Berlin • 9. May 2019
Minister Müller of the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has officially launched the PREVENT Waste Alliance together with the Indonesian Ambassador and over 30 organizations in Berlin on 9 May 2019. The Alliance is part of the Action Program on Circular Economy of the German Development Cooperation.
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Implementing Circular Economy around the world
The members of the PREVENT Waste Alliance will work together to prevent, collect and recycle waste as well as to make use of recycled materials all around the world. They aim at preventing waste ending up in the environment in developing countries and emerging economies. Initially, plastics, electronic waste and municipal waste management are the core topics. The Alliance will connect different perspectives, knowledge and networks. Therefore, the members will be able to develop holistic approaches to tackle plastic waste and to foster the Circular Economy. First partnerships are established currently with trade associations and NGOs in Indonesia and Ghana. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development carries out an initial funding for activities of the Alliance.
“Waste is getting a global question on survival just as climate change” stated the German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Dr. Gerd Müller. He called on the members of the new Alliance: “We need pioneers and we want your concentrated knowledge to establish a working Circular Economy. Here and there”. Head of directorate of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Dr. Christoph Epping, urged to have real dialogues between stakeholders of the Alliance. These would be necessary to find common solutions.
Who participates in the Alliance?
The secretariat of the PREVENT Waste Alliance is based within the Sector Project “Concepts of Sustainable Waste Management and Circular Economy” within the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
More than 30 organizations from economy, civil society, science and public institutions have already joined forces for the launch of the PREVENT Waste Alliance in Berlin.
Participants of the waste and recycling industries are, beyond others, the Federation of the German Waste, Water and Raw Materials Management Industry (BDE), the dual system Der Grüne Punkt, Green Cycle, ALPLA, Umicore, Remondis, Wastecon, Coolrec, Kontemplant and Blackforest Solutions. The first municipal companies to participate are the waste management provider of the Böblingen district and the :metabolon initiative of the Bergischer Abfallwirtschaftsverband. The German RETech Partnership, the German Association of the Plastics Converters (GKV) and the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) are also members. Consumer goods and packaging industries like Werner & Mertz and Nestlé take part in the Alliance as well as social businesses like the Grameen Creative Lab, Dark Horse Innovations and Plastic Bank. WWF is also a founder member.
Institutes like the University of Dresden, Kassel and Rostock, the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, the United Nations University SCYCLES Program, Hydra Marine Sciences, the Institute for Applied Sustainability and the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE) are partners from science.
Members of public organizations are the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, German Environment Agency (UBA), die KfW Development Bank and GIZ.
Waste accumulation poses huge challenges
The challenges are huge: While waste quantities are growing rapidly, about 2 billion people still do not have access to waste collection services. Less than 10 percent of all materials are held in the material cycle globally. The consequences are plastic waste in our oceans, air pollution, health problems, climate change and the waste of precious natural resources. Over 15 Million people collect and sort waste without any safety provisions, health insurance and assured income.
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Photos: GIZ
