The time to contain linear economy is when you want to change behavior of people, when you want to transform waste management economy into circular economy and create new jobs opportunities for people in need. This local Social Cooperative is a precious recipe for local challenges.
The cooperative Komunalka Rzgów was registered in 2016 and its main task is collecting of municipal waste from residents of Rzgów. In addition, the Cooperative does cleaning services (collecting waste from roadsides and ditches), development of greenery, repair of municipal roads with destructive material and courier services.
Which problem does the practice try to solve?
Mass production of waste in rural area in Poland is still a challenge. You can look for external solutions or make it by yourself. Creating job opportunities for disadvantaged group is another challenge, so the best idea is to try to solve them together by initiative devised and combination of power of one local municipality at the local level and another local authority at the poviat level. Linear economy generates lots of problems for people to the environment at all. The future of the planet depends on how we organize life circle of products and this is an idea of how we can start saving planet on the local level.
What are the solution to address the problem?
Social cooperative Komunalka Rzgów was established in 2016. The cooperative currently employs the most disadvantaged people form local community, amongst them long-term unemployed and people with disabilities. The main activity of the cooperative is the collection of mixed and segregated waste from residents of the Rzgów municipality. In addition, the company operates in the maintenance of green areas and cleaning services, provides courier services and repairs road using destructive materials from waste.
What are the beneifts for the user/community?
The Municipality as a main customer advises others who are looking to replicate this practice as it helps to achieve social policy and environmental objectives through organizing this entity on the local level. Each unemployed member of the local community can have a job opportunity in social cooperative. At the same time local municipality gain solid contractor who helps to get environmental objectives at the local level. It improved recycling, reuse and recovery of municipal waste, and is also aligned with the city’s Waste Management Plan.
How are CE principles addressed?
Activities towards Circular Economy in the field of municipal management, in particular waste management, undertaken with the participation of social economy entities, can contribute to sustainable development, strengthening local communities, and reducing social inequalities/disparities.
The Cooperative is one of the first ones whose municipal waste collection task was commissioned by applying in-house. In the following years a reserved tender procedure was used to award the contract, valued below the EU threshold, in order to create employment opportunities for people distant from the labour market. The tender included environmental requirements for the management of municipal waste.