1166 | 72 | Municipal waste management companies and their waste prevention strategies – experiences from Germany

From 2020-2023, systematic studies were conducted in a mixed-method approach in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany on the topic of food waste. In order to extend the discourse chain of waste generation and waste prevention beyond the waste producers (mainly private households), all municipal waste companies in the study area were contacted in 2020 and 2021 in order to elicit their control and influence possibilities on waste events via 15 in-depth interviews._x000D_
The focus of these discussions was not only the competition between different waste fractions (plastic waste, organic waste, residual waste) or the competition between economically relevant waste disposal and «uneconomic» waste avoidance, but also the success and failure of avoidance strategies. It is striking that not only the interest of private households is low to deal with the information offers of waste management companies, but also the interest of municipal politics is expandable. The interviews show that the waste management companies generally set their own priorities and that the topic of waste disposal or waste avoidance has so far received only marginal attention from local politicians in competition with other topics. The waste management concepts formulated for a five-year period will show whether more sustainable topics, such as the previously «unknown» topic of food waste, will find their way into municipal waste governance._x000D_
The discourses and solutions at the 15 municipal operations, which are characterized by both rural and urban settlement structures, are not uniform. While some waste management companies are in a position to discover innovative topics for themselves and to learn from each other in cooperative networking with «friendly» waste management companies, other companies are uncoupled from this._x000D_

Ulrich Jürgens
University of Kiel – Department of Geography

ID Abstract: 72