Abstract: Desalination comprises a non-conventional water resource practice that is currently gaining importance internationally for filling the gap in the water balance. Even though it is a well proven technique, it is associated with certain economic considerations (high energy consumption) and environmental concerns regarding brine management: around 2 L of wastewater are generated for every liter of freshwater produced. The high concentration of salts in this wastewater can create serious disposal problems. The SOL-BRINE project sought to eliminate water pollution and environmental damage associated with brine release, by introducing a new technique capable of achieving zero liquid discharge from desalination plants. The demonstration plant that is presented in this paper was installed at Agios Fokas area, Tinos Island in Greece in October 2012 and has been operated regularly since January 2013. The plant has the capacity to treat over 200 tons of brine per year.

Waste management is increasingly considered one of the most critical environmental challenges on a worldwide basis. Municipal solid waste and packaging waste in specific is an important and growing waste stream. It has been widely recognized that recycling practices and in specific separation at source schemes should be adopted in order to achieve sustainable management of municipal solid waste and efficient resource use. Separation at source provides a promising option with environmental and economic benefits, as it contributes to the recovery of high quality materials with, eventually, cost savings for the waste management authorities. This paper provides a review and evaluation of all instruments, as well as strategies employed in operating waste management schemes at international level. More specifically, nineteen case studies are presented and assessed. Special emphasis was given in those best practice schemes that follow the waste hierarchical approach, namely prevention, preparing for re‐use, recycling, other recovery (e.g. energy recovery), disposal. Additionally, local policies that encourage separate collection at source of at least four waste streams (paper, metal, plastic, glass) were taken under consideration. The factors found to influence recycling performance were the implementation of kerbside waste collection schemes, the provision of economic incentives as well as the use of legal instruments. Furthermore, the level of public awareness and engagement achieved, the population size as well as the duration of the implementation of the scheme were also found to influence the effectiveness of the applied schemes.