During the weekends of October 21-22 and October 28-29, Tallinn residents can dispose of hazardous waste and reusable items at local collection events.
Starting from November 1, Tallinn's waste treatment plants will switch to a winter schedule. All four waste treatment plants - in Pääsküla, Rahumäe, Paljassaare, and Pärnamäe - will continue to be open seven days a week, but their opening hours will be shorter during the autumn-winter period.
During the last two weekends of October, residents of Tallinn participated in a city-organized collection drive, handing over approximately 23,930.90 kilograms of hazardous waste and 107 cubic meters of reusable items. Tallinn residents have the ongoing opportunity to dispose of their hazardous household waste at no cost at six designated collection points throughout the city and at four waste treatment plants all year round.
From November 20 to 26, the fourth annual large waste disposal campaign of the year will take place. Residents of Tallinn can dispose of their large waste items free of charge at local waste treatment plants.
This November, Tallinn commenced the construction of its first circular economy center in the Kristiine district, with plans underway for another center on the property at Punane 68a in Lasnamäe.
Yesterday's Ajujaht (Brain Hunt) entrepreneurship competition finale announced the winner of the Tallinn Special Prize, recognizing the technology company Raw Edge for its innovation and eco-friendly approach in the food industry. Raw Edge specializes in developing ultra-low-calorie products that support gut health and overall wellbeing, using fermentation technology.
During this year's final free large waste disposal week from November 20-26, Tallinn's waste treatment plants received seven times more large waste than in a typical week of November. Throughout the year, residents brought a total of 5,592.17 cubic meters of waste to the waste treatment plants, equivalent to approximately 70 truckloads of large waste.
Tallinn has shown progress in the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index) 2023 analysis, a program renowned as the most reliable benchmarking and improvement tool in tourism sustainability. Since joining the program in 2021, Tallinn has consistently improved its performance. Today, it surpasses the average scores of cities in North America, Eastern and Western Europe, and also ranks higher than any other city in Eastern Europe in individual assessments.
86 collection points across the city for environmentally friendly disposal of Christmas trees now open, with collection lasting until January 31, 2024.
In the last quarter of the year, the Tallinn Strategic Management Office, in collaboration with PrügiBinGo, undertook a thorough inspection of mixed domestic waste containers to understand the current state of waste sorting among the city's residents. This survey, which randomly examined 900 such containers over ten observation days, primarily targeted households that have been authorized by district governments to compost at the source.