Implementation of sustainable waste management in a circular economy

On 15 and 16 September 2020, the Policy Learning Platform organized an online peer review for the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship (Poland), which was seeking advice on how to accelerate the shift to a circular economy. 

Access the recommendations in the follow-up report. 

In order to ensure the successful implementation of its new strategy for socio-economic development and to better address the transformations needed for moving away from a linear economy, particularly in the area of waste management, the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship had requested a peer review to explore three issues of particular concern for its territory.

• Circular economy for entrepreneurs and SMEs: to understand which kind of projects could address the needs of its economic operators, taking into account their capabilities and their lower performance compared to SMEs in other Polish Regions, especially with regard to resource-efficient manufacturing.
• Circular economy in a low carbon and greener Europe: to explore projects compatible with its socio-economic situation that could be implemented with the view to instill circularity into the management of municipal solid waste based on the best practices developed by similar regions, especially in the area of food waste.
• Circular economy in a social Europe: to discover how resources from the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) could be used in the next programming period (2021-2027) in order to foster the social aspects of the circular economy, for instance through the implementation of projects involving social enterprises and NGO in the field of waste prevention.

Four excellent peers from Italy, Greece and Slovenia joined forces and shared with the Host of the on-line peer-review their know-how and suggestions on the abovementioned circular economy subtopics. Peers outlined the challenges that the Host should expect in the implementation of its strategy for regional socio-economic development and provided valuable insight on experiences that are driving the shift to a circular economy in other EU regions. 

The Host also exploited the peer-review as the perfect occasion for uniting multiple and diverse local stakeholders around a topic of crucial importance, namely how to set the path for regional development based on forward-looking programming to meet policy challenges and targets in the area of sustainable waste management.

The peers formulated precise recommendations on how to define a roadmap for sustainable waste management and how to untap the circular economy potential of private stakeholders in the Region. 

Please find the policy challenges of the host and the suggestions of the peers in the follow-up report.

At the end of an intense 2-day meeting, Kinga Krupińska, Head of the Coordination Office at the Regional Policy Department of Marshal Office in the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodship, declared: 'Cooperation with the PLP team during the peer review was very smooth and effective. We received help at every stage. Special thanks for the huge amount of additional materials, which will allow us to better understand the solutions proposed by the peers.'

Dorota Kopeć, Deputy Director of the Regional Policy Department of the Marshal Office in the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodship, added: 'Thank you very much for your work. All peer sessions and presentations have been very interesting. They show that there is a lot of experience available and the examples that you shared with us have been really inspiring'.

At present the Host authority is following up on the recommendations received during the peer-review and is now looking at ways to integrate them in the implementation of its new Circular Economy Action Plan.

Image credit: Photo by Min An from Pexels