Waste reduction

In the town of Žalec stands a 130-year-old house in need of renovation which changed owners some years ago. It was bought by Andrej Fideršek, who embarked on the renovation with a view to creating a ‘zero-waste house’. He wants to reuse as many existing materials as possible and to discard as little as possible, with the aim of reducing the environmental impact, since construction is one of the biggest burdens on the environment. The renovation plan with a vision for more sustainable living won an award from New European Bauhaus.

The Dăbuleni plant was opened in the 1970s to produce pipelines for the Sadova-Corabia irrigation system during the period of state socialism. It was one of the most modern Romanian factories, using British technology and expertise for almost 10 years. The plant closed in the 1990s as the irrigation systems fell into disuse.

Ion Giugal worked as a welder from 1972, continuing to do so after the 1989 revolution. Surplus or scrap metal or rubber from the manufacture of pipes was sold to the workers, and a number of the objects made from this materialare still found to be in working condition in his courtyard.

‘Zero Waste’ and ‘Less Waste’ are extremely important concepts in a time of enviromental crises. As it turns out, many years ago, societies already largely functioned in a sustainable way without generating huge amounts of waste, and instead of producing new items, they repaired, mended and patched up old items, minimising the need to produce new ones. Textile waste is a huge problem for our planet. The number of garments produced that will never be worn is enormous. It is sometimes worth looking back in time and being inspired by how individual products were once valued, cared for and reused.

A museum sources, collects and preserves. This preservation is done mostly in secret but is crucial if objects are to be passed on to future generations and studied and displayed in the future. ‘Preventive conservation’ means designing the exhibition space in such a way as to prevent damage from happening in the first place. After all, prevention is better than cure. Tackling the causes and not only the symptoms of object damage protects the objects and the collection and is therefore sustainable in all respects. Guarding against damage also means expending fewer resources and producing less waste in the long term.

This video report consists of an interview with the inter-municipal company Intradel, which collects and manages household waste in 72 of the 84 municipalities in the province of Liège in Belgium. Manager Jean-Jacques De Paoli outlines how Intradel’s mission has developed since its creation in 1979. Today, the inter-municipal company is aiming for ‘zero waste’, with a range of activities to reduce the amount of waste per inhabitant in the province of Liège. The interview was conducted by the Research Department of the Museum of Walloon Life as part of its temporary exhibition ‘Ordures. L’expo qui fait le tri’.

They are 'bin-rifling' detectives, as a journalist once called them, looking for clues that may trace them back to the offenders in what regards waste management. Benoit Vandevelde explains how the work of a trash inspector is.

In this video, we see that those who deal with waste management fieldworkget to know their city in particular and society in general, like garbologists do.

If our consumption habits – such as diet, hygiene and health care products - may say something about the way we live… then, aren’t we what we throwaway?

An important initiative has been set up as part of the special exhibition ‘Expiration date’: foodsharing.

Foodsharing is a community-based, sustainable and respectful practice that saves valuable food items from the bin!

The initiative calls for an end to throwaway culture and superfluous packaging and puts excess food to good use.

This is an interview with Sabine Meunier, zero-waste ambassador in La Louvière, Belgium. She talks about her journey to zero waste, from her tentative beginnings and early mistakes, and how she manages this new lifestyle with her family. The interview was conducted by the Research Department of the Museum of Walloon Life as part of its temporary exhibition ‘Ordures. L’expo qui fait le tri’.

What do we actually know about the waste that has emerged with the mass proliferation of disposable menstrual products since the 1950s? In this series, seven interviews provide very different insights around the topic of menstrual waste. In this episode, we ask Larissa Copello from the NGO “Zero Waste Europe” what the main problems with disposable menstrual products are and how they could be solved. She tells us about the basics of her work and the "Bloody Manifesto". Moreover, she poses the question: what would change if men could menstruate?