How can reuse be encouraged by streamlining the procedure for making upcyclable items and materials available to users?
THE CONTEXT
Users can access the City’s services to organise bulky waste collections. The City of Paris currently receives over 2,000 collection requests daily. Cities are keen to streamline the cost of waste management and to reduce the quantity of waste generated. Upcycling can give items a new lease of life and avoid disposal via municipal services.
2 000
bulky waste collection
requests per day
THE CHALLENGE
The City of Paris and SUEZ have opted to collaborate with the startup Co-Recyclage, a social enterprise which connects individuals, businesses and third sector organisations in the local area who would like to donate or collect a variety of items free of charge. This initiative will offer an alternative option to Parisians disposing of bulky waste. The Paris-Réemploi platform, which can be accessed via the City of Paris bulky waste collection booking website, connects users with individuals, waste recovery centres and other upcycling stakeholders so that they can give their items a new lease of life. The aim is to streamline the process for users to donate rather than throw away bulky waste or reusable materials by making it easier to contact upcycling stakeholders, thus fostering community cohesion. For the local authority, this challenge offers an opportunity to reduce the amount of bulky waste on pavements and to cut waste processing by promoting upcycling.
THE STARTUP
Co-Recyclage is a social economy startup which helps clients to reduce waste production by using digital tools and innova ve solutions to promote efficient upcycling of furniture, appliances and materials. This pioneering service allows the donor and recipient to save money.
THE PARTNERS
THE SOLUTION
This takes the form of an interface which allows users to describe the object or objects which they think are reusable and want to offer to upcycling stakeholders or individuals. This interface will be accessible via the City of Paris website. It explains the process and invites people who think that their item is still fit for use to become users. We have also developed a link between the Co-Recyclage platform and the City of Paris bulky waste collection service so that a request is logged automatically if no taker is found for an item. The results will be assessed on the basis of predetermined indicators and a qualitative survey completed by service users.