Ukraine joins in European Week for Waste Reduction
Over 10,000 events dedicated to waste reduction held in 33 countries, including Ukraine.
The European Week for Waste Reduction is the biggest campaign for raising awareness about recycling, reusing and reducing waste. It is a call to Europeans (and not only them) to organize events that contribute to changing people’s attitudes and habits. Anybody can join in the movement, either by creating an event, or by participating in an already existing one. This year the campaign (which took place on 21–29 November) was focused on invisible waste — resources that are wasted, yet remain unnoticed. It refers to, for example, waste generated during the production of devices, or by internet activity.
Leading the eco changes
In Ukraine, events dedicated to the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) were held by UNDP and Zero Waste Lviv, now the campaign’s official coordinator in Ukraine.
“I met the organizers of EWWR in Brussels two years ago,” says Iryna Myronova, the executive director of Zero Waste Lviv. “I was astonished by their events, and the idea itself fascinated me a lot. So it’s a pleasure to lead this initiative in Ukraine from now on.”
Zero Waste Lviv organized a series of public talks and workshops about mindful consumption and waste reduction during the week. Participants studied their consumption chains, and analysed how many resources are being used up to produce items that they use.
“We want to convey the problem to a wider audience with personal stories,” says Diana Popfalushi, communications manager of Zero Waste Lviv.
“Our focus is on disposable items that our respondents have given up on in favour of reusable ones. We explained to them what exactly goes into disposable items.”
This is the fourth all-European campaign held by the NGO this year. In 2020 it held the “July without plastics” event, Brand-audit, and Environ Menstrual Week. In addition, Zero Waste Lviv conducted a series of experiments titled “Zero Cup” in cooperation with the UNDP Accelerator Labs Ukraine. This initiative is aimed at finding eco-friendly alternatives to disposable cups for coffee to go.
“During the pandemic we’re not afraid to call for reusable utensils and dispel the myth that disposable ones are always safe,” says Myronova.
She adds that sustainable solutions in coffee consumption require communication both with clients, and baristas. The latter should be knowledgeable enough to clarify and motivate coffee lovers to take coffee to go in reusable mugs.
Based on 150 interviews conducted with coffee drinkers, Zero Waste Lviv plans to launch a pledge service that will allow people to buy coffee in a “rented” mug. There will also be an app for coffee geeks to find the coffee shops where the service is available.
In addition, during the EWWR, a presentation of Marianna Boyko’s book “104 Days Without Polyethylene” took place. This is the first book written about zero waste by a Ukrainian author. In the book, the blogger shares her personal experience of giving up plastic.
A unique study by UNDP Ukraine
To study public opinion about waste management in Ukraine, UNDP collected hundreds of personal stories. To do this, UNDP used Sensemaker — the world’s first crowdsourcing method for human judgements, feelings and senses that people attach to particular issues. The participants of the study filled in a questionnaire, where they wrote of their experiences and feelings about waste management and determined who was responsible for it, how they felt in a particular situation, and how they envision the solution of the waste problem in Ukraine.
Five hundred Ukrainians shared their experiences during the data collection phase in October 2020. Based on their personal stories, we were able put together a collective vision of the waste management and identify whose examples most inspire Ukrainians to become more eco aware.
According to the survey data, Ukrainians are mostly concerned about the problem of plastic — it was mentioned in over half of all stories. When describing their feelings about recycling and utilization, 58 percent of respondents chose optimism and motivation. On the other hand, the topic of garbage caused disappointment and frustration. Ukrainians are mostly inspired by examples of their relatives and friends. Majority thinks that it’s not the authorities or business, but citizens themselves who should be primarily responsible for solving the waste problem.
Regarding gender differences, it is interesting to note that women mentioned giving up overbuying and reusing items more often than men. Here is one such story:
“I changed my attitude towards clothes and many household goods several years ago. In a short period of time, I had to move a few times from city to city. Once, when packing again, I realized how many things I had not even unpacked since the last move. Since then I have reduced my wardrobe significantly and gave away a lot of things. Now I repair clothes and buy what I need in second-hand shops.”
As there is an official coordinator of the campaign in Ukraine now, there will be more participants of EWWR, hopes Myronova, the executive director of Zero Waste Lviv.
“It was important for us to take this first step — to become coordinators, so that it’s known more widely that such events are taking place in Ukraine, that we’re joining the European movement for waste reduction.”
You can learn more about the campaign and get plenty of ideas on what to do (at home, at work, or on your devices) to join the movement on the EWWR website.
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This story is a part of a communication campaign about environmental changemakers, which became possible thanks to the UNDP project “Support to the Parliament of Ukraine on sustainable energy and environment” with the financial support of Sweden and UNDP project “Plastic Waste Management at the local level” with the financial support of the joint New World Programme of the Coca-Cola Foundation and Global Water Challenge.
Author: Yuliya Hudoshnyk. Edited by: Euan Macdonald, Yuliya Samus, UNDP
