We were delighted to attend the recent SMILE event in Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. The event saw 177 potential exchanges between 50 businesses.  We are also looking forward to the SMILE networking session in partnership with Supply Network Shannon (SNS) during the SME Exhibition and Trade Show at Westpark, Shannon, Co. Clare on 29th of May. You can find out more about these events and the SMILE initiative at http://www.smileexchange.ie/.

The European Union is committed to reach an employment level of 75% of its workforce by 2020 (68.6% in 2011). In Europe, currently more than 23 million people are looking for a job. With the “Agenda for new skills and jobs”, one of the seven Flagship Initiatives of the Europe 2020 strategy, the EU and the member states are stepping up labour market reforms, join forces to equip people with the right skills, attempt to improve working conditions and encourage the creation of new jobs.

This conference will discuss how local and regional authorities can improve education and respond to the need for more flexible careers, contributing this way to Europe’s growth strategy.

Further information can be found here

September 2011 saw the European Commission JRC launch the project “Integration of resource efficiency and waste management criteria in European product policies – Second phase” which concluded in December 2012.

The project aimed at developing methods for the integration of material resource efficiency in EU product policies and to identify and assess potentially relevant requirements for the European product’s policies. The project developed a method for the identification and assessment of requirements for the European product’s policies based on indices for the following criteria:

• Reusability/Recyclability/Recoverability.
• Recycled content.
• Use of priority resources.
• Use of hazardous substances.
• Durability.

You can view the report here

Homes and businesses save €1.7 million through FreeTradeIreland.ie in 2012

Stop the hoarding, de-clutter your attic, throw away the skip and reduce your waste – are you making impossible New Year’s resolutions again this year? Well it won’t be impossible in 2013 with FreeTrade Ireland. In 2012, 32,000 users engaged with FreeTrade Ireland to reuse 16,000 items like toys, furniture, electronic goods and garden equipment.

“In 2012 seven out of ten ads posted were successfully answered in 2012, which is an average of 44 items reused each day. This reuse has delivered over €1.7 million in savings to users with over 290,000kg of materials avoiding landfill as a result,” says Warren Phelan, Website Manager who has just launched the new Free Trade Ireland awareness video “We have a new video on our website showing people how to use the service and the benefits of it, which will hopefully encourage even more people to use FreeTradeIreland.ie in 2013.”

www.FreeTradeIreland.ie is a free, public online service that helps people to reuse unwanted items. If you splashed out on a new TV this Christmas and want to give your old one away for free, the website is the most convenient way to do this. FreeTrade Ireland users are saved the hassle of trekking down to local recycling centres or the cost of hiring a skip. If you are interested in an item posted on the website simply contact the person advertising the item and find out more. It’s a win-win situation and it’s all FREE!

By the end of 2012 over 60,000 items will have been reused through the FreeTrade service since it started in 2006. The service currently has over 43,600 users registered and saved users an estimated €1.7 million in 2012. These savings have been generated through avoided disposal costs and in savings to new owners who no longer need to purchase a new item.

“The statistics speak for themselves – we have had over 300,000 visitors to the website in 2012 alone,” says Hugh Coughlan, spokesperson for FreeTradeIreland.ie. “This proves that Free Trade Ireland remains a highly efficient way of preventing quality resources from becoming a waste while also encouraging social engagement within communities”.

For your 2013 New Year’s resolution, why not join the thousands of registered users who are trading unwanted quality items instead of them being dismantled and sent through energy intensive recycling or disposal processes?

FreeTrade Ireland is a community initiative, promoted by local authorities around the country. The FreeTrade Ireland team will host a series of reuse events in the New Year, but don’t wait for us to come to you – check out our video on YouTube, Vimeo and our own FreeTradeIreland.ie website and get reusing today.

If you’re thinking of getting rid of a rusty bike, then look no further than the Fingal – Ballymun bicycle refurbishment scheme. The bikes can be left at the Estuary Recycling Centre, operated by Fingal County Counci,l for a small fee. They are then taken to the Rediscovery Centre in Ballymun where they are restored, refurbished or repaired. The bikes are sold in the Rediscovery store for approximately €130, depending on the specifications.

The Government’s new waste management policy; ‘A Resource Opportunity – Waste Management Policy in Ireland’ is now available to download here.

Last weeks WEEE Ireland Seminar Presentations are now available for download at http://www.recyclefree.ie/seminar.html.

The Community Reuse Network recently participated in the European TransWaste Conference “Less Waste, More Resources – Reuse and the Informal Sector in Europe” in Budapest. The presentations from the event are now available on the TransWaste website www.transwaste.eu.

SMILE Resource Exchange is a free service for businesses that encourages the exchanging of resources between its members in order to save money, reduce waste going to landfill and to develop new business opportunities. SMILE stands for Saving Money through Industry Links and Exchanges and is built on the premise that ‘one businesses waste could be another businesses raw material’. Potential exchanges are identified through networking events, an online exchange facility and a support team to assist throughout. SMILE Resource Exchange is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, supported locally in Dublin by Dublin City Enterprise Board, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Enterprise Board, Fingal County Enterprise Board, South Dublin County Enterprise Board and is project managed by Macroom E.
What will happen at the event?
- You will hear some interesting case studies including IKEA who will talk
about their reuse activities; Mamukko, a company that make contemporary
bags out of upcycled sailcloth, PVC tarpaulin and marine fabrics; and
REMAKE Design Network, a group of Irish designers who work
with unwanted materials to create new products.
- You will have lots of time for networking with businesses with the aim of
identifying potential exchanges between businesses.

Who is this event for?
- Businesses who have unwanted/waste resources such as surplus products
bi-products, reusable items, packaging waste etc. you might be pleasantly
surprised that these resources can be reused by other businesses.
- Businesses who are looking for resources which can be reused in their business.
- Budding entrepreneurs who are looking to identify new business opportunities.

When and Where?
The event takes place on Tuesday 9th October 2012 in Croke Park Conference Centre, St Joseph’s Avenue, Dublin 3 from 9.00am until 1.00pm followed by lunch. Attendance is FREE.
Visit www.smileexchange.ie to register or email info@smileexchange.ie for more information.

WRAP’s ground breaking report provides the first big picture look at the financial and environmental impacts of clothing. ‘Valuing our clothes’ is a summary of the key findings of a major technical report, plus evidence from a new survey of consumer behaviour.

The report highlights that changes to the way the UK supplies, uses and disposes of clothing could reduce the carbon, water and waste footprints of clothing by 10-20% each; and cut some £3 billion per year from the cost of resources used in making and cleaning clothes.

The report sets out opportunities for the clothing sector to reduce the resource impacts of the clothing – and gain business benefits from doing so. Key findings include:

- the average UK household owns around £4,000 worth of clothes

– and around 30% of clothing in wardrobes has not been worn for at least a year;

-  the cost of this unused clothing is around £30 billion;

- extending the average life of clothes by just three months of active use would lead to a 5-10% reduction in each of the carbon, water and waste footprints; and an estimated £140 million worth (around 350,000 tonnes) of used clothing goes to landfill in the UK every year.

You can download the report here.