YE-2C - Youth Empowerment for Circular Cities

Half of total greenhouse gas emissions come from resource extraction and processing. It is not possibleto achieve the climate-neutrality target without transitioning to a fully circular economy. The new CircularEconomy Action Plan is at the core of the European Green Deal, the EU roadmap towards climateneutrality. The circular economy model where value and resources are maintained in the economy foras long as possible and waste generation is minimised, reduces pressures on natural resources whileboosting sustainable growth and jobs creation. It can make a decisive contribution to decarbonisingthe economy. The generation of waste in the Western Balkans has been increasing steadily over thelast years due to economic development and increased consumption, currently being at around1000kg/capita. While this is still lower than the EU average of 1700kg/capita, the very low recyclingrates (below 3%, in comparison to the EU average of 44%) result in higher per capita amount of wastenot being recycled. The Western Balkans will need to align with the single-use plastic legislation and tofully implement the modernised EU waste legislation, including its recycling and landfill reductiontargets.The overall goal of the project is engaging and empowering young people in circularity actionsfor transforming cities into circular and liveable for better opportunities for employment, cleanenvironment and inclusiveness.The final results of the project are: 1 Research paper from each partner elaborated about the status ofcircularity in rural and urban areas, 3 Training Modules developed on circular economy andsustainability, 20 youth operators are trained within the International Training Course WP2, 1Toolkitfocused on Circular Eco-design is developed for product redesign-repair techniques, At least 10 ruralyouth engaged within the local activities through application of circular economy toolkit in every partnercountry, At least 20 hours of e-learning course develop