The W2E project will focus on the potential to improve the sustainable management of waste in Europe's regions, and to produce energy from waste.Its objective is to exchange knowledge and good practice about regional policies for sustainable waste management, by changing the perception of waste as a potential resource, and to increase energy recovery from waste. The project will lead to the development of regional action plans to improve sustainable waste management and levels of energy recovery in partner regionsIn doing this, the project will address three linked issues affecting Europes regions:- It will support policies which divert waste from landfill, - It will demonstrate ways to increase production of sustainable energy and;- It will contribute to low-carbon economic growth in the partner regions.The principal results of the project will be:* firstly, the development of a policy tool which can support regions in the development of more sustainable waste management strategies, and;* secondly, the development of 7 sustainable waste management action plans, one in each region (the two Slovakian partners will work jointly on a single action plan), which will focus on the reduction of waste going into landfill, and the potential to recovery energy from that waste.The project addresses key themes of both the Lisbon and Gothenburg Strategies; that is, it addresses the growing waste problem in the EU, it supports the development of renewable energy sources and it also contributes to the growth of the environmental technologies sector.The development of this project is particularly timely, as regions are under obligation by EU directive to develop sustainable waste management strategies; this project will contribute to those strategies not only in the 8 participating regions, but by presenting a model for other regions to use.The project will bring together 8 partners which are using different approaches to sustainable waste management. All the partners are either regional authorities with responsibility for waste management, or are regional energy agencies; they are therefore best placed to influence regional policy in this area. 5 of the partners are in newer member states (Romania, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary), whilst 3 are from longer-standing member states (Sweden, UK, Italy).The project will share knowledge and experience of strategies to recover energy from waste, through of study visits to look at good practice in action, and seminars to share experience. It will use the knowledge gained from those study visits to develop a policy tool to improve energy recovery from waste; a tool which can be used by any EU region.Finally, building on the tool, the project will enable each region to develop an Action Plan which will form a part of the region's wider Waste Management Strategy Achievements: Waste 2 Energy publications can be downloaded under: http://www.waste-2-energy.eu/publications.asp • Good Practice Guide and Report on Study Visits in the W2E Project• October 2012 - Waste to Energy Magazine• Waste 2 Energy EU Map• 29 Nov 2011 - Cumbria Steering Group Meeting - Programme• European Territorial Cooperation: building bridges between people• End-of-waste criteria for waste paper• 3-5 Nov 2010 - Ostergotland Study Visit - Report• 3-5 Nov 2010 - Ostergotland Study Visit - Programme• Being wise with waste: the EU's approach to waste management• 1 March 2010 - 1st seminar - Linkoping• 5 May 2010 - Study visit to Cumbria