Reuse and Social Enterprises

Rue Washington 40 1050 Brussels [email protected] www.rreuse.org T/F: +32.2.647 99 95 RREUSE

• Who is RREUSE? • Our aims and mission • Our members activities • Is reuse a good thing? • Barriers to reuse • Towards a reuse society… Reuse and Recycling European Union Social Enterprises RREUSE, founded in 2001, is a European umbrella organisation.

RREUSE is a network of national and regional social economy federations and about 900 SE enterprises with activities in reuse and recycling.

RREUSE is a non-profit organisation and all our members combine and give equal emphasis to the environmental and social objectives. RepaNet () KVK (Belgium) RESSOURCES (Belgium) BAG Arbeit (Germany) AIRES (Spain, Catalonia) AERESS (Spain) Envie (France) Emmaüs France (France) Community Recycling Network (UK) Furniture Recycling Network (UK) Create (UK) Emmaüs International BKN (Netherlands) Ecological Recycling Society (Greece) SEKY, Työ & Toiminta Ry (Finland) Environmental benefits

Repair and reuse… is the best way to deal with … as long as it cannot be prevented.

- it extends a products life and reduces its overall ecological impact - it reduces the need for new products and therefore reduces the consumption of energy and raw materials - repair for reuse requires fewer resources and less energy compared to recycling - repair and reuse causes less water and air pollution, including greenhouse gases, in comparison with all other waste management options. Social benefits

Repair and reuse are the only waste management options who pursue also social objectives as social reintegration and fight against poverty.

- Our members create jobs and training for people at risk, such as long-term unemployed, physical or mental disabled, ex-offenders and youth: all those who find it difficult to find a job in the regular economy and are the most affected by social exclusion.

- We provide essential household items at affordable prices and a good quality helping people with low income. Reuse and Recycling European Union Social Enterprises

Mission

RREUSE mission is to federate, represent and develop social economy enterprises with repair, reuse and recycling activities.

RREUSE operates to spread best practice and benchmarking experiences wherever a community working on reuse exists.

RREUSE hopes to get recognition of being an effective model of sustainable development as environmental and social goals are combined! RREUSE members activities

1. Collecting from households or municipal waste collection sites of following main product groups: – Electrical and electronic appliances (WEEE) – Textile and clothing – Furniture and household goods – Books, CD, videos,… 2. Sorting in reusable and non-reusable items – Cleaning – repairing – selling or – Dismantling and (preparing for) recycling

Repair and reuse of WEEE

1. Standard test- and refurbishment procedures 2. Educated and licensed responsibles 3. Liabilities covered with adapted insurance contracts 4. Warranty up to 1 year and more 5. Standard users manuals 6. Monitoring and registration tools 7. Deposed trademarks 8. Quality standards

Æ Meeting the customers’ expectations Reuse or buy new?

Some EEE producers claim we should throw away old EEE and buy new more energy-efficient equipment … to save the climate

Should we?

Comprehensive environmental analysis shows: extended service life (reuse) is environmentally better than early replacement.

¾ Evaluations based on environmental comprehensive indicators tend to result in lower importance of use phase ¾ Evaluations only based on energy use can lead to wrong conclusions for the environmental impact! Source: Öko Institute, Rüdenauer et al. 2005, ordered by CECED

Which time is environmentally the best to substitute a washing machine? ¾ when regarding cumulated energy demand (CED) substitution of washing machines over 10 years is justified ¾ when regarding global warming potential only substitution of washing machines of more than 15 years is justified ¾ when regarding total environmental burden only substitution of washing machines older then 20 years is justified.

Replacing an appliance of 10 years old by a new one causes more environmental and financial burden than keeping it! Most discarded and collected washing machines are much younger and their life-potential is not yet fully used: reuse is appropriate! Source: Nina Truttmann and Helmut Rechberger (2006) “Contribution to resource conservation by reuse of electronical and electronic household appliances” Resource Conservation and Recycling 48 (3): 249-262. Example:

¾ Usually discarded due to assumed capability shortages, changed design, or caused by introduction of eg. Windows Vista ¾ Very high share of environmental burden in production phase ¾ Almost no increase in energy efficiency during the past years ¾ A doubled product life results in 38% energy savings!

Reuse of PC’s can result in very high environmental benefits! Reuse better than new

¾ Possible higher electricity consumption of older appliances is compensated by less energy consumption for production and manufacturing

¾ Significantly higher efficiency improvement than currently achieved between old and new products is needed to make «timely replacement» worthwhile

¾ Furthermore: consumer behaviour in use pattern and used electricity mix has bigger impact than any replacement of product itself Product barriers to reuse

¾ Rapid pace of technologies and changing design (e.g. Windows Vista) ¾ Composition of recent products: plastic products more difficult to repair than metal ones ¾ Product design making repair/reuse impossible ¾ Lack of spare parts ¾ Decreasing quality and lifespan of new products (e.g. textile, consumer electronics) ¾ Scarcity of knowledge about goods Policy barriers to reuse

¾ Lack of policy support from Member States or municipalities (on environmental or social grounds) ¾ Producers hinder and marginalise reuse as they see it competing on new sales ¾ Labour costs: repair often exceeding costs of new products (made in China) ¾ Consumption: lack of educational and promotional support to influence consumer behaviour Objectives within EU policy

¾ A binding waste management hierarchy with focus on prevention and reuse; ¾ Separate collection of waste streams, maximizing reuse of whole goods and components; ¾ Establishment of accredited reuse and repair networks in 27 Member States ¾ Promotional and educational measures for reuse and reused products ¾ Reduced VAT for reused products Towards a reuse society…

Every community has some existing form of reuse, however getting it better organized and supported is a big priority as we need more reuse!

¾ An accredited network of reuse-centers to allow consumers to bring reusable or repairable products to one place nearby is needed.

¾ Government support for reuse by social enterprises is essential to allow fulfilling social and environmental objectives of EU policy