CONVENTION ON THE COLLECTION, DEPOSIT AND RECEPTION OF WASTE GENERATED DURING NAVIGATION ON THE RHINE AND OTHER INLAND WATERWAYS
Strasbourg, 17 December 2019 – The Convention on the collection, deposit and reception of waste produced during navigation on the Rhine and inland waterways (CDNI) celebrated the 10th anniversary of its entry into force in 2019. This anniversary was celebrated on Tuesday 17 December in the Palais du Rhin in Strasbourg (France) in the presence of almost 80 prestigious guests, actively committed to protecting the environment.
Source: CDNI Secretariat
To mark this anniversary, the Conference of the Contracting Parties wanted to invite the founding members who conceived and designed this international convention. The CDNI substantially contributed to making inland navigation more environmentally friendly and to making it a trendsetting mode of transport in this arena, both from a waste management perspective and from its international financing model.
In the Grande Salle of the Palais du Rhin, which witnessed the Convention’s beginnings and accompanied its first steps, the founding members and current representatives of the Contracting Parties, approved organisations and observers met on Tuesday 17 December. The founding members re-examined in detail the fundamental principles guiding the thinking behind the construction of this unprecedented international system: the factoring in of the specific characteristics of inland navigation, the introduction and acceptance of a system based on the “polluter pays” principle, close involvement of the profession in the work, and overcoming national differences to create binding international regulations. All the participants unanimously concluded that these retrospective deliberations are more inspiring than ever before in view of the future challenges facing the Convention, in the international context of environmental objectives, in which bold and visionary waste management will have an important role to play.
This exceptional meeting concluded with a reception opened by the Secretary General of the CCNR, Mr Georges, and followed by the well-received interventions of Ms Trautmann (President of the Port of Strasbourg, European Coordinator for the TEN-T North Sea – Baltic Core Network Corridor, Vice-President of Strasbourg Eurométropole) and of several founding members of the CDNI (Dr Treunert, Ms Zwartepoorte, Mr Van der Werf), underlining the importance of the Convention. In keeping with the spirit of the Convention, and to play as active a part as possible in contributing to waste prevention, the Secretariat team set itself the challenge of organising an “objective: zero waste” reception. The challenge having been largely met, the effort will be repeated for future events!
A comprehensive press pack will be published in January 2020, containing the findings of the hearing of the approved organisations (17 December) and the winter meeting of the Contracting Parties (18 December). A publication, focusing on the recollections of the founding members, recalling the beginnings and context in which the Convention was conceived, will also be published at the beginning of 2020.
CONVENTION ON THE COLLECTION, DEPOSIT AND RECEPTION OF WASTE GENERATED DURING NAVIGATION ON THE RHINE AND OTHER INLAND WATERWAYS
CDNI Secretariat
Palais du Rhin - 2, place de la République - F-67082 Strasbourg cedex
Tel +33 3 69 52 10 29
Fax +33 3 88 32 10 72
secretariat@cdni-iwt.org
