International activities and network
At an international level, Rijkswaterstaat contributes to capacity-building on waste management in various countries and participates in European projects.
Given its expertise, Rijkswaterstaat contributes to capacity building in various countries, for example through International Public Cooperation and Government-to-Government projects in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as in China and Brazil.
Within the European Community Rijkswaterstaat takes part in several research programmes, international platforms and working groups, such as the REsource-efficient BUSiness models project (funded by LIFE+) and an EU working group on end-of-waste criteria.
Rijkswaterstaat also acts as a National Reference Centre in the European Environment Information and Observation Network and is the national contact point for the United Nations Environment Programme.
International network
Rijkswaterstaat maintains good relationships with a number of (environmental/waste) agencies and knowledge institutes all over the world. In the past (and present), it has successfully cooperated with the Federal Ministry for the Environment in Germany (BMU), the public waste agency of Flanders (OVAM) and the Environment Agency and the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) in the UK, amongst others.