CommunityFlorenceLivorno incinerator closure: community mobilisation winsHow Livorno permanently closed its local incinerator In 2024, Zero Waste Italy helped mobilise the community of Livorno, a port city on the Tuscan coast, to secure the permanent closure of its local incinerator. The campaign combined technical advocacy: showing that alternatives existed: with community organising to build broad public and political pressure. What happened - ZWI supported local residents and civil society groups in building the case against continued incineration - Community pressure alongside technical evidence persuaded decision-makers to close the facility permanently - Livorno joins a growing list of Italian cities phasing out waste incineration in favour of source separation and reuse Why it matters The Livorno closure shows that communities do not have to accept incineration as the default. With the right information and organised residents, the economics and politics of waste can be shifted. ZWI's experience here is now a template for similar campaigns elsewhere in Italy. What you can do - If your city has a waste-to-energy facility under review, contact Zero Waste Italy for advocacy support and technical materials - Attend public consultations on local waste management plans and raise the zero-waste alternative Source & repost Shared here so you can get inspired or find action already happening near you. Solarpunker does not own or organise it. - National coordinator: Zero Waste Italy (ZWI) - Report chapter: ZWE State of Zero Waste Municipalities, 5th editionadvocacyanti-incinerationcommunity-mobilisationcampaign
CommunityBratislavaSlovakia: stopping incinerators, building zero waste alternativesEight planned incinerators, and the communities fighting them Slovakia has eight planned waste incinerators, but the zero waste movement scored two significant victories in 2024: Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) proceedings were cancelled for two incinerators in Šaľa and Selice (each with a 100,000-tonne annual capacity) and for two chemical recycling facilities in Nováky and Liptovský Mikuláš. Friends of the Earth Slovakia (Priatelia Zeme: SPZ) ran the "Stop Incinerators" campaign, working closely with affected municipalities and local communities. What the campaign involves - Close collaboration with municipalities directly affected by proposed incinerator siting - Legal intervention in EIA processes to block or delay construction approvals - Public education showing that zero waste systems (composting, PAYT, source separation) produce better outcomes than incineration at lower community cost - Political advocacy for Slovakia's national waste strategy to prioritise prevention over burning How to engage - Follow Friends of the Earth Slovakia (Priatelia Zeme: SPZ) for updates on active EIA challenges - Contact your municipal council to ask whether your community is in the path of a proposed incinerator - Share Partizánske's, Košeca's, and Úľany nad Žitavou's results as evidence that source separation and PAYT outperform incineration economically Why it matters Every incinerator built commits a municipality to decades of high-volume waste generation. Slovakia's four cancelled EIAs demonstrate that organised civic advocacy can interrupt the infrastructure pipeline, and that presenting real-world zero waste data to decision-makers works. Source & repost Shared here so you can get inspired or find action already happening near you. Solarpunker does not own or organise it. - Lead: Friends of the Earth Slovakia (Priatelia Zeme: SPZ) - Campaign: Stop spaľovniam (Stop Incinerators) - Report chapter: ZWE State of Zero Waste Municipalities, 5th editionanti-incinerationadvocacypolicyzero-wasteEIA
