The project reinventing the way we use things

• Reuse means using products or components over and over again in their current form rather than throwing them away prematurely.
• It helps prevent waste, preserve resources embedded in objects and reduces new resource consumption.
• It ranks 2nd in the ‘waste hierarchy’, which classifies waste management options according to what’s best for the environment.

Supporting society’s least well-off

In addition to reducing the amount of waste that gets thrown away, the project also seeks to promote social reintegration by offering jobs to society’s most disadvantaged.

Sylvester has been working for the cooperative for the last two years. Originally from Nigeria, his job is to sift through what is worth keeping and what should be discarded.

“Here, in Italy is my first job. Without work you can do nothing. Your are just like somebody in the street, just left alone. But thank God, I got this work. I love it and it’s great,” he said.

More than 1,000 tonnes (1,050 tonnes) of unwanted goods arrive at the cooperative each year. Around 700 tonnes of that is reconditioned for sale. Bicycles, small electrical appliances and clothes are the most valuable.

The project gets a huge amount of unwanted clothes of good quality. Katharine revamps them in her workshop. She says if they were thrown away it would take years for them to break down in the environment.

“It takes 30 to 40 years for a jacket to disintegrate when its in the ground. I’ve tried to transform this jacket with a minimum amount of effort into a new garment.”

Source: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/01/31/the-project-reinventing-the-way-we-use-things