18 regional stakeholders participated in the third Stakeholder-Meeting in Styria. This session took place on 28th January 2021 and was organised by the SUBTRACT project partners from the Office of the Regional Government of Styria.
The third regional stakeholder meeting in Styria took place virtually and brought together representatives from the local, regional and federal governments, waste management associations, research institutions as well as the private and the social business sector.
After a status update on the ongoing activities within the project SUBTRACT as well as a presentation of the key takeaways from the staff exchange in Finland, existing business models in Styria have been presented and discussed with the participating stakeholders.
These models include, for instance, municipal re-use collection and sale initiatives, social economy models, where re-use shops are run by social enterprises or mixed models, based on cooperation between municipal waste management associations and social enterprises.
Followed a vivid discussion on the framework conditions for re-use in Styria, including economic, legal and ecological conditions, as well as related measures for improving reuse sector in Styria. The group work, using PESTEL-analysis, was moderated by Therese Schwarz of the Department for Waste and Resource Management at the Directorate 14 of the Provincial Government of Styria.
The economic framework conditions range from employment, business models and pricing strategies for enterprises working in re-use sector as well as importance of regionality and marketing, whereby legal framework conditions in Styria encompass EU directives on the collection of re-use goods from the waste stream, eco-design guidelines for products, tax policy, consumer protection or licenses for waste collectors and waste handlers, among others.
In the aftermath of the 3rd stakeholder meeting SUBTRACT project partners in Styria will elaborate on a regional action plan for re-use. Many of the results of the stakeholder meeting will be incorporated into the action plan.
