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Wastepreneurship

2023-1-RO01-KA152-YOU-0001483182023Mobility of young peoplefinalized
Countries: RO|ES|EL|PT|IT|BG · Grant: €30,841
Entrepreneurial learning - entrepreneurship educationEnvironment and climate changeCreativity, arts and culture

Objectives

Waste management became a global problem. Currently, the trajectory for global waste generation shows that it will grow from 2.24 billion tonnes in 2023 to nearly 3.88 billion tonnes by 2050 with more than 90 percent of trash in low-income countries being dumped either in the open or burned, posing a threat to the environment, exacerbating climate worries and making it imperative for countries to tackle the issue immediately. Furthermore, after the Covid-19 crisis threw a harsh spotlight on a range of sustainable development challenges, including poor waste management which skyrocketed as people increased their consumption of plastic masks, gloves, takeout packaging and more, entrepreneurial activity has proven to be one of the most important drivers that can help with the recovery and growth of overall economic dynamics, employment rates, and innovation at both global and European level. The importance of this shift towards sustainable development and green business has been recognized by the European Green Deal Strategy and the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations for 2030. Undoubtedly, if provided with the right resources and inspiration, young people have the capacity to become the engine of this change. And what greater skill do young people possess if not creativity? Called the competence of the 21st century, creativity is one of the key competencies for sustainable development. However, integrated development of both is surely an under-researched topic. Creative thinking and creative problem solving should be a necessary and significant component of modern sustainable education. Young people must learn to associate creativity with sustainability. Therefore, helping them understand sustainability by exposing them to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and designing new creations that honor the planetary boundaries is crucial. So how could we merge these three essential concepts together: sustainability, entrepreneurship and creativity? Promoting youth self-entrepreneurship and creativity in the field of waste reuse and management is definitely an indispensable investment not only to pave the way for new ideas and service improvements but also to rethink future resource management in an increasingly sustainable perspective. To better understand the benchmark from where we started this initiative, we have carried out an online survey among 214 respondents from the communities of the partner NGOs, aged between 18-30 y.o. The results are the following: 68% of respondents were not aware of the initiatives conducted by The European Union to reach sustainable development and climate neutrality. 71% had limited knowledge about means of correctly collecting and disposing of generated waste, 59% of young people admited that they produced more waste than necessary and that they are interested in adoption green practices in their day to day life. 83% of the respondents manifested interest in discovering the principles of how a green business works. In this sense, the project “Wastepreneurship” represented the joint effort of 6 youth NGOs to design 1 multicultural learning experience for 36 youngsters and 6 youth leaders during which they have explored their creativity and entrepreneurial potential to come up with solutions to raise awareness among young people on the importance of developing daily green practices in their communities and to grow a more conscious behavior. The specific objectives of the Wastepreneurship project were: O1: To stimulate the creativity of 36 YP from 6 European NGOs to implement green practices in their communities by sketching a collection of 6 green business ideas of processing waste into a useful product during a 9-day youth mobility in Calarasi, Romania that took place in September 2023. O2: To support young people in their journey of adapting to the current and future challenges caused by environmental pollution by designing The 30 days To-Boost-Your-Environmental-Friendliness Challenge (containing daily green practices to grow a more conscious behavior). O3: To raise awareness on the importance of developing green skills and discovering opportunities provided by Erasmus+ Programme among 180 young people by sharing the 30 days challenge designed by the participants through 6 local workshops in the local communities of the partner organisations that were organized.

Project partners (6)