Communication policies and promoting good environmental practices are important for the EMA Entitat del Medi Ambient (Environmental Entity). As it is proved in its experience gathered in communication and trainings in prevention and sustainable waste management, such as:

• Participation in numerous conferences and other events (fairs, street actions, etc.).
• Campaigns for the deployment of the different fractions in most metropolitan municipalities.
• Waste prevention projects.
• Campaigns to promote household composting.
• Bimonthly seminars with the environmental technical experts of the metropolitan municipalities.
• Metropolitan Environmental Education Program Compartim un futur (Let's share a future).
• Publishing of educational and informational resources .
• Information on EMA‘s website .
• Participation in various working groups and initiatives of responsible trade.
• Introduction of environmental criteria in hiring and purchasing.

El Prat de Llobregat WWTP, roughing

As regards the promotion of changing habits , the EMA works in two complementary directions:

• Encouraging the reuse of products.
• Avoiding the generation of new waste.

Along this line, we find the promotion of objects repairs and flea markets: Millor que nou, 100% vell (100% old. Better than new). To give a second life to objects and prevent them from quickly becoming a waste, the EMA promotes:

• Buying and saling and exchanging used objects, which helps to find new owners to objects that are no longer useful in certain situations.

• Objects Repairs so they can be reused.

The objectives of Millor que nou, 100% vell campaign are spread through various municipal offices (community centres, libraries, municipal markets, etc.), the website and the blog ( www.millorquenou.cat ; www.millorquenou.blogspot.com ) and also a call centre that meets the demands of individuals. T here have also been two street parties, known as R-festa , of which there has been a new edition on September 26th, 2010 . In the R-parties exchange markets are made, musical performances with reused equipment, samples of repair and second hand shops associated with the campaign, repair workshops of: bicycles, sewing or carpentry, and building toys & musical instruments of reused material workshops , etc.

At the same time, the EMA promotes the reuse of objects encouraging self repairing. The Entity have a place where advice to citizens is offered. For further information, visit the blog Reparat millor que nou (repaired better than new).

Following the idea that is starting to spread through Europe, the EMA also encourages intangible consumption, promoting intangible gifts such as sports sessions, massage, courses, tickets to shows, etc. The activity has been named Idees amb Aefecte (Ideas with Affection/effect) to express the love we put into the gift and the positive impact that this decision could have on the environment. The website and a booth at fairs and festivals have been very useful to explain it.

The EMA also conducts a household composting program . Through it, organic waste can be directly recycled into the homes where they arise, and thus avoid the costs of collection, transportation and management. The program began in October 2004, and in December 2008, 1,748 families of 24 municipalities had already begun to manage their own organic waste. Most participants in the project have garden composters, except 10% of the houses, which make the compost with vermicomposting equipments. With the collaboration of Universitat de Barcelona (University of Barcelona) and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Polytechnical University of Catalonia) a comparative study of ten models of composting equipment has been developed to find those most efficient for each particular situation.

As regards to Spain, the Environmental Entity was part of the driving group of Red de Entidades Locales por el Compostaje Doméstico y Comunitario (Local Authorities for the Household and Community Composting Network), also known as “Composta en Red"” (Network Composting).

As for European Union, the EMA is a member of different European networks of waste management: Medcities , Metropolis , UCLG , ACR+ and ICLEI , whith whom promotes the European added value.