The waste prevention kit for enterprises, education, and households (WastePrevKit)

Abstract

The Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (YTV) is responsible for organising the waste management in residential building areas around the metropolitan area. In 2002 the board of YTV accepted the Waste prevention at source strategy until 2007. Therefore, a 5-year project was launched to realise this strategy and this project is funded by the EU-LIFE -programme as a WastePrevKit project from 2005 to 2007. One of the main focus points of YTV is that by 2007 there will be less waste generated per inhabitant and workplace in the metropolitan area than in 2002. The waste prevention strategy consists of several subprojects. The most resources were devoted to the waste prevention at source and to linking effectively the way of thinking materially with the general education and vocational teaching. The models for smart ways of action drawn up in cooperation with educational institutions, enterprises and the public administration help for their part in reducing waste. The models are available for use in schools, shops, the building trade, offices and daycare centres. The waste benchmarking comparison service Petra is offered in YTVs webpages and provides a good tool for monitoring the waste amounts generated in workplaces, in educational institutions, companies and public administration properties. There are various kinds of awareness raising campaigns which are targeted at households. The webpages of waste prevention at source www.ytv.fi/fiksu are the focal point of the strategy.