Are You Still not recycling? You Might Regret It!

Are You Still not recycling? You Might Regret It!

What is Life Cycle Assessment and How it helped BinFree to discover their contribution to the environment?

Life-cycle assessment for glass recyclables and deposit packages to discover our contribution to the environment.

2021 is behind the door and it’s been almost a year since the first pick up that BinFree delivered for deposit packages! With the incredible work of our intern, Udesh Wickramarathne, a life-cycle assessment was conducted for the pick up services operations for glass recyclables and deposit packages to discover our contribution to the environment.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is one of the techniques of environmental management being developed to assess possible environmental impacts associated with products/services. According to the ISO standards, LCA is defined as a method for analysing and determining the environmental impact along the product chain of the systems. LCA differs from other environmental methods by linking environmental performance to functionality, quantifying the pollutant emissions, and the use of raw materials based on the function of the product system.

environmental protection, nature, light bulb

Why BinFree collects deposit packages and recyclable glass?

BinFree offers pick up services for households, cafeterias and restaurants as well as companies that sort their waste and they want to contribute to their society and enrich themselves with knowledge regarding the environment, for deposit packages and recyclable glass packages.

  • Deposit packages

For deposit packages, a fee is charged on applicable beverage containers at the point of purchase, which retailers are required to collect from consumers. Intended to act as an incentive to recycle, deposits refunded when the consumer returns the empty container to an authorised redemption centre or retailer for recycling. For finding the closest reverse vending machine, Kuhuviia is an excellent digital tool that can help you. The deposit packages have assigned to their package the following labels:

BinFree collects the deposit packages to ensure that the end user recycles the packages and make the returning process smoother, faster and without any physical effort. We provide our service to the society to encourage the disposal of bottles and cans, and reward our clients’ efforts with financial incentives for sustainable purchases and blog articles regarding single use plastic alternatives such as menstrual cups, bamboo cotton buds, solid dish soap and shampoos and stasher bags.

During the past 11 months, we have collected 5120 deposit packages from households and specifically:

–17,4kg of equivalent plastic (with this quantity saved, 24 football teams can make their athletic shirts, as for every 7 plastic bottles, one football shirt can be produced according to Eesti Pandipakend)

–261,8kg equivalent glass (quantity equivalent with 1377 Coca Cola 330ml bottles, as each bottle weighs just 0,19 kg).

–27kg of equivalent aluminum  (quantity that would cover the production needs of 871 iPhones, considering the fact that each iPhone contains 0,031kg of aluminum  )

  • Recyclable glass

After a great demand of our clients, we decided to start collecting also recyclable glass for packages that are not included in the deposit system such as wine bottles, bottles from alcoholic beverages, glass jars from marmalades, sauces, children food, soups etc. as well as oil bottles. Glass is 100% recyclable and can be recycled endlessly without loss in quality or purity.

We are here to help you to get rid of this “guilty” habit that we all have – keeping empty glass jars in a cupboard that we never use. We have unoccupied these cupboards space in many households, releasing space and sometimes we even received bottles from 19th century! We have noticed that creating a relationship of trust and reassurance can bring an increase in the consumers’ patterns regarding the packaging and specifically a preference on glass packaging than plastic, as it is known that the package will be safely and appropriately disposed of.

 We have collected 460kg of recyclable glass and thanks to our partner TVO, we were able to deliver them to recycling facilities and ensure its safe disposal. Recycled glass can be used in the production chain to make a new glass bottle, a soup or a marmalade jar.

  • What would happen without BinFree?

In Tallinn, a major amount of general waste ends up either to incineration plant or to a sanitary landfill. One of the main reasons that waste can end up there, is lack of sorting from the consumers’ side. Taking this into consideration, we analysed and measured the environmental impact in case of landfill and incineration, the amount of deposit packages and glass recyclables collected by us, taking into account 3 main variables: climate change, acidification and human toxicity.

Incineration plant
Climate Change kg CO2 eq 4.07E+01
Acidification kg SO2 eq 5.61E-03
Human Toxicity kg 1,4-DB eq 1.91E+00

Data used from the LCA conducted in November 2020

Landfill
Climate Change kg CO2 eq 2,87E-01
Acidification kg SO2 eq 4,50E-05
Human Toxicity kg 1,4-DB eq 1,48E+01

Data used from the LCA conducted in November 2020

During the period 01/01/2020 to 22/12/2020, the carbon footprint generation of our waste collection process was:

Carbon footprint of the collection process
Km completed 673
kg CO2 eq 180,2

Data used from the LCA conducted in November 2020

According to the above results, waste incineration has the highest impact on all 3 environmental impact categories. Specifically, if the quantities described above 17,4kg of equivalent plastic, 721,8kg equivalent glass and 27kg of equivalent aluminum were incinerated would emit 40.17kg of equivalent CO2 to the environment which would contribute to climate change, 0.00561kg of equivalent SO2 would emit to cause the acidification in air and water, and 7.13 kg of equivalent 1,4-DB will emit into the environment which is toxic to the human health.

We have committed to minimise the possibility of releasing these pollutants to the environment by collecting the materials and recycling them, saving CO2 emissions from incineration. We have achieved to maintain a positive carbon footprint besides the transportation carbon emissions from the collection process (180,2kg of equivalent CO2).

BinFree has saved with its operations 538,69kg of equivalent CO2 emissions!

We are very proud for this work and we wish for a prosperous continuation of our activities and contribution to the society and the environment! We are open to suggestions, collaborations and solutions that might help us minimize the impact of our transportation and collection methods and we are happily announcing that from 2021, it would be possible to make an impact analysis for each pick-up, upon request.

By Katerina Chantzi from BinFree, Estonia

 

This publication has been prepared within SENBS project No. 2020- 1-EE01-KA204-077999. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.

 

Connecting creativity and ecology in social commitment projects
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Connecting creativity and ecology in social commitment projects

MAMYWENE studio is an organization based in the grounds of the old shipyard in Gdańsk Poland, run by two energetic women. The studio specializes in ecological and participatory activities, creating social commitment projects and interesting workshops. It also helps with employee integration and implementation of the assumptions of corporate social responsibility.

mamywene logo

MAMYWENE aims at showing natural alternatives to cosmetics and cleaning products but also inspires to give products a second life through their creative usage and producing interesting, useful items.

In one of their social innovation projects I Pack to My Own, MAMYWENE encourages to replace disposable plastic packaging with their reusable counterparts by such activities like sewing shopping bags and conducting lectures. “Thanks to this, we reduce the amount of waste produced and we care for the environment, but also for our own health” says Alicja Żarkiewicz, MAMYWENE co-founder. The project received the patronage of “Gdańsk without plastic” which promotes ecological attitudes, taking care of nature but most of all reducing the amount of plastic used in everyday life.

fot. Małgorzata Walter

fot. Małgorzata Walter

MAMYWENE founders underline: “While working, we try to go beyond the schemes. That is why we combine education, creativity training and ecological approach in an interesting formula of fun and good time”.

fot. Natalia Zięba

fot. Natalia Zięba

The achievements of MAMYWENE studio were appreciated by IKEA, Energa, mBank, Radio Gdańsk, Pomorskie Science and Technology Park, Gdańsk Entrepreneurship Foundation, Provincial Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, European Solidarity Center, Institute of Urban Culture,  Centre for Ecological Information and Education and many institutions in the Tri-City.

The organization was distinct in Gdańsk City of Entrepreneurs competition in the category of Social Responsibility Business and got 1st place in the person category and the audience award in the Zero Waste Cups 2019 competition.

społeczna-odpowiedzialność-biznesu-wyróżnienie-MAMYWENE

fot. Przemysław Świderski

You can read more about MAMYWENE here.

We hope that the presented social businesses will encourage you to start your own social economy-related activity. If you wish to know more about our “InDigiSE” Erasmus+ project or you would like your social business initiative to be promoted on the website, just let us know. You can contact Euroregion Baltic Team or any other InDigiSE partner in your area https://socialenterprisebsr.net/partners/. To learn more about the project go here: http://www.eurobalt.org/indigise-project-adjusting-to-and-supporting-youth-on-socialenterprisebsr-net/

The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the project coordinator and may not always reflect the views of the European Commission or the National Agency.

received_2563814793867341logo erasmus

Infinite Game – a business model approach by Simon Sinek

Infinite Game – a business model approach by Simon Sinek

You may have come across Simon Sinek´s work related to the “Start with Why” book, where he differentiates between your why, what you do and how you do it. Successful companies start with Why: the purpose. They communicate their purpose in all that they do and through that attract like minded individuals to their products and company purpose. This is the core of any purpose driven company like a social enterprise.

In Simon´s recent book “The Infinite Game” due to be released mid October 2019, he distinguishes between the idea of a finite and an infinite game. Business he sees as an Infinite game but to day we have been playing the game with finite rules.

Conscious Company had an interview with Simon Sinek about his new book and the concepts he explains therein. You can read the full article here (15 minute read)

The Skema Generation
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The Skema Generation

It was a wet cold dark winters day in Iceland back in 2013 that I met Rakel Sölvadóttir of Skema at her office at Reykjavik University. The weather contrasted what I soon discovered was a light in my search of the Icelandic Social Enterpreneur, which Rakel truly embodied as she recounted her social entrepreneurial journey.

What is Skema?

Skema teaches coding to young people from the age of 6 years olds through the process of gamification with the added teaching tools of positive psychology. In Skema a a smile on a child´s face is their greatest measurement of success. If a child doesn´t  feel good about themselves during a session, they would try to find a way to build up them up positivity.

Skema has been in its active state since July 2011, and much has been accomplished by Rakel and her team since its inception. The Skema philosophy has various influences at its core and serves to meet a demand that has long been anticipated by Iceland and the world at large. The roots of Skema started, as with most social entrepreneurs I have researched, with her own life story. It has shaped the landscape that has faciliated the Skema core purpose to unfold.

Rakel´s social entrepreneurial journey

Rakel as a young girl would have been considered as ADHD which meant she didn´t fit in the ´normal´schooling system. To channel her energy it took the form of a Sinclair Spectrum computer  (which she admitted was purchased through bribing her parents for staying home whilst they were on a holiday in Europe), she self-taught herself to programme games literally through code and play back (on a tape) mechanisms. A far cry from the technologies available today.  In addition, her fiestly nature of doing things her way, surfaced for example in her maths classes, where through her highly attuned mind could calculate solutions and saw no need  to explain why through the rules and formulas we´re accustomed to having to adhere to in mathematical education. It also surfaced when she convinced her vice principle of the school at the time, to allow her to skip some classes and do her school work on her own in the library, as it was more conducive for her learning than in the class itself.

Her life journey took her on a two year work on a fishing boat around Iceland and Canada, where she wasn´t afraid to test her own strength and was „one of the guys“. In her final year of her degree in Computer Science, her final project was „Building up on the education system“. The concept itself was the seed, as she looks back in reflection, for the Skema concept. An idea that was before its time, in 1998, which at that time Rakel wasn´t yet ready for her entrepreneurial journey.

Rakel quickly moved into a career as senior programmer at the Social Insurance Administration and then for the banking industry for many years whilst growing her family. After the economic crash in 2008 in Iceland, Rakel empathised with her friends as they were being retrenched. And so her personal journey began with asking: „what now?“ Rakel, through this crises, began to question her purpose: what was she really doing with her life (rather than just creating data reports for stock markets), and how could she give to society? These questions spurred her to reduce her working hours and enter a psychology degree at the Reykjavik University. During this time again she and another student developed a project based on the question: „Could 6 and 9 year old children learn to code and have fun at it?“ Both ladies had children of a similar age who were the case studies in this project.

What they discovered was indeed the case, and more so the project was entered into a competition „Seed of the Year“ where they won the respective grant that gave them an opportunity to bring their seed into a for-profit organization. At this time Rakel was ready to take the Skema project to the next level, and her co-founder decided to complete her psychology degree.

The Skema Product & Philosophy

Everything that Skema stands for is embedded within it´s products and services it delivers. It is an ecclectic teaching style combining technology, education and psychology. Where Skema set´s itself appart from other coding courses is that it is aimed at children and also peer taught by children. In a typical class you will find one adult, and a few assist teachers. The assist teachers at present comprise children of all ages and most importantly some that are ADHD, Aspergers or Autistic. What they have found through this teaching approach was for example that the adult is asked direct questions by the students, however questions asked with peers are fundamentally more creative and encourage dialogue.

Skema is also in the process of working with the educational system where they are providing a „teach the teacher“ course. In most cases in Iceland, teacher training does not often include coding or an emphasis on technology. The „teach the teachers“ course encompasses the Skema philosophy and these skills are reaching the school teachers themselves who are then able to spread the Skema philosophy. Reykjavik University & CCP, the Icelandic gaming company, have been great supporters to Skema as both have put work and money into the project.

At its heart is the teaching methods they use during their classes. And in the first half of 2013, they intend to publish their first book in Icelandic and English „Coding for 8-12 year olds“. The book will be a living textbook focused on graphics and mindmaps, which come alive through the characters portrayed in the book. It will also have a companion for teachers as a teaching aid.

What excites me about Skema

When you fully understand the implications that Skema offers to some key pain points in our educational  and technology sectors, I´m sure you will agree that Skema has something to offer not only for Iceland but eventually the world.

·        ADHD, Aspergers or Autistic children: ADHD, Aspergers or Autistic children are often perceived as not fitting into the normal school system. What Skema does is to turn it around, and addresses the strengths of these children through coding and gamification, where they can and do excel.

·        Technology sector gap: There is a large gap in the technology industry for programmers, Skema is addressing this need through providing the future workforce with much needed talent (albeit they have to wait a few years).

·        Girls who code: Skema is addressing the gender barrier in the programming world through working with children at an early age. Girls are understanding that programming is a viable career path for them, one where they can even flourish.

·        Teaching philosophy: Skema focuses on positive psychology which maximizes the child´s personal experience, feeling confident about themselves and learning in their own unique way. The Skema children have often had a noticeable shift in themselves after attending these classes as evidenced in current research projects and the feedback received.

Grow a Seed , Replicate & Partner

Skema´s original approach was to develop, research and aim their product with Iceland as a test market. Skema aimed to franchise its product in the US market but due to large scale competition in that market the franchise model did not pan out. Skema then reorganized itself and is now under the wing of Reykjavik University and continues to run its courses from their premises.

In my perspective, coding will be become in the future the language that we will all be required to speak fluently. It is a language that has no boarders, it is the language of the technologies we as a society have come to rely on, which will only escalate. What Skema is facilitating is a preparation of the next generation for this world, based on skills mastered such as coding and also emphasizes the human aspect of self empowerment, connecting and building friendships. Facilitating the child to appreciate themselves in an area, where as in the traditional school system they may not necessarily flourish. This all culminates in the grand vision of building the Skema Generation. I for one think it´s a solution to many areas, that is neatly tied with a Skema bow.

Clarifying your mission and purpose
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Clarifying your mission and purpose

What’s your mission and purpose? For a social entrepreneur it’s a calling, if you will. A call within that is a culmination of life circumstances that strikes a chord of not-being-able-to-sit-back-anymore…something needs to change.  Your mission and purpose is born.

 

What’s a mission or purpose

I believe everyone has a purpose in their life. Often lying latent, a gift unwrapped under a Christmas tree, waiting for just the right moment. Some find it naturally through their interests. A writer that cannot put his pen down or stop the flow of words and stories is clearly a tell-tale sign of a person’s life purpose. It’s the things we look forward to doing; it’s when we’re fully engaged we’re in an active state of flow.

Some of us, take a bit of time to mature, like a flower turning into fruit, it takes time to discover where we most feel at home. And home is a state of mind, where we feel content that we’re actively pursuing that what we’ve set out for ourselves to contribute to this world.

 

How to transform your purpose into your organizational purpose

When business mission meets personal mission a sweet symphony reveals itself as two singers hum the same song; they merge onto the same path. In business speak a mission statement is said to include: who is your target audience, what are you delivering to them and why you? This is a means to communicate in a clear statement why your organization exists. But please remember the symphony; your statement should embody your passion as its founder, the organizational mission and the personality in the organizational culture which is reflected in its values.

 

How do you know which social or environmental challenge to impact?

Well that really comes down to you? What are the challenges you sometimes wonder about why nothing is being done about it? When in conversation do you hear yourself or others complaining about a particular defunct attitude or something-just-not-right-with-the-picture about the current state of your community’s social or environmental behavior? Lastly, if it gets to that, what makes your blood boil, or cause you to shake your head in disbelief?

Let me be clear, it’s not about pointing fingers, or saying why they (whomever your chosen accomplice) aren’t doing something about it. The fact that this is occurring for you, is possibly due to the fact that it’s up to you to do something about it. It’s also not about being an activist, yet it does spur that feeling on, it’s about challenge meets solution. Solutions address certain ideas, systems or behaviors that may not be conductive to the welfare of the environment or our society. And I’ll bet as you’re reading this, you can come up with a whole raft of such instances. Well pick one.

One that has a personal meaning to you. One that feels aligned to your own purpose. And with that you have found your match.

 

Purpose as a quality for a social entrepreneur

In “Rippling: How Social Entrepreneurs Spread Innovation Through the World” by Beverly Schwartz, she designates purpose as the first quality of a social entrepreneur. She writes:

“Their (Ashoka Fellows) clarity of purpose is often the decisive factor that brings individual and organizational efforts together. This is because it defines why they are working toward something and why it is worth working on it collectively. Purpose becomes the invisible glue that connects different actions and actors while it bonds everyone with inspiration. It infuses boldness and calculated risk and it creates loyalties by helping people understand why their contribution is valuable and valued. Purpose mitigates fear and allows inspiration to replace fear with action. Purpose leads to a sense of possibility.”

 

Examples of organizational mission purpose statements

Ashoka Changemakers® provides the tools and resources to empower everyone to contribute to a better world. Our community’s mission is to grow new ideas through transparency and collaboration, a process of Open Growth. No matter where you are starting, or where you are going, Changemakers makes it easier to share an idea, track progress, communicate with supporters, and invest in global change.

Acumen Fund: Our mission is to create a world beyond poverty by investing in social enterprises, emerging leaders, and breakthrough ideas.

The HUB: We create spaces that inspire, connect and enable people to realize enterprising ideas for sustainable impact. We are curators of physical, virtual and social spaces for change. Our spaces offer access to a unique ecosystem of inspiration, people and resources to realize good ideas for the world.

Photo by David Iskander on Unsplash

Urvaste Village Society – a promoter of traditional food in Estonia

Urvaste Village Society – a promoter of traditional food in Estonia

Urvaste Village Society is a NGO located in a small village in South Estonia. The goal of the social enterprise Urvaste Village Society is to ensuring a good living and working environment for local residents in local community. Urvaste Village Movement started to produce a finely milled flour mixture (the Kama). The Kama is traditionally a mixture of roasted barley, rye, oat and pea flour. The oat flour may be completely replaced by wheat flour, or kibbled black beans may be added to the mixture. The Kama considered to be one Estonian traditional food.

Urvaste Village Society started in 2010. Nowadays they are producing an ecologically clean Kama and selling it successfully all around Estonia.

This field of action is one of many others to Urvaste Village Society. In the development plans of the nearest years are promoting the chocolate manufacturing in the village, developing the catering service, etc.

 

Business model

Offer:  traditional Kama mixture with many different tastes

Customer segments:  eco-friendly people, families with kids, tourists, urban inhabitants, enterprises, the public at large

Customer relationship: personal; impersonal

Key activities:  developing the network of farmers; product development and design; packaging; marketing

Key recourses: network of farmers, production and storage facilities, kitchen appliances, people

Cost structure: primary goods, energy, room maintenance, maintenance and repair of equipment, costs on the package, people

Revenue streams:  product (the Kama); degustation; workshops; catering

Impact measurement: number of products; number of community members involved into to production and selling process; number of farmers cooperating with the NGO; number of customers; number of regular customers; number of orders; number of business clients; local economic growth; created work places.

TravAble- the travel companion for the physically impaired

TravAble- the travel companion for the physically impaired

Ósk Sigurdóttir, a occupational therapist and her founding partner Hannes Pétursson had the desire to assist those the physically impaired to have access to amenities such as public spaces like restaurants as well as hotels. To assist with this, they created TravAble a travel companion for the physically impaired.

The travel companion is an app and can be downloaded for free. Each location is rated by their accessibility such as elevators, handicap toilets, parking spaces, ramps and 360 turning spaces for those utilizing wheelchairs. The app also invites users to add new places where ever they may travel.

The financial model for now is free downloads, but will eventually create a build in booking system for listed venues. A one stop shop for traveling for the physically impaired.

“TravAble is for everyone to use. Not just users with wheeled mobility, but also friends and families, social services and personal assistants or just anyone in the need of information regarding accessibility to different services.”

They are still in early stages of the app, and will grow their services and related impact as they grow their user base as well as services they offer.

Travable video