Credit: ACTE

The closing ceremony of the ACTE x Ma Petite Planète cross-border environmental challenge took place at Villerupt Town Hall in France on Monday 16 June 2025.

As reported by the organisers, after three weeks of daily collective eco-friendly challenges, this event marked the end of a fun challenge and the emergence of new projects for a more resilient and sustainable Franco-Luxembourg region.

From 26 May to 16 June 2025, 113 participants divided into thirteen teams took part in the ACTE x Ma Petite Planète challenge (oceans edition), in partnership with La Fresque Océane and Bloom Association.

This community-based challenge, coordinated locally by the Transition Minett association and the GECT Alzette Belval as part of the European ACTE project, involved residents, volunteers, students and local government officials from thirteen municipalities in the Alzette Belval cross-border region, including Audun-le-Tiche (FR), Villerupt (FR), Esch-sur-Alzette (LU), Sanem (LU) and Schifflange (LU).

The closing ceremony took place at Villerupt Town Hall, in the presence of the Mayor of Villerupt and the Director of the GECT Alzette Belval, who introduced the evening.

Participants were then divided into discussion groups to share their experiences of the challenge, reflect on the impact of their actions and, above all, imagine concrete follow-ups to these three weeks of mobilisation. They discussed projects such as the development of shared gardens and harvesting spaces and anti-waste ideas including sharing orchard harvests through the "Yellow Ribbon" fruit picking initiative already underway in Luxembourg. Some groups are already considering structuring a local action plan in Audun-le-Tiche.

The organisers added that the challenge allowed many participants to meet, share existing projects and create a genuine group effect based on cooperation, exchange and the desire to take action.

During the three-week challenge, the teams adopted various sustainable eco-friendly actions:

  • stop buying new items, instead opting for second-hand goods;
  • reduce waste at the source;
  • shorten shower times.

Beyond the challenge, participants will continue to incorporate these actions into their daily lives. Some emphasised that "we're already doing quite a bit, but we can go even further - and it doesn't necessarily take a lot of time."

In just three weeks, participants helped avoid:

  • 6,743 kg of CO2 (equivalent to nearly four round trips between Paris and New York or 0.77 times around the Earth by car);
  • 134 kg of waste.

The big winners of this edition were a team from the Communauté Communes Pays Haut Val Alzette (CCPHVA) in France, who were described as "eco-competitive personalities" ready to continue taking shorter showers and other concrete daily actions.

The organisers said this challenge is not the end, but the starting point of a civic movement in the Alzette-Belval region. The ACTE project partners, the municipalities, associations and committed residents intend to transform the momentum of the challenge into lasting actions, to co-build a desirable and sustainable future together. The organisers added that everyone is welcome to join in these efforts.