Munich wants to become a “Zero Waste City”. As early as July, the Munich City Council passed a concept in which around 100 city-wide measures are defined that are intended to reduce Munich’s waste generation and conserve resources. The aim of the concept is, among other things, to reduce the proportion of recyclable materials in residual waste. By 2035, 20 percent less organic waste should end up in the residual waste. With the organic waste campaign presented on Wednesday, the Munich waste management company (AWM) is starting to implement this concept.
When presenting the new campaign in front of the AWM headquarters on Georg-Brauchle-Ring, Mayor Verena Dietl (SPD) went into the overarching goal. “In the zero-waste concept, various areas such as the construction sector or waste management are targeted.
With its campaign, the AWM shows in a tongue-in-cheek and friendly way why it is worth recognizing organic waste as a recyclable material and separating it correctly.” This is intended to make an important contribution to achieving the zero-waste goal. The mayor also campaigned for the Responsibility of every individual Every citizen can help ensure that resources are reused and properly utilized.
The zero-waste concept forms the action plan for waste avoidance and is geared towards three overarching goals. Household waste is to be reduced by 15 percent by 2035 and residual waste by 35 percent. The third objective is to raise awareness among citizens. With the concept, Munich is applying for the “Zero Waste City” certificate, which is awarded by the European association Zero Waste Europe.
The city loses resources due to a lack of waste separation
The focus of the city-wide poster and online campaign is primarily organic waste. The motifs of the AWM show personalized food such as a banana peel, a piece of pumpkin, bread or a broken eggshell with the recurring note “Caution! I’m not residual waste”.
The municipal officer and first plant manager of the AWM Kristina Frank (CSU) also took up the personalization of the food in the presentation of the campaign: “If fruit and vegetable leftovers could speak, I’m sure they would say: I’m not residual waste and I want to to be reborn as Munich soil.” Every day, too much food waste does not end up in the brown organic waste bin, but in the residual waste. Valuable resources were thus lost to the city of Munich. Resources that could be converted into Munich soil or green electricity for around 1000 households.
Among other things, the campaign envisages vehicle posters on garbage trucks, posters in the city and on info screens in underground stations. The main aim of the campaign is to sensitize citizens to better waste separation. Municipal officer Kristina Frank said: “My appeal to all Munich citizens: separate them properly – and make Munich a zero-waste city.”