Our strategic partners

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Avfall Sverige serves as the pivotal association for Swedish municipalities in the realms of waste management and recycling. It plays a crucial role in ensuring that waste collection and recycling processes are efficiently executed across all Swedish municipalities. The overarching mission is to champion environmentally responsible, sustainable, and long-term solutions for society, with a visionary goal of achieving “Zero Waste”. To this end, Avfall Sverige is committed to reducing waste, enhancing reuse practices, and optimising the recycling, recovery, and management of waste materials.

Municipalities and their respective municipal enterprises stand at the forefront of this transformative journey, acting as the proponents, innovators, and stewards of this sustainable shift. Membership within Avfall Sverige is categorised into two main groups: regular and associate members. Regular members encompass municipalities, municipal enterprises, and intermunicipal collaborations (clusters) that operate based on public service responsibilities. Conversely, associate members include entities from the private sector such as consultants and providers of services and equipment.

Avfall Sverige’s primary responsibilities include monitoring industry developments, advocating for members’ interests across all waste management facets, fostering knowledge exchange, managing development projects and conducting targeted research, organising educational programmes, disseminating insights, and delivering comprehensive information to stakeholders. Avfall Sverige actively collaborates with a broad spectrum of organisations both within Sweden and internationally. These partnerships significantly enhance the efficacy of Swedish waste management systems and offer substantial benefits to the association’s members. On a daily basis, Avfall Sverige participates in numerous European associations, advocating for the interests of municipalities and their associated enterprises. Among these are Municipal Waste Europe, which focuses on municipal interests; the Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants, championing the energy recovery sector’s stakeholders; and the European Compost Network, which addresses biological treatment issues at the EU level. Additionally, Avfall Sverige contributes to global waste management improvement efforts through its involvement with the International Solid Waste Association, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), both of which are dedicated to advancing waste management practices worldwide.

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SALAR is a politically run, non-profit member organisation for all of Sweden’s municipalities and regions. SALAR has existed for over 100 years and strives to promote  and strengthen local self-government and the development of regional and local democracy. SALAR is a well-known actor in the international arena of local governments. It is active in the global organisation for municipalities United Cities and Local Governments, its European branch the Council of European Municipalities and Regions and as secretariat for the Swedish delegations to the EU Committee of Regions and the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.

Since the 1980s, SALAR has also been implementing development cooperation projects in the field of decentralisation, local democracy, municipal services, EU approximation, and development of local government associations. SALAR’s Strategic Direction 2024–2028 sets out the goal and ambition for SALAR: “SALAR engages for member priorities internationally and constitutes an important part of multi-level governance in the European Union. International cooperation creates added value and contributes to democracy and sustainable development in our environment.

SALAR has a long history of support to Ukraine with Sida funding, beginning in 2014 with support for the country´s comprehensive decentralisation agenda and administrative services at the local levels. In SALAR is a politically run, non-profit member organisation for all of Sweden’s municipalities and regions. SALAR has existed for over 100 years and strives to promote and strengthen local self- government and the development of regional and local democracy. SALAR is a well-known actor in the international arena of local governments. It is active in the global organisation for municipalities United Cities and Local Governments, its European branch the Council of European Municipalities and Regions and as secretariat for the Swedish delegations to the EU Committee of Regions and the Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. Since the 1980s, SALAR has also been implementing development cooperation projects in the field of decentralisation, local democracy, municipal services, EU approximation, and development of local government associations.

SALAR’s Strategic Direction 2024–2028 sets out the goal and ambition for SALAR: “SALAR engages for member priorities internationally and constitutes an important part of multi-level governance in the European Union. International cooperation creates added value and contributes to democracy and sustainable development in our environment.” SALAR has a long history of support to Ukraine with Sida funding, beginning in 2014 with support for the country´s comprehensive decentralisation agenda and administrative services at the local levels. In parallel to this application, a separate renewed multi-year programme to support decentralisation and recovery is being discussed between SALAR and Sida.

SALAR International, a not-for-profit company wholly owned by SALAR, is the association’s extended operational arm in development cooperation. It seeks to promote sustainable systems of local self-government worldwide, including through support to nationwide decentralisation reforms, local democracy, municipal services, EU approximation, and development of local government associations. To achieve SALAR International’s vision: “All people have the power to shape their own lives in inclusive local democracies and sustainable and resilient communities”, the new global strategy 2024–2027 outlines three broad domains of change that reflect the core values:

1. More democratic, accountable and socially responsible multi-level governance systems
2. Sustainable, inclusive and more resilient cities and communities
3. Peaceful, inclusive, participatory and more equitable local democracies.