Population increase, economic development and materialistic innovations increase demand for Earth’s finite resources. Human not only produce low-value waste, but also through innovations, such as microplastics, pollute ecosystems, thus damaging their own livelihood. Waste management is especially a topical problem due to the increase of global population and its consumption habits that lead to serious environmental problems. In the European Union (EU), only 40% of waste is recycled or reused. According to Eurostat data, the situation in Latvia and Estonia is less pleasing and shows around 20% of waste recycling. Most of the waste is landfilled or incinerated. The 7th EU Environmental Action Programme sets the following priorities: to reduce the amount of waste generated; to maximize recycling and re-use; to limit incineration to non-recyclable materials and to phase out landfilling to non-recyclable and non-recoverable waste. Both countries still have a lot to do to fulfil the waste policy of EU and one of the steps is to raise public awareness and understanding of the problem.
Project WasteArt will use the capacity of contemporary art and the diversity of artistic practices to increase public awareness of the vast amounts of waste produced by human daily activities. As well as through the introduction of Waste Audit approach the WasteArt project will promote the Waste 3R at kindergartens and schools.
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Title
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Reuse of Waste through Arts and Crafts
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Abbreviation
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WasteArt
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Lead partner
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Foundation “Institute for Environmental Solutions” (Latvia)
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Project number
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Est-Lat 65
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Programme
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Interreg V-A Estonia–Latvia (Est-Lat) 2014–2020 Programme
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Partners
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- Foundation "Institute for Environmental Solutions" (VRI) /Latvia/
- Vidzeme Planning Region (VPR) /Latvia/
- LTD “ZAAO” /Latvia/
- Non-profit organization "Tipu Nature School"
Mittetulundusühing Tipu Looduskool (MTL) /Estonia/
- Põlva local governement
Põlva Vallavalitsus (PV) (until 01.12.2018. Mooste KülalisStuudio MTÜ) /Estonia/
- Võru local governement
Võru Vallavalitsus (VV) /Estonia/
Residency partners:
- MoKS Artist Residency /Estonia/
- Rucka Artist Residency /Latvia/
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Project aim
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- Increase the awareness and change people’s habits towards more environmentally friendly behaviour concerning the waste reduction, re-use, and recycling (Waste 3R)
- Educate children and youngsters on the causes of the waste problem and encourage them to use Waste 3R approach, thus promoting the sustainable use of natural resources and reduction of waste
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Activities
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- Artistic creative Reuse Campaign “NOT out of sight, NOT out of mind”. As a part of this activity, project partners will develop traveling art exhibition, containing of 14 artworks developed by artists from Estonia, Latvia and abroad. The exhibition will showcase artists’ interpretation of the waste problem to increase public awareness of consumer material waste issues and resource efficiency. The artworks will travel as a joint exhibition and will be displayed in public locations across six places in Latvia and Estonia. Each opening in a new place will be marked by an open communication event.
- Campaign “Waste Audit and 3R” that will target 24 kindergardens and/or schools in Latvia and Estonia. Within this activity a waste audit methodological toolkit will be developed that will be used jointly by school-children and teachers to monitor the waste amount and type produced in each educational institution and to elaborate an action plan afterwards.
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Results
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- As a result of the Campaign “NOT out of sight, NOT out of mind” – increased awareness of people regarding waste reduction, re-use, and recycling
- Waste audit carried out and action plans elaborated and implemented in 24 educational insitutions (12 of them in Latvia) aiming to reduce, re-use and recycle waste
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Budget
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Total Budget of the project: 344 452.87 EUR
- whereof ERDF support: 292 784.92 EUR
VPR budget: 67 989.54 EUR
- whereof ERDF support: 57 791.10 EUR
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Implementation period
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August 2018 – January 2021
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Contact person VPR
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Maija Rieksta
“WasteArt” Project Manager in VPR
Tel. +371 26099521
maija.rieksta@vidzeme.lv
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