Layman’s report

SEPARATE COLLECTION

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 About the project

4 Public awareness activities

5 Publishing of articles

6 Activities for children

7 Educational videos

7 Contests for primary schools

8 Information points

10 Round table debates, collection centres, mountaineers

11 Monitoring survey, website

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Colophon: Published by: Slopak d.o.o., Vodovodna cesta 100, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia Editorial board: Nina Koren, Tjaša Kranjec Number of copies: 50 Design: Tjaša Kranjec, Nina Koren Photos: Slopak archive Printed on recycled paper August 2014

ABOUT THE PROJECTThe aim of the European project named LIFE 10 INF/SI/136 “Separate collection” is to improve the informing of broader public about proper separation of waste, which should also help increase the quantity of recycled waste from each household. During the three-year project, knowledge about the proper sep-aration and recycling of waste was disseminated all over Slov-enia.

The public awareness was raised through diverse activities cov-ering for a wide range of target groups. Schoolchildren, for ex-ample, took part in three contests; students were presented with waste separation in dormitories by means of special demonstra-tion bins, posters and information points; the professional and general public was able to attend a series of round table debates; residents were awarded at the collection centres; articles about waste separation and recycling were issued for the broader pub-lic; and there has also been a range of other activities. All of these activities are further presented herein.

Slopak is satisfied with the result of the project as the concepts of waste separation and recycling have been presented to a wid-er population.

Project title: Separate collection

Project number: LIFE 10 INF/SI/136

Project duration: 1st September 2011 - 31st August 2014

Project value: 671.558 ¤

Partner contribution (51%): 342.495 ¤

EU contribution (49%): 329.063 ¤

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Coordinated beneficiary:

Associated beneficiary:

Partners who helped in the project:Mercator•Steklarna Hrastnik•Coca Cola HBC Slovenija•Planinska zveza Slovenije•Ministrstvo za kmetijstvo in okolje•Študentski domovi v Ljubljani, Študentski domovi Univerze v Mariboru, Študentski domovi Primorske •univerzeWaste management companies (Snaga Ljubljana, Snaga Maribor, Komunala Koper, Simbio, Sauberma-•cher & Komunala Murska Sobota, Javne službe Ptuj, PUP Saubermacher, Komunala Slovenj Gradec, Komunala Novo mesto, Kostak, Komunala Vrhnika, Publicus ...)

We would like to extend a special thanks to all who contributed their share of work!

PUBLIC AWARENESS ACTIVITIES

6 videos

4 mock-ups

6round table

debates

3 contests for schools

104.342 pupils

12.267 drawings15.000 posters

104 collectioncentres

34 information points

5PUBLISHING OF ARTICLESis recycled, what new prod-ucts are made through recy-cling waste and how to han-dle waste in the mountains, and they also informed the readers about activities per-formed as part of the project.

Also as part of the project, the Delo newspaper introduced the section called “Green Delo” (Ze-leno Delo), which will continue to inform readers about the en-vironmental topics in every Fri-day edition of the newspaper.

Over the three years of carrying out the project, we worked closely with our partner, the Delo publish-er. In cooperation with the Delo journalists and photographers, the Slopak expert team produced articles that were published eve-ry week in the Delo and Nedelo newspapers, and in the Delo in dom newspaper supplement.

The purpose of those articles was to support the current activi-ties of the project. Discussing a broad range of waste separation

topics, the articles sorted by time and content were divided in five topic sections: Facts about the Environment, Public Awareness about the Proper Waste Separa-tion, Informing the Public about the Proper Separation of Waste in Mountain Areas, Practical Exam-ples of Separation and Effects of Proper Separation and Recycling.

The articles discussed the im-portance of waste separation and methods of proper separation; they described how the waste

6 ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN

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2. c, OŠ Frana Metelka, Škocjan

Slopak issued educational vid-eos which show where to dis-pose of particular waste items and what happens with them once they are thrown in the proper waste bin. Without even being aware, every person pro-duces over 30 tonnes of house-hold waste in their lifetime, not to mention the biodegradable, hazardous and other waste. However, the good news with dumping on our planet is that as much as 2/3 of waste can be reproduced and reused.

During the project, six short educational videos about sep-aration and recycling were

launched about the topics of waste separation, packaging waste, hazardous waste, electric and electronic equipment, biode-gradable waste and waste tyres. What the videos especially con-vey is that waste is a rich source of usable raw materials. Quite a few types of waste can be re-turned to the nature in the form of semi-manufactured products, re-melted into raw materials for a new product, or reused for composting. This is why waste separation is of vital importance.

In order to promote the aware-ness and enhance the separation efficiency in Slovenian house-

holds, a few famous Slovenes participated in the campaign, i.e. the stand-up comedian Vid Valič, ski jumper Robert Kran-jec, TV host and actress Ula Furlan, rapper Zlatko, swim-mer Peter Mankoč and freestyle skier Filip Flisar. By addressing the public through these vid-eos, they presented the aspects of proper separation of waste.

As practical educational tools for classroom or additional activi-ties, 2,000 DVDs were distrib-uted across primary schools and other interested target groups.

The videos can be viewed on the project website: www.locevanjeodpadkov.si and on the Slopak company YouTube channel under the Slovene title

Filmi o ločevanju odpadkov.

All Slovenian primary schools were invited to take part in the three contests organised for schoolchildren, which turned out to be one of the most pop-ular campaigns in the entire project. Slopak’s aim was to en-hance, through these competi-tions, the understanding of the waste recycling circle, explain the stages of the process when a waste item is thrown in a bin and later formed into a new

product, and to introduce the concept of waste separation and recycling to children. By creating drawings based on ideas about what can waste be made into, children realised that waste is not just rubbish ending up on the landfill but rather a rich source of raw materials which can be reused to make new products. Apart from 15,000 copies of posters showing the recycling of cans as well as plastic and glass

bottles, the schools were also distributed educational materi-als about different waste types. In the end, a total of 104,342 schoolchildren took part in the competitions, producing 12,267 drawings. The national winner of each competition was awarded a class trip to the Jez-ersko adventure park and invit-ed to the project’s closing event along with the regional win-ners and special prize winners.

Contests for schools

Educational videos

8. a, OŠ Ljudski vrt, Ptuj

4. a, OŠ Starše,Starše

INFORMATION POINTS8

During the entire project, there were 34 information points placed all over Slovenia. In coopera-tion with the company Mercator, the information points were placed at 14 shopping centres in large cities, where they remained for several days. In cooperation with university student dor-mitories in Ljubljana, Maribor and Koper, 11 information points were set up in areas frequent-ed by university students. Several information points were also set up during doors open days of various waste management companies or other events (festivals: “Zbüjdi se”, “Zmaj ‘ma mlade” and “Dan Laščanov”), and also in cooperation with the Alpine Association of Slovenia.

At the information points, Slopak’s demonstrators were informing visitors about prop-er waste separation and the advantages of separate waste collection, and presented the waste recycling process. Within the project, 12 additional demonstrators were trained.

The purchase of 100 demon-stration bins for separate waste collection was an important campaign of the project. They were designed for separate collection of packaging waste, bottles, paper and biodegrad-able waste, all marked with special labels. Their original graphic image depicts envi-ronment savings and helps to inform the users how the contribution by every one of them can be important for environmental care. Differing from other bins by their very appearance, the new demon-stration bins with an informa-tive feature can further mo-tivate residents to engage in proper waste separation. By placing the bins in university areas all over Slovenia, we up-graded the campaign by in-forming university students at the information points.

Throughout the campaign, we

worked closely with the local waste management companies, i.e. Snaga Ljubljana, Snaga Maribor and Komunala Koper. The colourfully plastered bins were distributed in the univer-sity areas of Ljubljana (Mestni Log, Bežigrad, Topniška ulica, Rožna dolina), Koper (Ankara-nska cesta) and Maribor (Gos-posvetska, Tyrševa, Lent). To effectively perform the aware-ness activities, we also coop-erated with local student resi-dence halls, which included Študentski dom Ljubljana in Ljubljana, Študentski domovi Univerze v Mariboru in Maribor and Študentski domovi Uni-verze na Primorskem in Koper. At every location, an informa-tion point was set up to inform the students about proper waste separation and to point out the new demonstration bins. Slopak also put up post-ers about proper waste separa-

tion in all student dormitories, which should help and further encourage students to throw their waste in proper bins.

In order to improve the sepa-rate collection of waste bat-teries, battery bins were bought and placed in shops and other companies selling battery-operated products.

MOCK-UPS

Four demonstration mock-ups were created as educational tools for raising awareness. They dem-onstrate the packaging waste sort-ing line, the process of recycling bottles and beverage cartons, and the process of dismantling a mo-bile phone. We used the mock-ups at the information points, lectures and round table debates. Our plan is to put them on display in schools as well as university and corporate lobbies.

Visitors received practical rewards and information material:, i.e. 1,000 organic shopping bags, over 1,000 sets of practical separation bins and information leaflets were provided spe-cifically for this purpose, all environment-friendly and carefully selected.

ROUND TABLE DEBATES, COLLEC-TION CENTRES, MOUNTAINEERS

Apart from different lectures, six round table debates about waste separation were held. A wide range of tar-get groups were invited to the exchange of views, in-cluding public institutions (Kranj administrative unit), educational institutions for children and adults (OŠ Mirana Jarca primary school in Ljubljana, Slovenian Institute for Adult Education in Ljubljana), students of environmental studies (Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security in Ljubljana), and waste management com-panies (Komunala Radovljica on a doors open day). At an international level, the project was pre-sented to organisations of similar interest – to Organizacija OSMIJEH from Bosnia and Herze-govina and the company BIOMASA from Slovakia.

As part of a campaign for mountaineers, Slopak has is-sued a series of articles about waste in the mountains in cooperation with the Alpine Association of Slovenia (PZS). The articles treated topics of waste separation in moun-tain areas and which types of waste most frequently ap-pear in the mountains, and how long do they stay in the nature unless brought down to a valley and properly separated. The articles were posted on the Slovenian Al-pine Association website; each news was published at the Association’s Facebook and Twitter profiles and un-der the Association’s e-news section. Furthermore, we published an article in the Planinski vestnik magazine for mountaineers and provided advice on waste separa-tion featured in the booklet entitled Planinski kažipot.

An extensive communication campaign organised in cooperation with waste management companies included visits to collection centres across Slovenia. Waste separation and the use of collection centres were encouraged through a regular raise of aware-ness about the possibilities of waste disposal at the collection centres through media. The public was presented with information about collection sites and their operating hours, free services at the collection centres, and the proper waste preparation which fa-cilitates the actual waste depositing and sorting waste to where it belongs. Residents who brought proper-ly separated waste to a collection centre were given different rewards made of recycled materials. In to-tal, we awarded visitors from 104 collection centres.

SURVEY, WEBSITEFour public opinion surveys about waste separation were carried out during the project. The results revealed the in-terviewees to have fewer and fewer problems separating waste, and that they were the most consistent in separat-ing packaging waste and pa-per. Regarding the knowledge about proper waste separa-tion, the interviewees scored the best when it came to sort-ing vegetable and fruit waste, as well as cardboard packaging designed for liquid food prod-

Information about the project LIFE+ Separate collection is regular-ly updated at www.locevanjeodpadkov.si, allowing access to several sections, including pictures, educational material and interesting facts about waste. Information about current project activities is also available at the Slopak company website www.slopak.si.You can join friends of proper waste separation at the Facebook profile entitled Ločujem odpadke (I separate my waste) www.face-book.com/SlopakLocujemOdpadke, where you can see pictures of events or find your own “green” idea.

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FB Ločujem odpadke

www.locevanjeodpadkov.si

www.slopak.si

ucts. They apparently had the most difficulties with sorting broken plastic toys and paper tissues.The surveys revealed that those included in it were regular users of ecological islands, while a third of the participants visited a collection centre at least a few times per month. One of the questions also concerned the problems the participants encountered when separating waste. The number of those interviewees who chose the lack of information as one of the problems they were facing decreased by the end of the project.

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Packaging waste separation in households

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86,8 % 86,7 %92,9 %

Slopak, družba za ravnanje z odpadno embalažo, d.o.o.Vodovodna cesta 100, SI-1000 Ljubljana

Telephone: +386 1 5600 250E-mail: slopak@slopak.si

www.slopak.siwww.locevanjeodpadkov.siFacebook: Ločujem odpadke