First integrated Circular Economy Center in Romania becomes operational in Bucharest

The first integrated Circular Economy Center in Romania, with the main objective of supporting the needs of people in difficulty, was opened on June 1 in Bucharest, informs the initiator of the project, the Eco-Sustainable Association, in a press release sent to AGERPRES on Wednesday.

The center, dubbed "Re-BeInvolved", is a space where objects that people no longer use take on new life through repair and refurbishment, later being distributed to children and truly disadvantaged people.

Thus, Bucharest residents who want to donate are expected at the center's headquarters, located on no. 98 Calea Plevnei, district 1, from Monday to Saturday, between 10:00 and 20:00 hrs, and also from there the beneficiaries, people in social and economic difficulty can come to pick up donated products.

"Today, 1 in 5 Romanian children live in conditions of extreme poverty. On the other hand, Romania is a land of waste, where only 11 percent of waste gets to be reused, or reconditioned, and things easily end up in landfills. This is the main reason we set up this center, which creates the space for interaction between those who want to donate objects that are no longer useful to them, and disadvantaged people. We want to divert from the landfills anything that can find some usefulness through reconditioning and which can support the need of a person in difficulty to ensure a decent livelihood," says Cristian Filip, president of the Eco-Sustainable Association.

According to the cited source, the inhabitants of the Capital can donate anything they no longer need, from clothes and shoes, electronic equipment, books, toys and perishable food, to furniture, tableware and others. All items are checked and disinfected, repaired or reconditioned, as appropriate.

At the same time, in order to ensure the traceability of donations, a page will be set up on the Facebook platform, where all the objects that reach the beneficiaries will be posted.

The priority groups that will benefit from donations are: single-parent families, children left in the care of grandparents or other relatives, young people from the social protection system, the elderly or the disabled, the homeless or low-income, victims of discrimination or in crisis situations.

The representatives of Eco-Sustainable Association mention that, on the first floor of the Integrated Center, there will be an area specially dedicated to the education of minors, where they can come to learn to read, write, do their homework or participate in robotics workshops, tailoring, etc.
"The workshops will be dedicated to people over 18 who want to acquire skills designed to help them reintegrate into society, by specializing in certain trades, such as: tailoring, hairdressing, electronic troubleshooting, etc. The circular economy is a model of production and consumption that involves the sharing, reuse, repair, renovation and recycling of materials and products, prolonging their lifespan and avoiding their being wasted in landfills," reads the release.

The Eco-Sustainable Association is a non-profit, apolitical and independent entity from Bucharest, founded in 2007 at the initiative of young people from different fields, who realized that science alone cannot solve the serious ecological imbalances that have appeared in the living environment.

In the 2007 - 2013 period, the organization mainly carried out activities in environmental protection and created some of the largest campaigns in this segment, culminating in getting involved in the protection of a Natura 2000 site of over 4,500 hectares.

At the moment, the Eco-Sustainable Association is known under the name of the main project of the association, "Be Involved".