Municipal waste management in Georgia (2015 – ongoing)
Georgia is on a fast track to upgrade its municipal waste management. In the coming years several regional landfills will be build and old landfills and dumps will be closed. The Solid Waste Management Company of Georgia has been set up for this. Taofes leads a team of experts to support the Company in its development; ranging from upgrading the waste expertise, the operational and financial expertise to public relations and public awareness expertise. Pilot projects on waste collection, separate collection and campaigning are developed in Imereti region, serving the city of Kutaisi and all municipalities in the region.
Promoting the greening of cities
The concept of green cities is more than trees and flowers in a park: it is also about urban planning, mobility, public health, water management, just to name few. In the Netherlands, iVerde has taken on the challange to promote knowledge and experiences on the greening of cities and set up thegreencity.com. With support of the Dutch embassy in Bulgariam, iVerde has gone international and the promotion of greening of cities is adopted by the Bulgarian Union of Architects and the Bulgarian Association of Ornamental Plants Nurseries. Taofes supports them with the organisation of a conference, the publicity around this and providing initial content to thegreencity.bg.
Communication of Rewilding Europe (2013 – 2014)
People are leaving rural areas and move to cities. Partly because agriculture is not that labour intensive as it was, partly because people apparently prefer to live in cities. What to do with the areas in Europe were people are leaving? The answer is: rewild them. Rewilding Europe offers a new, additional vision for nature conservation in Europe, where there is more space for nature, wildlife and nature’s own ways, and where local people can make a fair living from the wild. Rewilding Europe aims to rewild at least one million hectares of land by 2022, creating ten magnificent wildlife and wilderness areas of international quality, that become the base for a new competitive, sustainable rural economy in these areas. Serving as inspirational examples for what can also be achieved elsewhere. Already active in 7 areas, soon in more. Taofes works for Rewilding Europe with the implementation of the communication activities. Together with the communication colleagues of the areas, general information on the biodiversity, on the return of animals such as deer, European bison and horses to live in the wild and of course on tourism opportunities is gathered and published on the website of Rewilding Europe and of course on YouTube and Facebook.
Linking Nature Protection and Sustainable Rural Development (2012-2016)
Taofes works on the communication and publicity of “Linking Nature Protection and Sustainable Rural Development“, a four-year Bulgaria-Swiss project implemented in nine Natura 2000 zones in the Western and Central Balkan Range, Bulgaria. The main objective is to build a successful model to demonstrate that the link between nature conservation and sustainable rural development in regions of high natural value can be a win-win situation in Bulgaria – for local people, for businesses and for the environment. The project is financed by the Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Program as part of the Reform Fund Linked to Civil Society Participation.
Feasibility study for municipal waste management in Croatia (2013 – 2014)
Just dumping all the household waste on a landfill is no longer an option: as much as possible the recyclables need to be (separately) collected, bio-waste (from the kitch and the garden) can be collected and made in to compost and the rest needs to be treated to avoid greenhouse gas emissions from the landfill. For the Sibenik – Knin region, Taofes, ILF Consulting Engineers of Austria and supported by Ecoina of Croatia drafted a feasibilty study that includes all the options for collection and processing.
New Thracian Gold (2009 – 2014)
Taofes managed the communication and public relations of the five-year Bulgarian-Dutch project New Thracian Gold for sustainable development of the Eastern Rhodopes. A project financed by the Dutch National Postcode Lottery.
Bike `em all (2012)
Together with Bike Evolution, supported by the Dutch Cycling Embassy and the Sofia University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Taofes promoted bicycling in Sofia, a project financed by the Dutch Embassy in Bulgaria. Several events were hosted in Sofia such as “Christmas on Bike” and the “Orange Bike Tour” (to celebrate the Dutch national Queen’s Day). With experts of Sofia municipality a 2-day “Think Bike” workshop was hosted to review and discuss options for sustainable mobility and for the cycling infrastructure. Based on the “Think Bike” workshops, experts of Bike Evolution organised a similar “design atelier” in Russe (Northern Bulgaria) and Momchilgrad (Southern Bulgaria).