The jury for the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR), made up of four environmental experts, convened online on 16 April to select the finalists for the 2025 edition of the campaign. From a pool of 51 nominated initiatives, chosen from over 13,100 actions, the jury shortlisted 15 outstanding and creative waste reduction actions. The winners will be revealed during the Awards Ceremony on 4 June in Brussels (Belgium). Registration will open soon!

As every year, the 15 finalists represent the 3 best actions for the 5 EWWR categories:

• public administration and organisation;
• business/industry;
• association/NGO;
• educational establishment;
• and citizen(s).

The jury’s selection was based on the following criteria: 1. communication and visibility; 2. quality of the content; 3. originality; and 4. long-lasting impact and follow-up of the action. Each jury member provided a score based on the 4 criteria for all the nominated actions.

These outstanding initiatives will be presented during a conference organised at the Committee of the Regions on 4 June at 2pm CET. Experts, citizens, associations, and institutions will share the same stage in a series of panels to explore the key elements that can have a real impact in reducing waste. Finally, 5 EWWR actions, one per category, will be awarded by the EWWR jury members as winners of the 2025 edition and will receive a creative and circular trophy! The event promises to be an exceptional occasion, bringing together coordinators, action developers, organisations and individuals passionate about contributing to waste reduction.

This year, the EWWR Awards will take place at the same time as EU Green Week. The high-level conference breaks the mould with a dynamic programme combining panel discussions, TED-style talks, cinema nights, and a dedicated startup–investor matchmaking event. This year, the Green Week will explore how nature-positive models work in practice, focusing on profitable farming, soil health, greening cities, and innovative financing to reverse rural flight. Take advantage of your time in Brussels to also join this event. You can have a look at the programme here.

The EWWR 2025 finalists

Public administration or organisation

• I Don’t Hide Myself, I’m Transparent implemented by Navarra Waste Consortium
• Semana Europeia de Prevenção de Resíduos 2025 implemented by Câmara Municipal de Guimarães
• V Edition of the Campaign MUCHO MÁS DE LO QUE VES – “Re-Viste tu Mente. Reconecta, Reduce, Reutiliza” implemented by Provincial Council of Álava

Business / Industry

• All the Actions Implemented by Iren for SERR 2025 – There Is a Future in WEEE implemented by Gruppo Iren – Eduiren
• AMSA RAEE-Lab Project implemented by A2A S.p.A.
• WEEE’ll Be Back implemented by MiReHu Nonprofit Kft.

Association / NGO

• Learn, Act, Live Better implemented by ELECTROCYCLE
• Let’s Focus on Electrical and Electronic Waste Equipment (WEEE) implemented by FOTOKIKLOSI
• ZERO ZABOR URETAN 2025 Act implemented by MATER Ontzi Museo Ekoaktiboa

Educational establishment

• Disconnecting Waste, Connecting Youth with the Circular Economy implemented by Fundación Escuela Revillagigedo and CIFP de Hostelería y Turismo de Gijón
• Give It a Second Life implemented by Experimental Senior High School of the University of Macedonia
• Race Against Waste implemented by Bertine Wijffelaars

Citizen(s)

• Denim Reborn – Upcycling Discarded Textiles into Functional Bags implemented by Margaret Cutajar
• Healthy Planet implemented by Edit Mária Bóka
• Treasure Hunt Lessons: A WEEE Mine in Your Home implemented by Letizia Palmisano

In the next weeks, we’ll present the finalist actions in detail on our website. Follow us on social media and don’t miss anything.

The EWWR Awards Jury 2025

Every year, the European Coordinator builds the EWWR Jury inviting high level practitioners working on different aspects of environmental sustainability. The 5 members of the Jury, one per category, offer their expertise and time to evaluate all the nominated actions, searching for the best ones. After careful consideration, they selected 15 out of the 51 nominations suggested by national and regional EWWR coordinators from all across Europe. In turn, the nominations were selected among more than 13 100 actions that were organised during the 17th edition of the EWWR in November 2025. Who is behind the scenes? This year, four professionals in the field of waste reduction joined the EWWR Jury:

• Sergio Pérez García, European Committee of the Regions (CoR), for the Public Administration and Organisation category;
• Paolo Campanella, FEAD, for the Business/Industry category;
• Giulia Lodi​, Zero Waste Europe, for the Association/NGO category;
• Rianne Driessen, Saxion University, for the Educational Establishment category;

The citizens category will be represented and awarded during the Ceremony by Frederik Ceulemans, Alderman of Brussels City.
You will learn more about these organisations and the jury members in the coming weeks on our website. Furthermore, they will be present at the Awards Ceremony in Brussels.