Suppose your mother is moving to an assisted living home and her old trusty sofa doesn’t fit her new living room. How nice would it be if you could take that sofa to a place where you know its value will be appreciated. Maybe it can go straight to a second-hand shop, or maybe it needs a bit of work first. And if it’s really falling apart, the materials it’s made of – wood, fabric, leather – can probably still be put to good use elsewhere.

Circular craft centres are making waste a thing of the past! Some centres offer a second-hand shop and recycling centre in one location, others are close partnerships. They will be supported by repair workshops where your items can be given a new life – and where vocational students can learn a trade and work placement staff will do valuable work. This is already the case for the centres in Oss, Zwolle and Rijssen. We’re currently hard at work to set up a nationwide network of circular craft centres. Designated an ‘iconic project’ by Rijkswaterstaat, a project team is now bringing together local parties to realise the dream of reducing waste to the absolute minimum in ways that align with local contexts. Watch this video (Dutch-language) to learn more about the different forms a circular craft centre can take. And find out what’s happening in your own municipality!

Kristel Logghe explains the plans for a circular craft centre in Lelystad

I talked with Kristel Logghe, a passionate social entrepreneur associated with the Social Enterprise Lab. Kristel works on transition projects and is currently setting up circular craft centres in Lelystad and the so-called BUCH municipalities: Bergen, Uitgeest, Castricum and Heiloo. She explained why she is so excited about this project.

‘At circular craft centres, items are repaired, refurbished and sold. This ensures that valuable materials remain available and saves an enormous amount of waste. The craft centres also provide jobs and development opportunities for people struggling to find work. By saving your mum’s old sofa from ending up in a landfill, we’re contributing to waste and circular economy targets. It also helps us achieve our climate goals, because by focusing on reuse, we can significantly cut down our carbon emissions. What’s also great about this project is that the circular craft centres boost crafts like furniture making, upholstery and carpentry. Young people get to learn a trade and will later pass on their knowledge. That’s how these crafts live on! Circular craft centres are pretty much universally appreciated, because everyone realises that we’re running out of raw materials and that this is something we need to address.’

In these times of growing polarisation, it’s nice to know that there’s at least one thing people can agree on, I thought.

The circular craft centres are also centres of learning, offering an excellent circular educational environment where vocational students can develop their talents. This is where they get to learn circular skills in practice. 

Meanwhile, recycling centre employees learn how discarded items can be saved by repair workshops. There’s also a growing interest in the repair trade among prevocational secondary school students, and the craft centres allow them to get acquainted with this work. Work placement companies are beginning to offer circular learning tracks as well, and entrepreneurs are being challenged to learn more about sustainability, and to develop viable business cases. What will we do with all those solar panels we’re putting on our roofs when they reach the end of their lifecycle? And how can we use pallet wood in the houses we build? In short, we’ve got our work cut out for us.

MBO College Lelystad’s Circular Regional Economy expert platform developed a circular learning track for the Flevoland region

Besides the formal learning tracks, non-formal activities are also important at the circular craft centres. After all, the success of the centres depends on public support – and on how much people know about all the things we still tend to think of as waste. Project team members like Kristel engage local residents early on in the process.

‘That’s something we do through resident surveys and information evenings. And as it turns out, there’s a lot of interest among residents! Often, the circular craft centre will require a new location and building. So then we ask residents to provide input on what the centre should look like. And here’s a bit of news that’s hot off the presses: in Lelystad, we opened a circular experience centre in the middle of the city last July – an open, accessible environment that quite literally puts circularity in the shop window. This is going to be an amazing hotspot that will be buzzing with activity. For example, it could host an exhibition space with a shop-in-shop selling local products made by circular artisans. We’ve also reserved a large space for education in this circular hub: residents can attend upcycling workshops and lectures on sustainable initiatives, how to reuse existing materials, circular demolition, construction and renovation, furniture or clothes repair, and so on. Residents can put forward their own initiatives as well. The experience centre will double as a circular education facility for talented young people and teacher professionalisation. By involving all these different parties, we’re putting circularity on the map!’

Circularity is fun!

In the circular world, the R-ladder is used to explain what to do with items and raw materials: from the highest rung, Refuse (don’t buy it), to the lowest rung, Recover (incinerate it). In addition to this informative yet somewhat technical ladder, there’s also the more accessible Stop Waste Staircase. You can familiarise yourself with the staircase in a fun and informal setting (for instance in a language class, or at a library or community centre) and discuss how your family or neighbourhood can contribute to a green and circular society. Instead of using things and then discarding them, the staircase helps you buy things only when you really need them, and it teaches you how to make sure things get reused properly after you’re done with them. Each step of the staircase represents a different approach, and the higher the step, the better.

Take a look at the Stop Waste Staircase at the bottom of this page 

I also asked Kristel which green skills she considers essential for people living in the Netherlands. Besides circular skills, she mentioned creativity and thinking outside the box. This ties in nicely with the outcomes of a meeting of EPALE ambassadors that I recently had the pleasure of attending, where we exchanged thoughts on the skills we believe people will need to participate in society in the future. Creativity was mentioned there as well, in addition to adaptability, critical thinking and the ability to envision the future – skills that will all prove important in achieving a circular economy. Let’s work on these indispensable skills in our educational activities!

STOP WASTE STAIRCASE – TURN IT INTO A FUN GAME!

Less!

1. Redundant! – Think thrice before buying something and save precious resources.
2. From owning to using – Instead of buying hedge trimmers, you can also borrow, share or rent them.
3. Use less resources – Choose products that last longer and that can be repaired.

A second life!

1. Pass it on! – Sell your old clothes and items, take them to a second-hand shop or pass them on.
2. Upgrade – Give that old chair a fresh coat of paint so it fits into your interior again.
3. Quick fix – Learn to repair things, because it’s the skill of the future!
4. A new life – Find a use for empty bottles.

Recycling raw materials

1. Waste is raw material – Plastic packaging can be turned into new packaging. Don’t downcycle!

Extract energy

1. Into the incinerator – This generates energy, but the valuable raw materials will be lost.