Designing Out Waste in Baltic Coastal Communities
WAVE (Designing Out Waste in Baltic Coastal Communities) helps coastal tourism destinations reduce waste by making circular solutions easier to adopt. As tourism continues to grow across the South Baltic Region, businesses and municipalities face increasing challenges related to single-use plastics, food waste and waste sorting.
Through cross-border collaboration, WAVE brings together tourism organisations, municipalities, SMEs, researchers and circular solution providers to identify practical solutions that reduce waste while maintaining attractive and competitive destinations.
Turning circular ideas into practical solutions
WAVE combines co-creation, solution scouting and pilot activities to help tourism businesses and public authorities move from challenges to implementation. By connecting challenge owners with solution providers, the project develops and tests practical circular approaches that can be transferred across the South Baltic Region.
In parallel, we work on:
- identifying circular challenges related to single-use plastics, food waste and waste sorting
- connecting tourism SMEs with innovative circular solution providers through matchmaking activities
- testing practical pilot solutions in coastal destinations across the South Baltic Region
- developing practical guides, roadmaps and toolboxes that help destinations replicate successful solutions
Associated partners
WAVE is supported by a group of associated partners contributing expertise in cleantech, reusable packaging, food systems, tourism development and local coastal communities. The associated partners are the International Cleantech Network (ICN), RE-ZIP, Digi-eye, Business Kristinestad, the Warmia–Masuria Regional Tourism Organisation, Kretingalė Eldership, the Administration of Lithuanian Minor Protected Areas and Höganäs Kommun.
Project goals
WAVE aims to accelerate the transition towards more circular and resource-efficient coastal tourism. By combining innovation, collaboration and practical pilot activities, the project will help tourism businesses reduce waste, strengthen competitiveness and support municipalities in creating cleaner, more sustainable coastal destinations.
WAVE is co-funded by the European Union through the Interreg South Baltic Programme 2021-2027.
Photo by malwina nogaj on Unsplash
