What City?

Expert Workshop WhatCity? This workshop was set up in response to the situation in Slovakia, where more than half of waste ends up in landfills and we are still lagging behind in meeting recycling targets as a country. The aim of the workshop was to reflect the major themes of climate change, the circular economy and urban development on a scale within which they can be addressed. We talked about the circular economy at the level of municipalities, how municipalities can use waste as sources of materials, and how to connect urban businesses and service suppliers in this common goal. The workshop was designed for representatives of municipalities, towns, higher municipality unit, municipal enterprises and the professional public.

The workshop presented practical examples of:

  • Circular scan of the city of Prague, its outputs and implications
  • Successful interconnection of urban enterprises in Maribor, which created closed cycles of materials and energy
  • (Almost) Zero Waste city of Ljubljana that dumped most waste in the past
  • Reuse centers in Vienna, which are a key tool for waste prevention
  • Visualizations of processes by Dutch experts to serve all the stakeholders and help to lead the city towards a circular economy.
  • Experts in the field of finance will present possibilities for financing circulating solutions at the level of towns and villages (representatives of Slovenská sporiteľňa and operational programme environmental quality).

An excursion to the places where waste ends in Bratislava was also organized as part of the event.

We organized this event in cooperation with the civic association Punkt and the Ministry of Environment.