Development of Courses for Sustainable Waste Management for Municipalities
▶Summary
EU countries are facing the problem of practical skills for sustainable implementation of Waste Management as well as lack of knowledge on how to implement the requirements of the established legi...
▶Objectives
The project objectives are: - To develop and implement new and innovative professional courses for the waste sector in line with EU Waste Framework Directive. - To improve the level of competencies and skills at municipality level in the field of sustainable WM. - To close the gap between the needs for new knowledge, lack of educational programs and challenges of target groups in sustainable waste management. The aim is the education of the target groups: representatives from waste or environmental department within municipalities, VET schools/teachers/trainers and decision makers, for sustainable WM in line with the national and EU policies, and in long-term contributing to the development and management of waste resources on both a local and global scale. Development and implementation of this project is sustainable investment for the future, because it will be highly effective program developed according to the needs and possibilities of the partner countries in the field of waste management. Project responses for the EU needs regarding the digitalisation of such sector like education which is the heart of the EU’s climate leadership.
▶Activities
Project activities were focused on supporting the European waste strategies and policies, especially the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC that sets the basic concepts related to waste management, such as definitions of waste, recycling, recovery. Subject of courses covers topics that provide implementation of waste management legislation, realization of the obligations of the local self- government (municipalities), establishment of sustainable waste management, reducing of waste quantities and proper waste management in general.. This has been achieved by learning from the project's partner countries, which are EU members and have already established and implemented sustainable WM systems. The preparation of the training courses was preceded by research and analysis and the development of a syllabus to align the materials with national regulations and capabilities, as well as with European standards and EU policies on municipal waste management. The thematic modules developed on this basis were beta tested on an e-learning platform. Comments were implemented. As a result, the sustainable waste management courses provide multidisciplinary and high-quality adult and VET education in the field of waste management.
▶Impact
The wider aim of the project is the education of local self-government and the decision makers in the project partners in sustainable WM in line with the national and EU policies. Specific objectives that have been achieved: *Development and implementation of new and innovative professional courses for the waste sector. *To close the gap between the needs for new knowledge, lack of educational programs and challenges of local self-government and the decision makers in sustainable WM. *Creation opportunities for continuous professional development of employees in the budding WM sector through realization of relevant training courses. *Development of qualifications for waste management specialist with the use of NQF/EQF levels. *Creation of interactive e-learning platform and integrative approach with real live scenarios,guidelines and good practices. With this results our project promote learning through open and innovative practices in digital era and in addition to support for ICT-based trainings. Developed solutions for qualifications and quality assurance contribute to improving the adaptation of employees' competences to the needs of the labour market.