The authority was the sole UK participant in the 'pilot edition' of the European Waste Reduction Week, which was held last week (November 20-30), and also involved councils from Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Italy and France.
The authority said that “hundreds” of residents took part in the pledge, while visitors to the roadshows were also offered advice on cutting food waste and given reusable bags.
The chair of the NLWA, councillor Clyde Loakes, said: “These roadshows were a brilliant way of giving residents the information they need to reduce the amount of food they throw away and we were delighted to see so many people taking pledges to reduce their food waste.”
And, the authority has also revealed that an earlier waste minimisation initiative, 'Watch Your Waste Week', which was held between October 4 and 12, saw over 1,000 residents, schools and businesses reduce their waste by up to 50%.
As part of its waste reduction efforts, the week also saw 1,908 people signing up to the mailing preference service and 6,806 more becoming members of online used item trading network Freecycle.
Pilot
North London took part in the pilot of the European Waste Reduction Week as a member of the international Association for Cities and Regions for Recycling and Sustainable Waste Management (ACR+).
The body has nearly 100 members, including local authorities and umbrella organisations representing councils, and the week is part of the ACR+ 'European Campaign for Waste Reduction', which was launched last year with the aim of reducing municipal waste by 100 kilograms per person, per year.
The initiative also mirrors the emphasis on waste minimisation and prevention within waste hierarchy which is part of the recently published revised EU Waste Framework Directive (see letsrecycle.com story).
And, two of the three waste performance indicators that English councils can choose from reward success in waste reduction (see letsrecycle.com story).
Handbook
As well as holding the pilot week-long scheme, ACR+ has also launched a 'Campaign Handbook for the Reduction of Municipal Waste'.
In a statement, the organisation said that the main purpose of the handbook was to “to form the cornerstone of an extensive structure that has to be built to promote public action on waste reduction.
“Primarily intended for those local and regional authorities that are responsible for managing municipal waste, it highlights a series of voluntary actions that could be put forward in this field,” it added.
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