Mission Statement

The first European Recycling Week organized by PRO EUROPE in 2001 was a resounding success. Numerous sorting and recycling facilities in eleven European countries opened their doors to the public to demonstrate that recycling works. Altogether, hundreds of thousands of interested consumers throughout Europe made use of this opportunity. The central event, the first international congress entitled "Recycling as Part of Daily Life in Europe", held in Madrid in September 2001, was no less successful. Over 600 participants from more than 20 countries came to Madrid to share their experiences and views for the first time at a forum of this kind. Given this great response, the PRO EUROPE council has decided to again host the European Recycling Week in 2004. A two-day congress, scheduled to take place in Berlin this time, will serve as the key information and discussion forum for interested participants from a total of 30 or more countries. In addition to this common event there will also be substantial national activities in the individual member countries of PRO EUROPE.

Mandate of the Congress

The event will focus primarily on the subject of sustainability - a term which includes much more than just the concepts of "eco-friendly" and "environmentally sound". It moves the discussion on to the burning question of our times: how best to use and preserve the earth's scarce resources for this and successive future generations.

Real sustainable development requires a common and agreed commitment, handed down from generation to generation. The Congress mandate is to increase the awareness of European recycling targets; the key relevance of education for successful and sustainable development policies, and to promote the importance of recycling within the wider concept of the environment for sustainable development. Recycling policies and the successful implementation of the Green Dot system in many European countries show that sustainable development can become a reality across all ecological, economic and social fields.

Environmental education of children and young people has become essential to increase awareness and a sense of responsibility. The Berlin congress will host the 1st European Youth Eco-Parliament gathering comprising more than 120 young people in the 13 to 15 age bracket drawn from many of the European states that operate the Green Dot system. During the congress these youngsters will give direct testimony of their expectations for the future and propose solutions they will have developed through a European environmental programme. They will propose five separate resolutions containing fifteen individual actions on the environment in a white paper, covering five themes detailed in the 6th community action plan of the European Commission "Environment 2010, our future, our choice". These resolutions have been prepared in conjunction with an educational programme developed with a NGO specialist in environmental studies. Much of the preparatory work on the resolutions will have been conducted via the internet during the year preceding the congress.

Goals of the Congress

• To demonstrate that the development of our modern society has given rise to many problems affecting our environment, including the steep rise in waste output in the '80s and '90s, which called for radical solutions.
• To affirm a commitment to recycling using the Green Dot as the key element of an approach towards sustainable development. Recycling of used packaging is a vital step towards the effective management of scarce resources.
• To focus on the role of sociological and socio-political solution strategies - the Congress will promote the relevance of an environmental education for children and young people, the future generations.
• To present a document that reflects the opinions of European Youth on what they feel about the environment and their aims on sustainable development.
• Political concepts such as the principle of extended producer responsibility (EPR) and the European Commission's 6th Environmental Action Programme will be presented.
• Representatives from the fields of politics, business, science, NGOs and industry, opinion formers and members of the press, local authorities and consumers will discuss the need for a change in thinking and behaviour, new strategies, and a review of key objectives already achieved.
• Technical innovations and examples of successful waste prevention measures will be reviewed as well as the development of recycling in the EU accession states.

Main Themes of the Congress

The 2nd International PRO EUROPE Congress aims to explore the relationships between sustainability, recycling, and society, with inputs from all relevant stakeholders. It is intended to provide a forum in which the topics of sustainable development, recycling and the need for environmental education can receive broad-based coverage. Where sustainability is currently a subject for special interest groups, the congress seeks to spread the discussion to a wider audience. The members of PRO EUROPE are convinced that the recycling of used packaging is a vital step on the path towards sustainable development - and it is an important step because it involves the entire population. No single nation can attain today's ambitious goals - but as part of a global partnership committed to sustainable development, the common objective can be achieved. As a legacy, we must determine to leave the earth to future generations without an irredeemable mortgage on the environment.

Structure of the Congress

The Congress is structured around a mixture of high-level presentations and round table discussions in order to make it both interesting and interactive. On the one hand, it will communicate clearly the key messages of the day, whilst on the other the objective is to involve the audience in a broad forum for the exchange of views and experiences. The Master of Ceremonies, Klaus-Peter Siegloch from a German public TV channel, will support the interactive structure of the discussions and will moderate in the debates.