3 Chapter 4 – A smarter use
3.3 Good examples for inspiration
The municipally owned company Göteborg & Co have decided that the event Göteborgs Kulturkalas (Gothenburg Culture Festival) shall be free of disposables by 2021. The Area “Green Corner” was already completely disposable-free during the 2018 festival and visitors to the Culture Festival were encouraged to use multiple-use products by the food and coffee providers offering a 10 percent discount to those who brought their own lunch boxes or mugs. Additionally, the event was certified Kranmärkt and there was no bottled water for sale.
Instead, tap water was provided in hydrants throughout the festival’s different areas (Nielsen, 2018).
Another example for how disposable packaging may be avoided is the deposit-based return system for plastic boxes and pallets that Svenska Retursystem operates since 2001. The return system includes producers, wholesalers and stores. A return box has a life-span of approximately 15 years and is used, on average, over a hundred times.
Boxes that break, are repaired. When a return box is worn out, the
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then used for producing new boxes. The plastic from broken pallets are recycled and used for producing new plastic products. The emis-sions of carbon dioxide from the return boxes is 74 percent lower compared to disposable packaging, according to Svenska Retursystem, and by using return boxes and pallets instead of disposable ones the industry reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by 28 200 tons during 20178.
Increased recycling of furniture and fixtures
One way for companies to strengthen the second-hand market is by facilitating this type of trade for the consumers. In Sweden, IKEA is collaborating with Blocket (a Swedish second-hand website) that means that IKEA’s Family members can advertise, through IKEA’s website, used IKEA furniture on Blocket for free. In Belgium and some other countries, IKEA conducts resale in their stores (Paulsson, 2018;
Stoltz, 2018).
Another example is the project Cirkularitet.se9, which is about creating circular business models where office furniture is renovated, repaired and sold again. According to the project, it is possible to cut resource use in half and reduce the climate impact by approximately 30 percent compared to the contemporary linear system. A report from the project Circular furnishing – potentials and solutions for in-creased reusability of decoration products shows that reusing an office chair means that manufacturing and waste management of approxi-mately 8 kg plastic can be avoided while reusing a height adjustable table means a saving of approximately 2 kg plastic (Andersson et al, 2018).
Yet another example is how the City of Gothenburg have started an internal reuse website “Tage” where the city’s operations can donate and find furniture and fixtures10. The City of Gothenburg shares the source code for Tage with others that would like to build a similar site11.
8 www.retursystem.se/sv/hallbarhet/hallbarhet/ (Visited 2018-08-20).
9 https://cirkularitet.se/ (Visited 2018-08-20).
10 https://goteborg.se/wps/portal?uri=gbglnk%3a201682712530538#htoc-8 (Visited 2018-08-20).
11 www.vgregion.se/om-vgr/organisation-och-verksamhet/miljovgr/miljoplan-2017-2020/
produkter-och-avfall/tage/ (Visited 2018-08-20).
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Proactive municipalities and regions The City of Gothenburg
The City of Gothenburg have developed guidelines and checklists with practical tips and good examples for waste prevention in the city’s various operations12. Additionally, there exists a specific checklist as well as an online course for waste prevention during purchases and procurements. Through the initiative Skrota Skräpet (Scrap the Junk), which is operated by the administration Kretslopp and vatten i Göte-borgs Stad, the operations are supported in their efforts towards reducing their waste by Sweden’s first employed prevention coach (Nielsen, 2018).
The City of Helsingborg
The City of Helsingborg has in their climate and energy plan suggested that by 2020 at the latest, the municipality should have a framework agreement for frequently used disposables made from fossil free plastic. The importance of the purchasers being involved throughout the whole purchasing process is emphasised. The contract periods are usually four years and an important part is to follow up on the agreements. In Sweden, review procedures concerning environmental requirements hardly ever take place. To ensure that the offers meet the set requirements already in the bidding stage, the City of Helsing-borg demands that the bidders can demonstrate that the requirements are met together with the offer. The importance of including pur-chasers and staff in the operations is also emphasised. Additionally, it is stated that it is important that the people in the agreement groups throughout the operations as well as other purchasers give feedback on the processes (Berg, 2018).
12 www.goteborg.se/forebyggavfall (Visited 2018-08-20).
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Roslagstull recycling
Roslagstull recycling is situated in Stockholm’s inner-city and is modified so that the visitors may arrive by foot or bicycle13. Within the recycling station, there is a manned station, a so-called recycling filter, where visitors sort out reusable products and it is not until after they have passed this “filter” that they reach the recycling con-tainers. The staff sort out the products and those that are usable end up on the second-hand market. The operating contractor is trained by second-hand actors to be able to determine which products that are viable and how they should be managed. The recycling rate is 15 per-cent, compared to the 3 percent in Stockholm’s other recycling stations (SOU 2017:22).
Retuna recycling mall
Retuna is located in Eskilstuna and is Sweden’s first recycling mall.
The mall has stores that sell furniture, furnishings, clothes, tools, bicycles and more. All that is being sold is recycled, reused, organic or sustainably manufactured. The mall is located next to Retuna Re-cycling Station and the reRe-cycling depot “Returen”. Staff receive the material and conducts a preliminary sorting before it is distributed to the various stores in the mall where the stores staff conducts a second sorting for what is deemed viable for reselling14.
13 www.stockholmvattenochavfall.se/avfall-och-atervinning/har-lamnar-du-dinasopor/
privatkund/har-lamnar-du-sopor/atervinningscentral/#!/roslagstulls-aterbruk (Visited 2018-08-20).
14 www.retuna.se/ (Visited 2018-08-20).