Virtual study-visit Apeldoorn

The Municipality of Apeldoorn hosted its fellow SMART WASTE partners for the project’s first virtual study visit.

Participants made a virtual tour through Apeldoorn and got acquainted with all the activities regarding waste management in the municipality. The numerous videos presented and the opportunity for participants to ask question contributed to the success of this study visit that was virtual but nonetheless interactive.

Wim Willems, representative of the Municipality of Apeldoorn, opened the meeting by sharing the support of the Administration to the SMART WASTE project's activities as a tool to boost an ever more circular economy in Apeldoorn.

The visit started with an overview of the activities developed by Circulus, the public company in charge of waste collection in Apeldoorn, presented by Aart-Jan Wiegel. Several videos and presentations brought participants “on the spot”. A first video took participants to the recycle station of Circulus in Apeldoorn. With the other videos, they discovered the waste container fill level measurement implemented by Circulus, the dynamic route planning for waste collection in use in the municipality, and understood how Apeldoorn is involving neighbourhood communities to avoid waste placements near containers. Children awareness is another important part for Circulus, as Bram Damen, Advisor and project coordinator at Circulus, demonstrated with the two projects: Clean Wise and Cruise to Reduce.

The next speaker, Michiel Westerhof, highlighted the activities of Cirkelwaarde, a partnership of local waste collectors to support circularity for waste as substitutes of raw materials.

The SMART WASTE partners were already familiar with Zero Waste Apeldoorn, since the organisation contributed to make Apeldoorn zero waste and waste free during September last year. This time, partners got to know the activity of the association to promote social plogging on a regular basis through prizes and newsletters.

There are more projects dealing with waste prevention in the municipality. For example, the activities of the SHAREPAIR Interreg North-West Europe project, presented by Sanne van Laar, contribute to decrease waste from electric and electronic devices by developing digital support tools and creating awareness to scale up citizen repair.

Another initiative worth mentioning is Foenix, a thrift store launched in 1982 by Apeldoorn’s citizens. Gönül Hettema-Fidan, Deputy Director and Project Manager at Foenix, presented this successful experience that is still ongoing nowadays and is expanding its facilities with different projects like a wood workshop, repair café and textile studio.

Carla Fransen, Circular Economy Quartermaster for the Municipality of Apeldoorn wrapped up the day thanking both speakers and participants.

To learn more about Apeldoorn’s local context and policy instruments, read the evaluation of its Municipal Waste Management Plan 2015-2025.