Sustainability Map

The sustainability map supports the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. These are intended to achieve global sustainable development, make it measurable and be achieved by all countries by 2030. The three dimensions of sustainability - social, environmental and economic - were taken into account when developing the goals. As places where people live and work, municipalities form the basis for implementing the 17 SDGs and their 169 sub-goals in order to achieve sustainable development.

Our sustainability map addresses the following goals in particular:

In addition to the provision of non-discriminatory access to public healthcare facilities, this also includes preventive measures to promote the health of the population. Health, a good economic system and environmental protection are closely linked. The aim is to establish a healthy lifestyle, e.g. through food quality, in all areas of society.

This goal is specifically linked to organic and regional products. Among other things, organic products must meet certain production standards, e.g. the ban on certain pesticides, so that the products are often healthier than conventionally produced products.

A fair and inclusive society grants all people the same rights and opportunities. The fight against poverty can also be achieved to a large extent by local authorities by shaping their social, housing and procurement policies and by creating the framework conditions for greater solidarity and justice.

These goals are linked to the criterion of "participation & inclusion", as facilities and meeting places emphasise the community of people in a municipality and at the same time promote the reduction of inequalities and equality of all genders.

Inclusive and sustainable economic growth can only be ensured on the basis of humane working conditions and the protection of labour rights for all workers. This includes the abolition of forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking as well as all forms of child labour.

Our criterion of "fair production" is particularly relevant to this goal. To achieve this, there must be a change in people's consumer behaviour. However, this also requires the availability and procurement of products from fair production without exploitation.

Responsible consumption and production is Goal 12 of the SDGs and forms the basis for municipalities to organise their consumption and production methods in a sustainable manner. Sustainable production focusses on the most efficient use of natural resources and compliance with fair working conditions along the entire value chain. In addition, the volume of waste should be significantly reduced by avoiding, minimising, recycling and reusing it. The "6R principle" for conscious consumption described below also addresses this.

This goal goes hand in hand with our "fairly produced" and "reuse & second-hand" criteria. More sustainable consumption without the usage of additional resources can be realised through the purchase of second-hand goods, borrowing and swapping or fully recycled products.

Combating the extreme consequences of global warming such as droughts, floods and forest fires and at the same time taking measures to stop climate change is at the heart of SDG 13. The aim is to establish measures at local level and raise awareness of the ambitious goals.

This goal is linked to organic and regional products, as these cause lower greenhouse gas emissions than conventional products due to standardised production processes (organic) and shorter transport routes (regional). By using recycled products or sharing and swapping, fewer resources are required and further greenhouse gas emissions are avoided.

The focus here is on the protection of marine and coastal ecosystems and terrestrial habitats. Sustainable management and protection of ecosystems should put an end to the loss of biodiversity. 

Both objectives are linked to biological and regional products, but also to second-hand and recycled products, as this can reduce transport routes on land and over water, for example. The active reduction of emissions and resource consumption leads to less damage to ecosystems and biodiversity on land and under water.

The "6R principle" stands for habits that can help to achieve the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Making your own everyday life more sustainable and making more conscious consumption decisions is not always easy and is often associated with sacrifice and deprivation. However, knowing that everyone can play their part in the sustainable development of our livelihood and that of future generations should show us that it is worth taking a closer look at our own behaviour in order to reduce our ecological footprint and set a good example for our fellow citizens. The 6 R's can help us make a big impact with small steps in our everyday lives. They are also easy to integrate through small changes and ultimately create our personal contribution to conserving natural resources and avoiding waste.

These 6 R's are presented below. In addition, there are already extensions of this principle to further improve the sustainability of consumer behaviour.

The first step towards more responsible consumer behaviour is to rethink. In order to make your everyday life more sustainable, you need to question your habits and consciously search for activities, products and services that can be replaced by more sustainable alternatives. This could give rise to the following food for thought and questions: "Do I really need this?", "Are there alternatives that eliminate or reduce packaging?", "How can I reduce my consumption of disposable products, such as the coffee cup to go?", "Is it possible to reduce CO₂ emissions on my everyday journeys?" and many more.

The simplest option here is to reduce obvious waste. At the supermarket, fresh fruit and vegetables can also be transported in your own bag without an additional plastic bag. The choice of reusable utensils, such as drinking bottles, storage and freshness boxes, coffee cups, etc. also leads to a reduction in the amount of waste.

Stadtreinigung Wetzlar ensures that accumulated and unavoidable waste can be disposed properly. The following information brochure from the waste and environmental calendar provides information on the correct waste separation and local drop-off points for electronic waste, hazardous waste, bulky waste, etc. Further information can be obtained from the Wetzlar waste and street cleaning website.

Abfall- und Umweltkalender 2024 | Wetzlar

Ideen Abfallvermeidung | Wetzlar

Abfallentsorgung | Wetzlar

In addition to waste, we can also rethink how we reduce our consumption in other areas of life. For example, reducing or eliminating the consumption of meat and other animal products can directly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Even though this may seem like a big step at first, we can already see benefits for our carbon footprint by eating one plant-based meal a week and slowly increasing and adapting to this behaviour.

Other approaches to dealing with reduction in your own everyday life can be: reducing consumption in general (clothing and other consumer goods), reducing food waste (e.g. in your own household or using too good to go offers), reducing transport routes in connection with consumption (shopping locally vs. online), reducing greenhouse gas emissions by changing digital consumption (digital footprint).

The repair approach is as simple as it is self-explanatory. Items of clothing, everyday objects and even technical devices do not and should not have to be disposed of and replaced in the event of minor defects. It is often possible to repair these defects yourself by carrying out minor repairs. If this is not possible, it is advisable to ask people in the neighbourhood for help or to use professional services for more complex repairs to technical devices. Even if cost and effort often seem high, in terms of sustainability, not only the monetary but also the environmental value should be considered.

If products can no longer be used, repaired or repurposed, they are disposed of or, ideally, recycled. The raw materials can be further processed and used to manufacture new products. One example from the textile industry is the production of clothing, backpacks or bags from PET bottles. Proper waste separation must also be observed in order not to reduce the value of the raw materials.

By reusing, disposable products can be saved in all areas of everyday life (shopping, kitchen, bathroom). By using reusable packaging and reusable products, less waste is produced and resources for production are conserved.

Rejecting products, resources and manufacturing processes that are not sustainable should help you to make consistent decisions. For example, you can reject the use of unnecessary packaging, meat from factory farming and fast fashion.

The central demand of fair trade is the creation and safeguarding of better working and living conditions as well as social rights for producers and workers. The injustice of global trade is particularly evident at the level of the people at the beginning of the supply chain. For example, textile workers in Bangladesh or coffee farmers in Honduras suffer from low world market prices, precarious working conditions and exploitation.

Trade justice is closely linked to climate justice. This is because those who cause the climate crisis and those who are affected by it are often not affected to the same extent. This leads to extreme global inequalities. The vulnerable groups particularly affected by the climate crisis, such as indigenous people, small farmers, women, children, the elderly and the sick, are even more disadvantaged. In order to achieve climate justice in this context, we need to establish the necessary structural changes to our growth- and profit-oriented, globalised economic system. Fair trade can be part of the solution to fight the climate crisis and the underlying injustices.

In contrast to conventional agriculture, organic farming pays more attention to environmentally friendly production methods and adapted livestock farming. In addition, chemical pesticides and genetic engineering are not used. Organic farms must undergo annual inspection procedures in order to be able to sell their goods as "organic" or "eco" products. Organic farming has been regulated by law at EU level since 1991.

The textile and clothing industry is one of the most important consumer goods sectors in Germany. However, the process steps involved in textile production have a particularly heavy impact on the environment. Large quantities of pesticides and fertilisers are used in the cultivation of fibres and large quantities of water are required, particularly in cotton cultivation.  The use of chemicals during processing and textile finishing also results in very high levels of wastewater and water pollution.  The EU Commission's "Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles" is intended to provide a framework for the future development of a sustainable and circular textile industry. Products are to become more durable, reusable, repairable, recyclable and energy-efficient. The concept of fair and more sustainable clothing stands in contrast to the fast fashion model, which refers to the mass-based, cheap production of clothing. Fair clothing can also be recognised by labels. Conscious consumption in conjunction with the use of second-hand offers is advisable here.

Regional products promise short transport routes and therefore reduced energy consumption and emissions. They also support local producers and regional farmers. However, the term regionality is not protected. There is also no standardised definition of what constitutes a region in this context. In reality, this is often exploited to deceive consumers. It is better to pay attention to the specific region labelled directly on the product. Buying regional food also reduces the demand for food agriculture in arid regions of the world, where it can lead to extreme water shortages and exacerbate the effects of man-made climate change.

A diet is seasonal if it uses food that can be grown in the region at the relevant time of year without having to import it from abroad. The regional and seasonal consumption of food is therefore closely linked. Seasonal consumption can reduce the amount of energy required for long transport routes, greenhouses and cold stores. A good overview of the seasonality of fruit and vegetables can be obtained from a seasonal calendar.

Labels on food are intended to help people buy more sustainably. However, they can also lead to even more confusion or even greenwashing due to their large number and the underlying criteria. For this reason, products with an organic, fair trade or animal welfare label should also be viewed critically. This is because many labels and product descriptions are not protected or regulated by the state and therefore often do not correspond to the actual criteria of an organic label. For example, there is the well-known state organic label, which is based on the criteria of the EG Organic Regulation, defines minimum criteria and is essentially trustworthy. The labels of the farming associations (e.g. Bioland, Naturland, Demeter) go beyond these criteria and have much stricter requirements.

Inclusion refers to the equal participation of all. It doesn't matter what you look like, what language you speak or whether you have a disability. Through social sustainability and justice, all people are enabled to participate in the workplace, at home or in their leisure time. As one of the pillars of sustainability, social sustainability aims to offer low-threshold and barrier-free environmentally friendly services and make them accessible to as many people as possible. In this way, places of encounter can be created for participation and inclusion in the context of sustainability.

Social sustainability is also anchored in the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) of the United Nations. The goals aim to end poverty and hunger around the world, combat inequalities within and between countries, realise human rights for all and achieve gender equality and self-determination for all women and girls.