Despite the postponement of the CEWASTE pilot auditing phase caused by the coronavirus outbreak, the four-part CEWASTE auditor training program has been provided online. The sessions were organised by project partner Sofies during March and April, and focused on the management and technical requirements of the newly developed CEWASTE set of requirements. Around 15 participants, from the CEWASTE pool of auditors, took part in the training sessions, mainly from their homes due to the strict measures in place across Europe to deter movement.
The goals of the first two training sessions were to provide a general introduction to the CEWASTE project, give an overview of the objectives and timeline of the pilot phase, present the CEWASTE requirements and illustrate them with practical experiences and examples of audit questions. Training sessions were designed to be interactive, allowing for fruitful exchanges between participants. The iterative and open nature of the CEWASTE project was recognised, as CEWASTE pilot audits will allow to not only perform a gap-analysis (to which extent current recycling practices comply with CEWASTE requirements) but also provide feedback on the feasibility and applicability of the requirements.
The last two online training sessions were provided by the WEEELABEX Organization in early April, focusing on key requirements from the EN 50625 series of standards, on which the CEWASTE requirements were based.
These completed the comprehensive training curriculum equipping CEWASTE auditors with the knowledge and skills to go out in the field and support the pilot audits. It is not yet known exactly when the pilot audit phase can resume, but we know that the CEWASTE auditors will be ready!