki Anonimi Etairia Diachirisis Aporrimaton Anotilikis Makedonias-Thrakis Ae ‒ Diaamath
• Kobenhavns Universitet
• Comune di Siracusa
• Institut d'amenagement et d'urbanisme de la region d'ile de France
• Bioazul
• Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet
• Dunea doo za Regionalni Razvoj i Poslovne Usluge
• Consulta Europa Projects and Innovation
• Agence observat amenage habitat Réunion
• Câmara Municipal de Lisboa
• Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
• Ambiente Italia Srl
• Asociación Hotelera y Extrahotelera de Tenerife La Palma La Gomera y El Hierro
• Metropole Nice Cote D'azur
• Perifereia Ipeiroy
• Fundo Regional da Ciencia e Tecnologia
• Linneuniversitetet
• Lefkosia Municipality
• Regione Toscana