The circular economy is seen as an integral but interdependent part of a just transition to a low-carbon society. While early legislation that framed the initial development of the circular economy was primarily focused or waste and re-cycling it is now essential for the success of the ‘use, reuse’ model at the heart of the circular economy that different service provision and ownership models are embraced by consumers. Education and awareness raising are two of the key next steps if the circular economy is to become a widely followed and sustainable option for Europe. While the full potential of the circular economy for Europe has yet to be identified or quantified, there is momentum in circular economy practices in Europe, but action is needed to sustain this movement and the meaning and nature of the circular economy needs to be understood more widely. Consumers are, and will continue to be, major influencers in the development of the Circular Economy in Europe. With the explosion of social media and the huge numbers of 'digital natives' who are almost permanently engaged in online activity the power of consumers to effect change is greater than ever before. What is now needed are consumer education programmes that address issues of national and international importance like moving to a circular economy model. Project partners are of the opinion that the family is the perfect setting to launch a concerted educational campaign to raise awareness and understanding of the circular economy; of what a circular economy should look like; of how businesses should operate in a circular economy model; and of how consumers should behave to ensure that the best outcomes for people : profit : planet are achieved. Effective family learning requires that different sub-sets of the family are considered in the design of any proposed learning materials. For this Family Circle project, it is the intention of partners to create resources for 4 different sub-sets namely: (1) children between the ages of 6 and 12 - these resources will comprise a monthly themed comic strip that introduces some of the main ideas driving the development of the circular economy; (2) teenagers between the ages of 13 and 16 - these resources will comprise a series of challenge based educational resources that will be pitched at introductory and intermediate levels; (3) youth between the ages of 17 to 25 - these resources will comprise a continuation of the challenge based educational resources but on this occasion pitched at advanced and expert levels; (4) parents, guardians and grandparents - these resources will comprise a series of workshop based, group learning exercises. All resources developed will be themed around different elements of the circular economy Partners believe that this educational programme will only be successful in the long-term if the skills of adult educators are also developed to allow them to produce their own comic strips and challenge based educational resources. Training to develop these types of materials on available open source software programmes will be the focus of the proposed in-service training for adult educators
The EU has developed the Green Deal with a wide range of policies and interventions needed to move forward to a Green Circular Economy in Europe. To make these policies and interventions dueable we need to have the most important group aware of this and have the knowledge to understand why and how we as consumers must act and change behaviour to reach the EU objectives. The most important consumer is the family and from the NIACE inquiry is that Family learning works and make good impact not just on education and behavior but also on social aspects. The project made the platform with the Family learning and with joyful Comic strips, challenging webquest and a online learning platform tried to reach all ages in the family. We also had the ambition to involve adult trainers, teachers, people involved in education or in Environmental orgnisations so they could be part not just as "dooers" but also spread the information about the project and be part of the developing of the Family Circle in workshops and discussion forums such as Multiplier events or Local Stakeholder Forums. We could also see that to make the project long lasting we needed to make it interesting for teachers so they could use their knowledge to further develop it.
To reach the European goals and the Circular Economy (CE) for a sustainable future we have to work not just with legislation and new circular economy business plans. We also have to work with awareness raising and education at all levels. It´s not just to educate but also to make possibilities for a movement towards sustainability and sustainability growth, and we need to create understanding for how the CE works more widely. Consumers are the most important group that can support the development of Circular Economy in Europe. Europe is large and the different countries has worked differently with the Circular Economy and together we can move to a more circular Europe. The partners saw that the family is a perfect setting for an educational campaign to raise awareness and understanding of the CE. Not just how it works today but also how it would look like in the future and how families must act and behave for the CE would be successful. The project tried to attract the whole family by using Comic strips, Webquests, online learning platform and challanges. To reach the family we also addressed teachers and adults trainers so they could see the potential in the project but also to develop and improve the Family Circle project.
The circular economy is seen as an integral but interdependent part of a just transition to a low-carbon society. While early legislation that framed the initial development of the circular economy was primarily focused or waste and re-cycling it is now essential for the success of the ‘use, reuse’ model at the heart of the circular economy that different service provision and ownership models are embraced by consumers. Education and awareness raising are two of the key next steps if the circular economy is to become a widely followed and sustainable option for Europe. While the full potential of the circular economy for Europe has yet to be identified or quantified, there is momentum in circular economy practices in Europe, but action is needed to sustain this movement and the meaning and nature of the circular economy needs to be understood more widely. Consumers are, and will continue to be, major influencers in the development of the Circular Economy in Europe. With the explosion of social media and the huge numbers of 'digital natives' who are almost permanently engaged in online activity the power of consumers to effect change is greater than ever before. What is now needed are consumer education programmes that address issues of national and international importance like moving to a circular economy model. Project partners are of the opinion that the family is the perfect setting to launch a concerted educational campaign to raise awareness and understanding of the circular economy; of what a circular economy should look like; of how businesses should operate in a circular economy model; and of how consumers should behave to ensure that the best outcomes for people : profit : planet are achieved. Effective family learning requires that different sub-sets of the family are considered in the design of any proposed learning materials. For this Family Circle project, it is the intention of partners to create resources for 4 different sub-sets namely: (1) children between the ages of 6 and 12 - these resources will comprise a monthly themed comic strip that introduces some of the main ideas driving the development of the circular economy; (2) teenagers between the ages of 13 and 16 - these resources will comprise a series of challenge based educational resources that will be pitched at introductory and intermediate levels; (3) youth between the ages of 17 to 25 - these resources will comprise a continuation of the challenge based educational resources but on this occasion pitched at advanced and expert levels; (4) parents, guardians and grandparents - these resources will comprise a series of workshop based, group learning exercises. All resources developed will be themed around different elements of the circular economy Partners believe that this educational programme will only be successful in the long-term if the skills of adult educators are also developed to allow them to produce their own comic strips and challenge based educational resources. Training to develop these types of materials on available open source software programmes will be the focus of the proposed in-service training for adult educators