RETRACE analyses the Policy Gaps of all the involved European regions and defines a set of six threads, that are answered by the Good Practices (GPs) exchanged within the project.
Policy Gaps 2 - Raising involvement and knowledge of operators concerning the Circular Economy
The lack of activities devoted to raise the involvement, awareness and knowledge of operators emerges as one of the key issues hampering the development and success of CE related projects.
Contribution of Retrace Good Practice:
Practically showing the advantages of reusing waste and by-products and spreading a reuse culture.
Good Practice Example: Koopera
Koopera is a cooperative founded in 1990 in the region of Basque Country, Spain.
The main activities of cooperative are to employ people at risk of social exclusion in jobs related to different aspects of environmental and social sustainability (as reuse, recycling, sustainable consumption…). The aim of this GP facilitates people to successful "jump" to ordinary companies, developing social and work skills, and incorporating them as partners to cooperatives. Additionally, it promotes the awareness of consumption and collaborates with local companies with the aim of creating a local network for job placement.
The activities of Koopera particularly concern with 2 issues that characterize many territories:
-The necessity to improve the management of waste, reducing its production
-The willingness to find appropriate and decent jobs for social workers.
Koopera has in Spain 33 shops where the products, coming from the recycling centre, can be sold. In the shops, 265 people, 40% from collective or risk of exclusion, are involved as a staff; 255 volunteers collaborate with the cooperative. Moreover, almost 16.000 tons of annual waste is managed and valorised, contributing to environmental problems solution.
