Saku Vallavalitsus

The motto of Saku municipality is "Through the green window". When we look out of the green window, we can see both the beautiful natural and living environment and the happy, healthy and respectful residents of Saku valley. To maintain and improve this view, we have taken responsibility for our ecological footprint and consumption. Our aim is to create an area where residents, businesses and communities value the environment around them and treat it sustainably and responsibly.

Saku Municipality takes the challenges of waste reduction and the circular economy seriously and here are some examples of our projects:

• TheShopping Bag Tree project. The Shopping Bag Tree is a clothes tree where reusable clothes bags are hung for shoppers to use as shopping bags. The bags can be taken from the shopping bags tree by any visitor to the shop, and anyone can also bring in bags of clothes. The aim of the Shopping Bag Tree project is to reduce the purchase of disposable shopping bags and to encourage reuse.
• Saku Municipality Green Office - Saku Municipality was awarded the Green Office certificate in August this year and we are currently the only municipality outside the city of Tallinn with a Green Office certificate. The aim of the Green Office is to continuously monitor and reduce the environmental impact of office operations.
• In 2022, with the support of KIK, we purchased reusable municipality logotops , which can be used as an alternative to disposable drinking cups at municipal public events. In this way, we will be able to reduce the production of thousands of disposable plastic tops and make the events of Saku municipality more environmentally friendly. From the beginning of 2023, we will work together with Ringo.
• Saku municipality collects separately. We are the first municipality in Estonia to accept the new challenge of separate collection: we collect biodegradable waste, waste paper and mixed municipal waste separately, and we also collect packaging in three categories: 1. plastic and metal packaging, 2. glass packaging and 3. paper packaging.
• Environment Month. During the Environment Month, we organised a variety of exciting events: bird song mornings and evenings, nature photography training, interesting visits, practical workshops, exciting information days and much more! All events were free of charge. In total, 25 environmental events took place in May 2023.
• The Community Roundhouse. The idea is simple really - a community has a single house where residents can bring their separately collected waste and a waste collection truck can take it all away from one place at once. 2323 cities were organised in 2023. But a single waste house can be much more than that. Liis Vavulski designed a community recycling house for the municipality of Saku, with a larger room containing containers for the collection of sorted waste and a smaller room for the recycling, exchange and loan of items. The smaller room can be used in different ways: for exchanging books etc., for lending tools, or for other recycling activities appropriate to the area/community. There is a place for a noticeboard, a plant wall and why not art.
• Recycling points. We have set up three recycling points in Saku municipality, in cooperation with MTÜ Uuskasuteskeskus, where all residents can bring their clean, healthy and in good condition clothes and shoes, dishes and cutlery, books, toys, hobbies, sports equipment and household appliances. The recycling points are located in the larger centres of the municipality in Kiisa and Saku.
• Developing a model for the functioning and financing of the circular economy in Lääne-Harju and Saku municipalities: The project will create a sustainable model for the functioning and financing of the circular economy at municipal level, aiming to extend the life of materials by recycling materials already available in the community. Recycling will help to prevent and reduce waste and overall resource use in the production, transport and subsequent management of materials.