Libraries of Things – Leihbar (Bern, Switzerland)
A library of things is any collection of objects loaned, and any organisation that practices such loaning. Libraries of things, such as tool libraries, first emerged in the 1970s in the USA but most of the original libraries have closed. The 2010s showed a resurgence, driven by the idea that having access to things is more important than owning things. Many tool libraries today aren’t only about sharing items: they bring people together, organise educational programmes and public events, and create communities.
A good practice example of a library of things from Switzerland is LeihBar, a volunteer-run and community-driven initiative located in Bern. The LeihBar concept was initiated by the Swiss consumer protection organisation and funded through crowdfunding. LeihBar officially opened its doors in December 2018 and is operated by the LeihBar Bern Association since spring 2019.
Clothing Swaps – Clothing Loop (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
A clothing swap is a type of swapmeet event wherein participants exchange their valued but no longer used clothing for clothing they will use. This reduces waste, promotes sustainable fashion, and provides an affordable way for individuals to refresh their wardrobes. Clothing swaps originated in 1994 in San Francisco, California (USA).
A recent good practice example of an initiative from the Netherlands is Clothing Loop (Amsterdam). It was born during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, when many people found themselves cleaning out their closets. Clothing Loop provides a creative and eco-friendly way to swap clothes with neighbours. The idea is simple: bags filled with clothes travel along a route past all participants in a certain city or neighbourhood. What began as a pandemic trend has now blossomed into a lasting solution – encouraging people to exchange clothes rather than buy new ones, creating a more circular economy, reducing the environmental impact of fashion and bringing communities closer together in the process.
Community gardening – KÉK Community Pocket Parks
A community garden is a piece of land gardened or cultivated together by a group of people. Around the world, community gardens exist in various forms. They are often community-led, which probably increase the citizens’ connection to “their” community garden and willingness to participate in the gardens’ maintenance. There are multiple types of community gardens, including neighbourhood gardens, residential gardens, institutional gardens and demonstration gardens, and the sizes of gardens can vary greatly. Community gardens contribute to the urban agriculture movement and the requests from citizens for more community gardens has been surging in recent years.
A good practice example of a community-led, urban garden is found in Budapest. The Hungarian metropole with its dense buildings and heritage-protected areas cannot create additional large parks. Therefore, small citizen-maintained community gardens offer a respite for human recreation, social connection, and a touch of nature’s calming embrace. The Contemporary Architecture Centre (Kortárs Épitészeti Központ – KÉK) in Budapest introduced the Hungarian urban and community garden movement in 2010, collaborating with many professional and non-governmental organisations, local and community patriotic initiatives and municipalities.
Social cooperatives– Staramaki
A cooperative (aka co-operative, co-op, or coop) is “an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise“. A social cooperative is an organisation of citizens who join forces to improve their own situation and that of people around them. Social cooperatives exist to provide social services such as the care of children, elderly and disabled people, and the integration of unemployed people into the workforce. The phenomenon is most developed in Italy, but exists in various forms in many countries.
A good practice example from Greece of a social cooperative in the bioeconomy sector is Staramaki (Kilkis region, Northern Greece). Staramaki focuses on creating eco-friendly bio-based alternatives to single-use plastics and provides job opportunities to vulnerable social groups, including refugees, unemployed individuals, and local farmers.
Creative community spaces – Schmitz und Kunzt eV (Cologne, Germany)
People in urban communities face a variety of different challenges: limited spaces for cultural and creative activities, high rents that limit their resources and lower their living standards or tiny living spaces that do not allow the accumulation of many things. But some are also victims to more serious threats like poverty, anonymity and above all loneliness. Creative community spaces have a diverse impact on neighbourhoods, resulting in urban regeneration through the repurposing of abandoned buildings, the development of new economic activities, and the strengthening of social cohesion.
The good practice example Schmitz und Kunzt from Cologne, Germany puts community and mental health in the spotlight, combining art and culture, community, sustainability and community service. The initiative is run by a group of like-minded people, fostering the sharing of things, knowledge, time and other resources, providing communal support and encouraging a more sustainable and creative lifestyle in urban areas. They don’t just talk about community, they live it!
Social activities for vulnerable people – Oma’s Soep (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Loneliness is a major and growing problem in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe. Lonely people experience both emotional and social loneliness. Oma’s Soep (English: Grandma’s Soup) is a social enterprise organising different types of recurring activities where the young and the old are brought together to combat loneliness. Activities, conducted by student volunteers in 13 university cities across the country, include Cooking Days, Soup-at-Home Days, Grandma’s Pen Pal, Grandma’s Call Pal, etc. The social enterprise is operating as a foundation, funded in part from profits of the commercially operating sister enterprise that produces soup based on recipes from grandmothers.
App tackling food waste from supermarkets – Happy Hours Market (Brussels, Belgium)
In Belgium, every day, before closing, supermarkets must withdraw from their shelves food that will be expired the day after since these products cannot be sold once their use-by date has expired. Nevertheless, most of these goods are still good to eat on the same day or could also be frozen to be consumed weeks later. The Belgian company Happy Hours Market (HHM), established in 2019, tackles the issue of food waste by offering the unsold food at discounted prices to consumers and redistributing remaining unsold food to those in need. Every day, unsold food products from main supermarkets in the Brussels area are collected and brought to a central storing facility. Using HHM’s digital app, consumers can select to buy products for a discounted price. Orders are delivered to several distribution points across Brussels, for consumers to collect. The remaining food is donated to local associations that help vulnerable people. HHM differs from apps such as Too Good to Go by operating a food collection and distribution process, which helps to make food more accessible and redistributes it to charities that often lack the resources.
App tackling food waste from restaurants – ResQ Club (Helsinki, Finland)
ResQ Club is a Finnish company that has developed a smartphone app connecting sustainable restaurants, cafés, grocery stores and bakeries with consumers that appreciate eating affordable quality food. ResQ Club, based in Helsinki, launched in 2016 and is available in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, and Germany. One of their collaboration partners is Scandic, a leading hotel chain in the Nordics. The ResQ app helps restaurants and hotels such as Scandic save surplus meals from going to waste by listing prepared items for customers to purchase at a discount. The app is especially convenient for those heading home hungry after work who want a quick, affordable meal without the hassle of cooking – be it a dinner or an easy snack. ResQ Club’s innovation didn’t stop at food. Today, the platform has expanded to include other surplus items with expiry dates such as flowers and cosmetics.
Fully recyclable packaging scheme – RRR Biocosmetics (Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain)
The EU generates approx. 186 kg of waste packaging per person annually, including 36 kg of plastic packaging. Packaging accounts for 40% of plastics and 50% of paper used in the EU. Through regulations, the EC seeks to reduce the negative environmental impacts of all types of packaging. In Catalunya (Spain), the sustainable cosmetics brand RRR Biocosmetics is not waiting for such regulation to come into force. The company, named after” Reduce, Recycle and Reuse” operates a Pack Return programme that closes the loop in cosmetic packaging. Unlike many cosmetic brands that rely on single-use plastics, this scheme activates environmentally conscious consumers to return the packaging of its body products (e.g. recyclable aluminium bottles) instead of dispositing it. The packaging is then cleaned, refilled, or recycled by people with functional diversity, thus contributing to waste reduction and environmental sustainability.
Denim recycling – Infinit Denim (Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain)
Recycled denim refers to the process of repurposing old or discarded denim garments into new products, such as bags, shoes, accessories, and home goods. The material retains its durability and unique texture. By giving new life to old denim, this practice promotes a more circular and environmentally friendly approach to fashion production. Recycled denim has been around for decades. A challenge is that the process can be labour-intensive and costly, leading to higher prices for products made from recycled denim. Additionally, the quality and durability of recycled denim may not always match that of new denim fabric. In Catalunya, the companyInfinit Denim (Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain) collect discarded denim and other post-consumer textiles to create new fabrics, which are then used to produce sustainable fashion items. This model not only reduces waste but also minimizes the need for new raw materials, significantly lowering the environmental impact of denim production. By collaborating with social enterprises and local workshops, Infinit Denim furthermore supports fair employment opportunities, especially for vulnerable communities.
App on sustainable buying – Good On You (Sydney, Australia)
First launched in Australia in 2015, and globally in 2018, Good On You is the leading smartphone app and database of fashion brands rated for sustainability credentials. Good On You provides a digital solution empowering consumers to make sustainable decisions and to buy better. They have released ratings for more than 6000 brands, including 500 European brands, making it easy to shop ethically on the high street and beyond. Information may come from the brands themselves, but also from credible third-party reports and certification schemes. By having a global focus, and targeting millions of consumers, they aim to reach a critical mass that can push even the large brands to change their practices. The offer visibility especially to small sustainable fashion brands that have more difficulties being known by the wider public or being featured by mainstream platforms and retailers.
Citizen science campaign Plastic Pirates – Go Europe! (multiple countries)
Citizen science (similar to community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is research conducted with participation from the general public, or amateur/nonprofessional researchers or participants for science, social science and many other disciplines.
The concept of the Plastic Pirates – Go Europe! campaign originates from Científicos de la Basura, a citizen science programme from Chile. The initiative unites young people (aged 10 to 16), scientists, teachers, and volunteers to collect and analyse data on plastic pollution in rivers, beaches and along coastlines. The project generates valuable insights for researchers and empowers young citizens with environmental knowledge and responsibility. The Chilean initiative was transferred to Germany in 2016, extended to Portugal and Slovenia in 2020-2021, and saw a further Europeanisation in the period 2022-2025, spanning 12 European countries.
The initiative employs a participatory governance model that connects science, citizens, and policymakers. Twice a year, young citizen scientists join sampling campaigns to collect and use a standardised methodology to document plastic waste in and near rivers. Results of the samplings are uploaded to a central database, thus contributing to big data generation. The sampling campaigns foster co-creation of knowledge by empowering the youth to actively contribute to research. By validating and centralising the gathered data, the project strengthens the science-policy interface by advocating for citizen-generated data to be recognised and valued in decision making.
Environmental repair social enterprise – Soft Landing (Wangara, Western Australia)
Social enterprises are market-oriented entities that aim to create social value while making a profit to sustain their activities. They uniquely combine financial goals with a mission for social impact. A social enterprise’s main purpose is to promote, encourage, and make social change. They can provide income generation opportunities that meet the basic needs of people. They do not depend on philanthropy and can sustain themselves over the long term.
A good practice example of a social enterprise is Community Resources, an Australian organisation that runs three environmental repair social enterprises, to create jobs that care for people and planet. The social enterprise Soft Landing specialises in the separation of used mattresses. Mattresses are made from multiple materials, including textiles, metal springs, latex, and foam, which require careful separation to recycle effectively. When landfilled, they take up significant space, pose fire hazards, and contain chemicals of concern, such as flame retardants. Soft Landing provides a better solution, by manually recycling mattresses and recovering materials for recycling, creating meaningful employment opportunities for disadvantaged people. experiencing barriers to work in the process.
Toy repair association – Rejoué (Paris, France)
Many people don’t like to throw toys away. Children (and their parents) are often attached to specific dolls or cuddly toys, a battery-operated train or a remote-controlled car. The problem with electric toys is often the battery that’s no longer connected or a rusty circuit. Dolls and cuddly toys are often missing stuffing from the body or an eye. Often, there’s also a loose seam or a missing leg. Most times, these problems are easy to fix.
Even when still functioning, on average toys stop being used after only 8 months, and are either thrown away, or they are most often left unused in attics and cabinets.
The goal of the association Rejoué (Paris, France) is to provide high-quality second-hand toys and support vulnerable people in accessing sustainable employment and avoiding social exclusion. Rejoué collects toys from citizens or during company collecting events. Toys are then sorted according to safety norms, tested, completed as needed, and cleaned with environmentally safe products. Finally, Rejoué sells second-hand toys at a discounted price, or even give them away for free, to families or to childhood professionals. To do all this work, Rejoué hires people who are excluded from the traditional labour market, e.g. isolated mothers. Part of Rejoué’s budget comes from public funds.
Community-led conservation: Save the Waves (Davenport, California, USA)
Community-led conservation refers to a re-imaging of nature conservation as a primarily locally driven action where local communities -including indigenous peoples- take the lead in managing natural resources, caring for their lands and resources and sustaining their own cultures. By looking after their own natural resources, people all over the world are improving their own lives – and making the vision of a world where humans live in harmony with nature a reality.
Save the Waves is a global non-profit organisation (NGO) dedicated to protecting surf ecosystems through a blend of conservation, advocacy, and innovation. Its core motivation is to preserve the unique cultural, ecological, and economic value of surf breaks and coastal environments under threat from climate change, pollution, and unchecked development. By collaborating with local communities, foreign and national governments, and other conservation groups and partners, the Save the Waves coalition establishes surfing reserves, supports community-led conservation projects, and leverages the power of surfers and ocean lovers as stewards of these vital areas. Their mission is rooted in the belief that saving surf ecosystems ensures the preservation of natural habitats, biodiversity, and the vibrant coastal cultures connected to them.
App for (household) packaging waste recycling – Junker (Bologna, Italy)
In 2022, the amount of municipal waste generated per person in the EU amounted to more than 500 kg.
The composition of this waste varies greatly from location to location, and it changes significantly with time. Currently, less than 40% of waste in the EU is recycled, and over 60% still goes to landfill. EU legislation seeks to increase the recycling rate of municipal waste.
The Junker app is a virtual assistant for waste sorting that is used across the whole of Italy. It scans product barcodes and informs about the composition of packaging and how to dispose of it correctly, in compliance with local sorting rules. By giving citizens real-time sorting information, Junker fosters a deeper understanding of recycling and builds a sense of responsibility. As citizens sort more accurately, less waste ends up in landfills, preserving land and reducing pollution risks. The efficient sorting saves municipalities money, by reducing the volume of mixed waste to handle and improving the quality of second-life materials.
National Strategy for Social Innovation and Social Enterprises – Germany (SIGU-Platform)
In Germany, social innovation is very high on the political agenda, not only as new way of addressing social issues often overlooked either by the private sector or the public sector, but also as a chance to respond to the multiple social, economic and environmental crises that are faced by society.
As an outcome of the coalition agreement (2021) of German federal traffic-light coalition (SPD, Greens and FDP), the National Strategy for Social Innovation and Social Enterprises was developed and adopted. The strategy answers questions such as: What can be done for entrepreneurs for whom social relevance and impact are more important than pure profit maximisation? How can social innovations be promoted? How can a creative and entrepreneurial spirit be promoted, established and disseminated? The strategy contains guidelines to guide the Federal Government in its work, as well as fields of action for which solutions have been formulated and specific measures identified.
What was particular in the case of the strategy was that it was co-developed with the participation of all federal ministries and following an extensive consultation process with relevant stakeholders.