We have been asked by the municipality of Groningen to apply the local value chain and to provide advice for the development and design of the Circularity Hub. By 2025, the municipality wants to be a circular municipality when it comes to household waste. Setting up the hub can make an important contribution to this by acting as a raw material station instead of a waste collection station. The research and advice is bundled in a toolkit for policy officers. This was completed and handed over in June.
Eileen Blackmore: “The toolkit is now with the municipality. After the holiday, the toolkit will be partly published, which you will find on our site. But the great thing is that, due to the conversations that have been held and the connections that have been made, we notice that the hub is already in operation. Wijkbedrijf Wijert, for example, is already working with GoudGoed to see how they can set up a textile sorting station. And Maaklab Gro (formerly Walhallab) has started a project to let young people work with waste streams. ”
The toolkit was created by Eileen Blackmore and Peter Everts from TSIfoundation. They have had numerous conversations with representatives of the links who are (or want to be) closely involved in the processing of private waste into usable material to find out where opportunities lie and where connections can be made. They talked to knowledge institutions, interior design companies, designers, artists and producers, but also with social workshops, Fablab, Repair Café and various circular initiatives in the city and surroundings. Subsequently, local business cases were developed around the waste flows of b-wood, iron and textile, which the municipality can use.