Good practice:

REUSE Centre Ostrava

The Reuse Centre is a joint project of the City of Ostrava and a waste company OZO Ostrava. This is the first REUSE Centre in the Moravian-Silesian Region.
The REUSE Centre sells second-hand items that the citizens have donated such as used furniture and other functional household items (tools, toys, books, sports equipment etc, except electrical appliances).
The Reuse Centre receives donations in 11 collection yards of OZO Ostrava from the citizens where the items are sorted, cleaned, and repaired if needed.
The prices of the items are symbolic from CZK 10 (0,40 euro) to CZK 200 (8 euro) - all earnings will go to the greening (for planting trees, flowers, grass) of the city of Ostrava.
The original idea was born about 5 years ago. However, some problems had to be solved, which are described below. The real conceptual work on the construction of the REUSE Centre began in the spring of 2019. The centre was opened in the autumn of 2020.
Reuse centrum Ostrava is also engaged in educational activities aimed at waste prevention and reuse. We organize lectures, workshops, or swaps on this topic.

Reuse Centre Ostrava has 2 regular employees + other cooperating employees: - storekeepers of 11 collection yards (receipt of donated items) - drivers (transport of objects from collection yards to the reuse centre) - employees of the promotion and ecological education department

People's initial interest exceeded the expectations. In just the first month of operation, 1,350 visitors went through the REUSE Centre and bought 6,297 items for CZK 122,766 (4700 EUR). The funds earned from the operation will be used for planting public greenery in Ostrava. In autumn 2020, the REUSE Centre has been closed due to COVID-19. If the government regulations allow, the centre will reopen in December 2020.

Challenging was to convince the management of OZO Ostrava waste company that REUSE Centre makes sense and is worth implementing. OZO Ostrava had to invest a lot of own resources in the project and REUSE Centre itself is expected not to be profitable due to low prices.

With this good practice, we want to support more Reuse centres to be built in other regions as well. The key point is that people do not throw things away and don´t buy more and more new ones. This will prevent the creation of new waste. And to further support this whole idea, the REUSE centre has also functioned as a learning centre with future workshops supporting the reuse or swaps of goods (textiles, toys, plant, etc.). This REUSE centre serves as a good practice for other cities and regions in our country too, as this is the first REUSE centre in the Moravian-Silesian Region.