Background About 252 million tonnes of municipal waste is generated each year in the EU (2010 statistics), of which 37% are landfilled, 24% recycled, 14% composted and the rest incinerated with or without energy recovery. Although the EU has built a strong set of waste legislation, adequate implementation is still missing in many parts of the EU. The most important deviation from the EC waste management policies is the failure to practically adopt the waste hierarchy: reduction, re-use, recycling, energy recovery and disposal. In Cyprus, the per capita generation of municipal waste is one of the highest in the EU (i.e. in 2011, 772 kg/ capita, while the EU average is 525 kg/ capita). Furthermore, municipal waste production in the country increased by 19% in the last decade; while the EU average decreased by almost 1% in the same period. Some 80% of the produced municipal waste in Cyprus is landfilled in more than a hundred unregulated landfills or dumpsites, resulting in significant environmental impacts. Recycling accounts only for 16% and composting for four per cent of the produced municipal waste. Cyprus shows one of the largest gaps in the implementation of EU waste management policies and severe deficits in all criteria including waste prevention and reuse policies. It seems that little attention has been paid to the implementation of sustainable waste management in the country and most Cypriots are not aware of the negative impacts associated with waste production. Therefore, the active promotion of the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle (RRR) principle is one of the best ways to tackle the waste management problem, promote the waste hierarchy and effectively implement the Waste Framework and the Landfill directives. Objectives The project's main goal is to promote waste reduction, reuse and recycling (RRR) in Cyprus, through an awareness raising campaign based on an integrated communication strategy aiming to inform, educate and motivate. The project aims to bring about notable changes in perceptions, awareness and habits of the general public and targeted groups. The specific project objectives are: To map-out present knowledge and awareness level regarding the RRR concept of waste management; To develop and implement a Reduce- Reuse-Recycle communication strategy to support the implementation of the EU Waste Framework and the Landfill directives and the Cyprus Waste Management Plan; To develop comprehensive communication tools to promote the RRR concept; To implement a range of communication and training actions to inform and educate the public and to encourage all target groups to change their habits towards more sustainable waste management practices, and To monitor the project impact on the target audiences. In order to increase the target audience's awareness, the reason why they should get involved and to secure their commitment, key messages need to be repeated and the results of actions must be highlighted. These key messages are: "Move beyond recycling"; "Reusing and reducing waste is key to better environment"; "Recycling is easy to do"; and "There are huge environmental benefits in RRR". The campaign is divided in two parts: a) The awareness raising part which involves radio, TV, electronic media and printed press campaigns; and b) The RRR education and motivation part with more interactive activities such as conferences and festivals, group meetings, workshops. Expected results: All the proposed activities are designed to deliver quantifiable results, measuring the number of the population the message will reach. With the hiring of specialist consultants (research company), a qualitative research with at least 1 000 interviews will be carried out with the aim to investigate people’s perception and awareness of the waste hierarchy and to document whether the messages put forward through the project activities helped the target audiences understand and adopt the RRR principle. The campaign results will be obtained through: Television programmes : The effectiveness of the campaign will be evaluated through media research from AGB Nielsen, which will provide figures showing the % reach of the TV programmes; Printed press, including press adverts and outdoor advertising. The overall effect of these two media will be measured in qualitative terms in the awareness surveys to follow; Events/workshops to increase public awareness of each waste management option and to educate and motivate the target groups; and Internet/website: The effectiveness of the website will be measured by the daily ‘hits’.