Lecture 7 - Communal Waste Management

In German schools group works have become more and more frequent in the last year. In some classes you are even asked to assign a group leader, a time keepter, a recording clerk and an editor. And students often get a bit anoyed by the frequency. Wouldn’t it be easier to simply learn the content?
But later when they settle into their work life, they notice how important it is to work together with others and to assign tasks and responsibilities so that everthing is taken care of. In waste management there is a need for many different stakeholders that interact with each other.
One of them are the communal companies that ensure that the waste in their region is taken.

The know-how of German public utilities is increasingly in demand within global development efforts, as challenges due to climate-change and renewable resource-management come to the forefront. German public utilities have years of experience within the field of “Daseinsvorsorge” (services of general interest, including the provision of renewable energy, clean water supply, sanitation and waste management). They also work directly with their communities and have subsequently years of experience in community relations. This expertise helps in communicating the necessity of projects, for example construction measures, and raises acceptance for them within the public. At the same time, international development efforts also become more and more attractive for the utilities in Germany, since challenges, such as extreme weather condition and long dry periods are increasing and creating challenges. International engagement can help German utilities to build resiliencies and combat problems at the source.

Many utilities in Germany (the classical “Stadtwerke”) work in more than just one sector of the services of general interest. Therefore, they have a good understanding of the interplay of various infrastructures on the ground. As mentioned, they also work directly with communities and local (private) partners when implementing projects. Development projects that German utilities engage in also always focus on a know-how exchange. The exchange usually happens on eye-level with the global south.

Within the field of international development efforts, German utilities cover a wide range of measures and programs. Utilities engage in long term partnerships, where they support with their expertise in a knowledge exchange. They also help through short-term measure, such as programs for job shadowing, donating equipment or dialogue events. But they also help by utilizing their large buying power to engage in fair and renewable trade.

Within the German political sphere, there is a growing political support for the international engagement for German local utilities. The German Ministry of Development Efforts (BMZ) has reiterated its support for utilities, but also on the state level, their engagement has been highlighted. The VKU also tries to support utilities in their efforts, by connecting operators, building international networks, mobilizing utilities and inform the wider public about their efforts.

This project “German MENA University Network for Waste Management and Circular Economy”, implemented by the University Rostock (UR), Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) and University of Technology Dresden (TUD), Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), Constantine university 3 Algeria, Ain Shams University Egypt and Cadi Ayyad University Morocco is funded by the PREVENT Waste Alliance, an initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The contents of the Wastepedia course are the sole responsibility of German-MENA University Network and do not necessarily reflect the positions of all PREVENT Waste Alliance members or official policy positions of the governments involved. More information: https://prevent-waste.net/en/.

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