Background The revised Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) laid down a five-step hierarchy of waste management options where waste prevention is considered a priority. Households in the EU produce 8% of total waste (figure 2006). This figure may seem relatively small, however, relative to the billions of tonnes produced every year, the role of each European citizen in waste prevention might be considerable. Project actions built on the experience of previous French waste reduction campaigns. Objectives The main objective of the European Week of Waste Reduction (EWWR) project was to contribute to reduce the amount of municipal waste generated in Europe. It would do this by involving a wide diversity of citizens, authorities, businesses and other stakeholders in awareness-raising programmes. Specific objectives were to raise awareness about existing strategies and policies at national and EU level and to highlight the work accomplished by various actors, through concrete examples of waste reduction. Information services and communication techniques were seen as holding significant potential for changing long-term behaviour patterns about waste prevention in Member States. A coordinated suite of strategic information activities were planned including those aiming to improve understanding at local, regional and national levels about how to adopt more sustainable approaches to consumption, and how this could help to mitigate climate change challenges. Targets were set to help stabilise the production of household and assimilated waste in European countries for 2009-2011. Communication objectives focused on finding simply ways to illustrate the concept of waste reduction and demonstrate feasible, waste reduction options that would be acceptable for the different target audiences. The annual European campaign aimed to provide a framework and methodological support for activities aimed at informing the greatest possible number of citizens. Five categories of ‘Project Developers’ were to be involved: Administration/public authority, Association/NGO, Business/industry, Educational organisations, and others (for example : hospital, retirement home, cultural centre etc.). They would register their proposals for EWWR actions through the national, regional or local ‘Project organiser’, which would act as coordinator of the Week in the area covered by their authority. A charter would make sure that the organised activities respected the main EWWR principles, and an Award ceremony would be used to highlight best practice activities in each category. Results A total of 20 European countries participated in the project, which was considered a success in its efforts to get more people actively involved in waste reduction measures. Another key achievement of the LIFE project has been its legacy that continues to see the mainstreaming of EWWR actions by Member States after the LIFE funding period finished. An evaluation of the project observed that around two million people participated in the EWWR during 2011. Waste reduction activities increased from 2672 activities in 2009 to 7035 in 2011. A total of 14 053 different activities were affiliated with the EWWR during its three year term. These included for example, LIFE co-finance being used in Italy to host a high profile EWWR conference, which proved beneficial in helping to enhance monitoring systems for waste-related policy actions. Portugal organised training courses to raise awareness about waste reduction and the courses created multiplier effects by encouraging new stakeholders to become involved in setting up their own EWWR actions. An inventory of the policies and stakeholders of waste prevention in Europe (http://www.ewwr.eu/sites/default/files/Etude%20RREUSE_EN_20%2003%2012_4.pdf) published in 2010 gave an overview of the waste prevention situation in each country. An interesting and useful guide to EWWR good practices was published at the end of the project (see Read more section). These drew on results from the project’s three EWWR award schemes, which were organised to encourage and acknowledge good practice approaches in waste reduction that could be replicated elsewhere. Some 30 awards were made and Catalonia was given a special prize in recognition of its ongoing commitment to innovative EWWR approaches. Lessons learnt from the project point to a need to strengthen the EWWR’s ability to measure its positive impacts. Anecdotal evidence suggested that waste production did decrease in some countries during the project period. However, a consensus among EWWR activists underlined the need to better understand how to accurately assess the role that information projects and communication campaigns can play in changing consumption patterns. Other challenges identified to overcome as the project continues to be mainstreamed include improving media coverage and identifying optimum timing for future EWWRs. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).