Avoiding waste
The issue of waste production in Europe is a growing one. Statistics indicate that the European community generates around 2,000 million tonnes of waste each year, of which over 40 million tonnes is classified as hazardous. Over the last six years, the amount of waste generated grew by 10 % a year.
En savoir plus
Europe is not only generating vast amounts of waste however, it is at the same time wasting rich and valuable resources – material and non-material – which encompass food, people, knowledge & skills, housing, public spaces, everyday items/commodities, and more. This is at a time when unemployment levels are unsustainably high, when people are going hungry or have been forced to live on the streets.
The issue of waste therefore, is multi-dimensional and needs to be approached as thus: while it is imperative that people “reduce, re-use & recycle” waste, it is also important to consider new, alternative ways in which (unused or less used) resources could be better utilised, thus avoiding them being waste.
- Below are some examples of the types of actions (in orange) and policies (in green) that aim to avoid waste.
- These projects provide an insight into how waste production can be reduced as well as the ways in which the many resources available can be used in order to avoid waste.
Picture by Alan Cleaver
Co-operatives/shared spaces
A co-operative ("co-op") is an autonomous association of persons who voluntarily co-operate for their mutual, social, economic, and cultural benefit. Co-operatives may include non-profit community initiatives or businesses owned and managed by: the people who use its services (a consumer cooperative); by the people who work there (co-working spaces) or; by the people who live there (a housing co-operative).
En savoir plus
Co-operatives are typically based on the co-operative values of “self-help, self-responsibility, democracy and equality, equity and solidarity” and the seven co-operative principles:
- 1. Voluntary and open membership
- 2. Democratic member control
- 3. Economic participation by members
- 4. Autonomy and independence
- 5. Education, training and information
- 6. Co-operation among co-operatives
- 7. Concern for community
Use of public spaces
Systems of exchange
Recovery of goods
All Examples of Actions and Policies
Auteur : Anne-Iris Romens -
Publié le : 2013-04-29 13:17 -
Circul'Livre is an organization that provides books supplied by participants free of charge. Circul'Livre not only aims at promoting reading, it is also a vehicle for social cohesion.
|
Auteur : alessandra sciurba -
Publié le : 2013-04-26 12:58 -
|
Confabitare, an association of residents of condominiums, owners or tenants, organised within a single project of two actions:
1 - Organisation within the condominium of a shared food expenditure through a condominium purchasing group.
2 - Sharing of caring needs for the elderly through a shared "care worker" of the condominium.
|
Auteur : alessandra sciurba -
Publié le : 2013-04-26 12:46 -
|
Since 2008, in Padua, a collective of students, housed in a building owned by the municipality which had been unused for a long time, started a bike repair workshop, which also has a coffee service, a bar, a small kitchen and a public internet point with a free wi-fi hotspot
|
Auteur : Lorna Muddiman -
Publié le : 2013-04-26 07:36 -
|
Givrum.nu is an organisation that works with user-driven urban development. Using extensive knowledge about citizen-participatory processes in the city, Givrum.nu has among other things created life in empty buildings for a temporary period and created awareness-raising events where innovative ways (cultural, social, etc.) of developing cities are put on the agenda.
|
Auteur : Lorna Muddiman -
Publié le : 2013-04-25 08:17 -
|
Living Architecture articulates the vital link which exists between architecture and life. This synthesis of abstract and physical considerations has shown itself in practice to be an ideal means to address many of the demands of modern life, particularly how to live ‘sustainably’.
|
Auteur : Lorna Muddiman -
Publié le : 2013-04-19 12:57 -
|
THE REPAIR CAFE CONCEPT IS SPREADING AROUND THE WORLD!
Repair Cafés are free meeting places and they're all about repairing things (together). In the place where a Repair Café is located, you’ll find tools and materials to help you make any repairs you need. On clothes, furniture, electrical appliances, bicycles, crockery, appliances, toys, et cetera.You will also find repair specialists such as electricians, seamstresses, carpenters and bicycle mechanics. Visitors bring their broken items from home. Together with the specialists they start making their repairs in the Repair Café.
|
Auteur : Lorna Muddiman -
Publié le : 2013-04-19 09:23 -
|
Streetbank is a website that allows you to see all the things and skills that your neighbours living with a mile of you are lending, sharing or giving away. In short, it helps you share and borrow things from people in your community whom you might never have gotten the chance to meet otherwise.
|
Auteur : Lorna Muddiman -
Publié le : 2013-04-19 09:00 -
|
SHARING OCCUPIED SPACES: A BIOLOGICAL GARDEN
|
Auteur : alessandra sciurba -
Publié le : 2013-04-16 08:42 -
|
The project C.R.E.A. (Surplus Food Recovery Centre) aims to collect surplus food (i.e. goods that cannot be sold but that are still consumable), both fresh and packaged, from the small, medium and large retailers, for their redistribution to people living in conditions of poverty and social exclusion.
The main actors involved in its organisation are people who live in the Community of St. Benedetto al Porto, who through this work implement their emancipation and autonomy.
The project is partly implemented and partly remains to be implemented.
|
Aucun article.
Challenges
Aucun article.
Contribute an action to the theme
Contribute a Challenge to this theme
Click here to contribute a challenge