On 7 and 8 November all the project partners came together in the Estonian capital of Tallinn. The Meeting provided partners with the opportunity to exchange on the work done so far and coordinate the pending tasks in the project. The meeting was opened by Elena Sapp, representative of Tallinn Municipality Environment Department, who welcomed the representatives of the partner cities and their stakeholders accompanying them.
The meeting kicked off with an introductory session in which the lead partner presented the overall picture of the project. Partners were then invited to share their ideas for the Action Plans, in terms of actions, time-frame, funding instruments and ways of engaging stakeholders. During the meeting sessions were also held on the best practices, financial state of the project, and communication and dissemination activities.
Several study visits also took place during the meeting. On day one, partners visited Humana Recycling Centre where they got to see how the second hand clothes are sorted and given a second life. The Centre employs more than 100 workers handling and sorting about 200 tons of clothes, shoes and textiles per week. Association Humana Estonia is an independent Estonian association established in 2000. The association’s activity is raising funds for humanitarian purposes by recycling of second hand clothes. The clothes are sorted, packed and sold through wholesale and associations second hand shops.
Partners also visited Pääsküla closed landfill that was closed in 2006. The environmental monitoring of the hill still continues. Near the hill is a civic amenity site where people can give away their household wastes for free or for reasonable price.
On second day partners got to see how Tallinn Waste Centre works, allowing them to witness in situ the waste management programmes of the city and to learn more about its overall approach. Partners also got to find out how the door-to-door collection is arranged in Tallinn. Later during a walk through the Old Town partners got to connect and discuss old town waste system.
