Re-Use Berlin 2020

The reuse of used goods is not only essential to waste avoidance, but also for saving resources and achieving climate targets: Instead of disposing a product at the end of their first use phase, used goods should be passed on for further use in order to extend their life cycle. This approach is reflected in the "Zero Waste" principle of the Berlin Coalition Agreement (2016-2021) and is an important step towards transforming Berlin's waste management into a modern circular economy.

Even though there are already signs of an increased awareness as well as change in the area of reuse in Berlin, there is still a lot of unutilized potential for establishing and expanding structures for reuse. Against this background, the project "Re-Use Berlin 2020" aims at creating attractive and easily accessible offers as well as raising awareness among citizens to increase the demand for used goods. The objective is to bring the topic of reuse to the center of society and thus strengthen the market for used goods.

The planned measures are based on the practical experiences of the previous projects "Re-Use Berlin" 2018 and 2019, the foundation of the association "Re-Use Berlin e. V." as well as the “Study on the Reuse of Products“ from the year 2017.

The project is conducted under the leadership of the Wuppertal Institute in cooperation with Ecologic Institute, IZT - Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment and u.e.c. Berlin. In addition, pulswerk, WIR e. V. and Bis es mir vom Leibe fällt e. V. are cooperating on various of the subsequent working packages.

The project comprises the following activities:

• Compilation of a comprehensive presentation of further actors for the purchase of used goods on the website "ReMap"
• Organisation of three meetings to draft the rules of procedure of the newly founded association "Re-Use Berlin e. V."
• Organisation of five high-publicity events on the topic of reuse as well as three awarded ideas of the idea competition of the year 2019
• Organisation of three dialogue meetings with actors of the reuse scene in Berlin
• Conception and implementation of a model project for the rescue of textile returns and development of general guidelines for dealing with textile returns
• Conducting an idea competition to collect innovative ideas from Berlin citizens on the topic of reuse
• Continuation of a search program of public and private land to identify buildings that can be used for reuse as well as a search for a suitable real estate for a "store of the future"
• Further development and implementation of the concept for the “store of the future” and a shop-in-shop concept