The 11^th edition of the European Week for Waste Reduction was every bit as inspiring and lively as we expected it to be. Between 16 and 24 November, thousands of people from all over Europe and beyond joined our initiative to promote waste prevention in their communities, schools, companies, and to their peers online and in person.

We at the EWWR Secretariat followed many of those actions online and were impressed to see how active and engaging EWWR coordinators and action developers were. From awareness campaigns in the Dominican Republic to repair trucks and waste-themed escape rooms in Catalonia and from zero-food waste cooking shows in Italy to endurance kayaking in Lithuania, the 16,570+ actions organised as part of EWWR 2019 were impressively creative and impactful.

The level of coverage and traction that this record-breaking edition has received is encouraging. This edition, the EWWR was featured on TV in Greece and Spain, in leading national and regional newspapers across the continent, on the radio in France, Spain, and Hungary, and even in the press releases of EU institutions like the European Economic and Social Committee. From Canada to Japan, messages of support have poured in and continue to do so. Volunteers have shared their photos and videos and we have received requests to organise the campaign in more places next year.

We would like to thank everyone who carried out actions, participated in them, or otherwise contributed to the EWWR 2019 for helping the project start its second decade off on the right foot. A special thank you to the 40 coordinators who have worked industriously to spread the word about the EWWR this year and to support the thousands of volunteers that took part in the campaign at the local level.

Wondering who are the people who’ve helped make the EWWR 2019 a reality? Check out the interviews in our meet the #EWWRCoordinators series:

• Catarina Mogo Pereira from Portugal;
• Daniel Lamas from Portugal;
• Elena Fernandez from Spain;
• The team from the Hungarian Association of Environmental Enterprises.

See more highlights of the EWWR 2019 in our press file, Twitter Moment, YouTube playlist, and Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter feeds. You can also find what our coordinators and action developers have posted online about their actions by searching for #EWWR2019, #ReduceYourWaste, #SERD2019, #SERR2019, and #SEPR2019, among others.