The social cooperative was founded in 2019 and started services of waste collection for community of Ostrowite, Powidz and County Hospital in Słupca. Two local neighboring communities wanted to combine their resources to tackle climate changes issues at the local level and create job opportunities for the most excluded people at the same time.
Which problem does the practice try to solve?
Mass production of waste in Poland became huge challenge for politicians, not only at the national level, but also at the local level. Linear economy generates lots of problems for people till the environment at all. The future of planet depends on how we organize life circle of products, but even when if we transform linear economy into circular economy there will be some waste.
What are the solution to address the problem?
Pure waste generated on the local level by households is still a challenge for local communities, especially when they want to increase waste segregation in different fraction and limit as much as possible a level of waste on the landfill. Social Cooperative made it by continuous education of local members of the community, starting from schools till elderly part of communities, organizing of the local events, collecting segregated waste from households and creating an efficient ecosystem of entities who helps organize different wasted stream into raw materials.
What are the beneifts for the user/community?
Waste management at the local level is still a challenge. Especially in small and rural communities where residents haven’t done it before. The services strengthened local economy by offering local job opportunities for the most excluded persons, gave full education why and how segregate waste or even minimalize the waste stream by incorporating those values into all members of community. This idea is an bottom-up idea.
How are CE principles addressed?
Social Cooperative receives income from local municipalities who collect money from their inhabitants for waste collection and waste segregation. Each year the limit of segregation is gradually increased to meet EU directive. Social Cooperative was created to provide services in the field of municipal economy, satisfying the needs of the local community and raising the level of ecological awareness and shaping the ecological attitudes of the society. Additional value of this cooperation is giving a job opportunities to the disadvantaged members of the community.