Please introduce yourselves briefly.

The Hungarian Association of Environmental Enterprises (HAEE) represents the Hungarian Green Industry. Thanks to our 240 members, we have a huge outreach and network in the country. We organise conferences and workgroup meetings on current issues like waste management, awareness-raising, remediation, environmental measurements and sampling, air quality protection, sewage sludge treatment and sewage management. Our main Fair, The ÖKOINDUSTRIA Green Expo will take place in Budapest in November 2020.

Our association has also founded the Awards for Environmental Protection, a yearly occurrence aimed at promoting the most responsible and environmentally conscious companies and experts in Hungary.

The EWWR team at the Hungarian Association of Environmental Enterprises

What’s the story behind your participation in the EWWR?

Our association was officially invited to be the country coordinator by the Ministry of Innovation and Technology this year. It is a great honor to represent the Hungarian actions in the EWWR. Our team’s favourite task is awareness raising, so we are very motivated to use our network countrywide. We participated in previous editions of the EWWR in a wide variety of roles, so we know how to motivate target groups and how to make them eager to participate.

What are some actions organised in Hungary that stand out to you?

We would like to highlight four projects that are being carried out this year and that stand out to us.

• What’s the use – Poetry Slam against overconsumption. During the program, the organisers expect amateur slammers to apply with 3-minute texts about the fight against overconsumption and conscious shopping. The innovative face of the project is based precisely on the creativity of its creators, as the freedom of the genre allows for a wide variety of interpretations.

• The General Court created the Green Court Task Force this fall to develop eco-friendly solutions and programs within the organisation to strengthen the spirit that they can do for the environment at work. The Task Force has put together a complex program package that will provide opportunities for knowledge acquisition, personal activity, and exploration of competencies during EWWR and beyond.

• István Bobál, a smallholder farmer who sells his produce at the Hunyadi Square Market, decided to reduce plastic pollution for the sake of his grandchildren’s future. Together with his family, they made reusable bags out of their old curtains and textiles and handed them out to their customers to carry vegetables and fruit in them. Next to their booth is a large billboard announcing the action that highlights the dangers of climate change and the importance of environmental awareness.

• The Fészek Waldorf School in Solymar organised the Green Action Project Week, during which students will repair, recycle, plant trees, go into the woods, get information and inform others, observe their own consumption, meet and even become climate activists.

How is EWWR 2019 going in Hungary?

This year’s campaign is going very well thanks to our regional Green Leaders. With their support and enthusiastic work, we have been able to involve all the regions in Hungary in the EWWR. The map of actions shows how well the campaign is balanced. We managed to register 411 actions, so we are very satisfied and looking forward to seeing these actions being carried out. Beyond the numbers, we believe that the quality of our communications is an even better indicator. We hope that, thanks to it, the projects that will be implemented will be continued for a long time and become part of everyday life.