Re:Challenge Engages Students for Re-Use

Targeting local communities

Möjlighet att dela, återbruka och återvinna är viktiga steg för en $2 och hållbar utveckling i Sverige. Men hur kan återbruk främjas på kvartersnivå? Under hösten 2016 lanserade HoloHouse (tidigare Miljöbron) Re:Challenge, en plattform för att utforska cirkulär ekonomi i företag och samhälle. Med i projektets första runda var fyra uppdragsgivare: Göteborgs Stad, Familjebostäder, Bostadsbolaget och Hyresgästföreningen. Sammanlagt engagerade HoloHouse över trettio studenter i sju utredningar om kvartersnära återbruk och delandelösningar i Brunnsbo, Bergsjön, Hammarkullen, Majorna, Rannebergen och Torpa.

$2.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/rec12-1-1024×728.jpg” alt=”” class=”wp-image-1334″ srcset=”https://holohouse.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/rec12-1-1024×728.jpg 1024w, https://holohouse.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/rec12-1-300×213.jpg 300w, https://holohouse.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/rec12-1-768×546.jpg 768w, https://holohouse.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/rec12-1-18×12.jpg 18w, https://holohouse.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/rec12-1.jpg 1439w” sizes=”(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px” />

Intepreting re-use in a broader sense

The surveys that the students carried out showed that was high interest in local reuse and upcycling in various parts of Gothenburg. The incentives to share, re-use and upcycle is not only of environmental concerns but also economical.

HoloHouses Martin Ahrin-Larsson, projektledare för Re:Challenge, tror att språket har en viktig roll.

"It is important how we talk about circularity and re-use. The students involved found some terms difficult to understand and relate to. Thus some definitions were changed to draw more attention from younger generations.

The physical place is also important. They have to be close to where the students spend their days or to other common venues. Venues for re-use of clothes for instance can be in close vicinty to schools, universities or sport arenas.

Cross-sectoral project

I projektet engagerades studenter från flera av Västra Götalands högskolor och universitet. Under fyra månader arbetade de intensivt i tvärvetenskapliga grupper, både som del av studier och på ideell basis. Det är första gången HoloHouse prövar att låta studenter med olika $2sbakgrund och kompetenser arbeta tillsammans i större grupper. Projektperioden kantades av workshops för att öka kunskapen kring cirkulär ekonomi och diskutera gemensamma utmaningar i studenternas arbete. Olivia Sandström som arbetade i Majorna har tagit med sig viktiga erfarenheter från projektet.

"It has been incredily fun and interesting to combine so many students with fresh ideas and new perspectives. I am really glad I got involved in the project and hope to work more with circular economy in the future. I also hope that the initiatives that we now layed ground for will continue to grow."

Viktiga lärdomar om samverkan

One important objective of the project was to let the students come up with ideas of how to organise and finance re-use centers - a bottom-up approach. That was, however, a bit tricky to know before assessing the opportunities and needs in the local area and the local actors that can be involved. Martin Ahrin-Larsson underscore the complexity of the issue.

It is a fairly large task to navigate between the different actors and combine different interests to joint action that can be implemented over time. Several of the actors involved were also non-for-profit, making the financing issue harder. Other aspects the project had to solve was which business models to build on and how to make sure they were developed over time. It would be great if the project could develop over time and deal with problems and issues as they appear, refining the business model and updating the constellation of actors involved.

Resultaten i Re:Challenge första runda har legat till grund för en ansökan från Göteborgs Stad om uppstart av fyra kvartersnära återbruksverksamheter i Göteborg.