Zero Waste, A Hero's Taste
Liepupe, Latvia🏢 Asociația GGSWe recently wrapped up our Erasmus+ Youth Exchange project, "Zero Waste, A Hero's Taste," which took place from July 10 to July 18, 2026, in the beautiful, nature-rich setting of Birzgaiļi in Liepupe, Latvia. The project was created to tackle the urgent need for practical environmental education, empowering young people to adopt sustainable, zero-waste lifestyles. By combining hands-on sustainability education with youth empowerment, we created a space where participants could develop key personal, social, and civic competences. 🌍 Project Highlights Intercultural Collaboration: The exchange brought together 21 people in total—18 young participants and 3 group leaders. Strong Partnerships: The project was a joint effort between three youth organizations: Echo of Change (Latvia), BridgeXChange (Romania), and Make it Happen (Cyprus). Focus on Inclusion: Ensuring equitable access was a core priority, and the project successfully engaged nine young people with fewer opportunities. Green Practices: We prioritized eco-friendly habits throughout the exchange, including serving buffet-style meals where at least half of the food was plant-based to reduce waste and promote sustainability. ♻️ What We Did Throughout the 9-day exchange, participants learned through non-formal methods, focusing on the core principles of zero waste: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Refuse, and Rot. Some of the most exciting activities included: The Trash Treasure Hunt: Mixed-nationality teams searched for hidden recyclable items, classified them, and pitched creative ways to reuse them. The Smart Menu Challenge: Teams were challenged to design a 3-day meal plan using a random set of ingredients, calculating portions carefully to produce minimal food waste. Packaging Hackathon: Participants took common single-use products and worked in teams to redesign the packaging using recycled materials to make it completely zero-waste. Eco-Ads Challenge: Using discarded materials from the venue like cardboard and jars, teams built brand-new upcycled products and filmed promotional videos for them. 🚀 Our Impact Participants left the exchange with a massive boost in their knowledge and confidence regarding eco-friendly practices. But the project doesn't stop in Latvia! Our participants are now equipped to take meaningful action back home, utilizing a co-created "Zero Waste Action Toolkit" to run local dissemination events, workshops, and community clean-ups in their own local communities. This project was funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.
Romania