Reuse Reduce Recycle Booklet

E L C Y REC

E S U RE E C T E U L D K E R BOO

.ro www.yes-eu u.ro office@yes-e

ISBN: 978-606-93838-1-0

Young Europe Society Miercurea-Ciuc 2015

Financed by the European Union.

The content of this publication does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Responsibility for the information and views expressed in this publication lies entirely with the author(s).

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This booklet was created by 48 young people from 6 partner organizations (Italy, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey and Hungary) with 8 decisional leaders during the project: “Reduce Reuse Recyle� that took place on 9-18 October 2015 in Homorod, Romania.

Young Europe Society (Y.E.S.) is a non-governmental non-profit organization that aims to contribute to the development of the youths by inspiring them a sense of active citizenship.

Y.E.S. promotes mobility within and beyond Europe, non-formal learning and intercultural dialogue, and encourages the employability and inclusion of all young people, regardless of their educational, social and cultural background.

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Table of contents

5 What was our project about 7 Erasmus+ 8 Academic article “REUSE, REDUCE, RECYCLE” 20 Youth Policy draft “REUSE, REDUCE, RECYCLE” 24 Environmental Art 30 Eco Batucada 32 Work visit to Prefecture of Harghita 34 Thank you

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What was our project about?

REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE is a KA3 -Dialogue between young people and policy makers project financed by the European Comission through Erasmus+ programme.

Young Europe Society together with its partners: Ifjusagi Szolgaltatok Orszagos Szovetsege (Hungary), YouNet (Italy), Obciansky Spolok (Slovakia), GENÇ DÜŞLER ATÖLYESI DERNEGI (Turkey) and VCS Skopje (Macedonia) organised a transnational meeting on 9-18 October 2015 aiming to raise the visibility of the EU environment policy on waste management through making 48 participants aware of the “3R” of the environment: reduce, reuse, recycle.

They discovered the objectives and target set in European legislation on how to improve waste management, the national legislation on waste management in each partner country and they got involved in creating a youth policy on environment protection named “Reduce Reuse Recycle”.

In this project participated also 8 decisional leaders in the field of youth, youth workers, representatives of the schoolsectors, Prefecture of Harghita County and representatives of the Romanian Ministry of the Environment who actively got involved in the structured dialogue with the participants and raised their interest regarding the protection of the environment.

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Activities

All the participants got involved actively in the activities of the project by reusing unwanted things and creating musical instruments of percussion, promoting a ecological behavior by organising an Eco Batucada event in the local community, creating and organising an environmental art exhibition with natural materials.

Moreover, they experienced methods of participative simulation for debating and creating a youth policy about environmental protection.

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ERASMUS+ Erasmus+ is the new EU programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport for 2014-2020.

Between 2014-2020 the programme will provide opportunities for over 4 million Europeans to study, train, gain work experience , and volunteer abroad.

The Erasmus+ programme aims to boost skills and employability, as well as modernising Education, Training, and Youth work.

Funding for youth activities under Erasmus+ aims to improve the key competences, skills and employability of young people, promote young people’s social inclusion and well-being, and foster improvements in youth work and youth policy at local, national and international level.

Concretely in the field of youth, the Erasmus+ programme offers three main opportunities: Key Action 1: mobility opportunities for young people and youth workers.

Key Action 2: opportunities for cooperation for innovation and exchange of good practices.

Key Action 3: opportunities to support policy reform.

For more information about Erasmus+ programme, please access: http://ec.europa.eu/youth/programme/index_ en.htm Page 7

Academic article “REUSE, REDUCE, RECYCLE”

by Adrian-Dan Vîlcan

CONTEXT In the EU there are generated 2.5 billions tons of waste each year and only 35% of it is recycled1. The percentage of recycled waste increases a slide increase year after year.

However, most of the waste is still buried or burnt. Accordingly to the European Commission, 600 millions tons of waste that were incinerated or buried could have been recycled in 20132 . Many professionals and academics consider the transformation of waste into resources represents a key activity in the pursuit of a complete economic cycle3.

The young people in Romania, Italy, Macedonia, Slovakia, Turkey and Hungary are only marginally involved and targeted by the Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle policies in their countries. Most young people in these countries do not know what actually “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” stands for. The KA3 project REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE aimed to capacitate the 1 Waste. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2015, from http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/ 2 Ibid.

3 Resource Efficient Use of Mixed Wastes. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2015, from http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/studies/mixed_waste.htm

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youths and the decisional leaders with regards to the importance of involving young people in the reducing, reusing and recycling process.

The novelty aspect of this project is that it legitimates the young people to involve actively in the draft of a youth policy in the field of the protection of the environment, by encouraging practices of Reducing, Reusing and Recycling. Through the nonformal context, the participants have understood developed and consolidated abilities, attitudes and positive behaviours towards the importance of active involvement in society and the development of youth policies.

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The goal of the RRR project was to organise a transnational meeting (9-18th October 2015) in Homorod, Harghita county, Romania that will reunite 48 young people from six partner countries (Romania ,Italy, Macedonia, Slovakia, Turkey and Hungary), persons) with 8 decisional leaders in the field of youth, youth workers, representatives of the school sectors, Prefecture of Harghita and representatives of the Romanian Ministry of the Environment with the goal of organizing a structured dialogue that will set the basis of a youth policy that fosters youth involvement in reducing, reusing and recycling process.

The RRR project contributes to the transition form a theoretical process based on input on a practical one that is focused on outputs and on the young people capacity to actively and practically involve in setting up the basis of an international interest youth policy. Moreover, the project actively involves 18 young people with fewer possibilities from rural communities facing geographical, economic and social obstacles, representing 37.5% of the total number of participants.

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The RRR project that was implemented has several specific objectives: • Preparation: empowerment of the participants with the required knowledge for participating in the activities; information of mass media and other stakeholders about our project; solving logistical and administrative aspects; • Implementation: setting up a structured dialogue on the mentioned theme and the development of the policy draft; certification of the participants; • Follow-up: involvement of the participants in the dissemination of results process; final evaluation of the project.

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DESCRIPTION 0F THE ACTIVITIES The goal of the project was to facilitate a nonformal framework in which the young participants could engage in a structured dialogue aimed to create a youth policy “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle�.

The young participants were offered the chance to set up the basis of a youth policy that will facilitate the active involvement of young people in waste reducing, reusing and recycling. This project was initiated by youth workers from the 6 partner organisations and responded to their common need to actively involve the youth in the waste reducing, reusing and recycling process. The participants from the six partner countries were young people that did not have had yet the chance to be actively involved in the development of a youth policy.

Besides the structured dialogue, the young participants will participated in the creation of an environmental art exhibition and to the EcoBatucada performance.

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METHODOLOGY The project made full use of participative nonformal educational methods like: animation of the participants, role play, Environmental Art Exhibition, EcoBatucada, questionnaire, learning by doing, reflexion sessions; individual learning; active participation in group activities; public speaking.

RESULTS AND IMPACT This project contributed to the personal development of the participants by influencing them to actively involve in the youth policies. The participants are now actively involved in the dissemination process and will disseminate information about our project and the Erasmus+ programme. This project has impact mostly on young people and decision-makers from decentralised levels.

An important step in the structured dialogue between young people and decision makers was to clarify the concepts of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and reach a common understanding about them.

Therefore, the structured dialogues between decision-makers and the young participants have had the goal of setting a common language of “RRR�.

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The young participants in dialogue with the decision makers agreed upon the following: Reduce means using fewer resources in the first place. This is the most effective of the three R’s and the place to begin. It is also, I think, the hardest because it requires letting go of some very American notions, including: the bigger the better, new trumps old and convenience is next to godliness.

But you don’t need to let go completely or all at once. “Reduce” is a comparative word. It says: cut back from where you are now.

When you shop, shop differently. Look for things that will last -- things that are not just durable and well-made, but useful and beautiful enough to please you for a long time. The extra money you spend on their acquisition will be offset by the money you do not spend replacing them.

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Don’t chase the latest fashions. They will age the fastest.

With electronics, extravagance may pay. A super-charged computer will still run the software that comes out two years from now, and a large monitor will accommodate the ever wider webpages that companies will be building then. Similarly, a cell phone with a full text keypad (or the iPhone) will see you through the text-messaging era that is upon us.

When you make a purchase, find out how to keep the item in shape. Then, maintain it accordingly and repair it when necessary.

In addition, try these ways of reducing your use (and abuse) of resources: • Buy products made from post-consumer recycled materials, especially paper and bathroom tissue.

• Choose electronics and appliances that are energy-efficient. Ditto for cars, which you can also share.

• Buy stuff made close to home. Less energy was used transporting them to the store.

• Buy used. craigslist and eBay make it easy.

• Avoid goods made with materials whose extraction or processing are especially destructive, such as tropical woods and most gold jewelry.

• Avoid overly packaged goods. The packaging is a total throw-away.

• Avoid things made with toxic materials, such as most household cleansers.

• Cut back on water use at home.

• Waste less energy on lights and equipment.

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Reuse. Before you recycle or dispose of anything, consider whether it has life left in it. A jam jar can store leftovers. Food scraps can become compost. An old shirt can become a pyjama top. An opened envelope can become a shopping list. A magazine can be shared. DVDs can be traded. A dishwasher can be repaired. A computer can be upgraded. A car can be resold. A cell phone can be donated. Returnable bottles can be, well... returned.

Reusing keeps new resources from being used for a while longer, and old resources from entering the waste stream. It’s as important as it is unglamorous. Think about how you can do it more.

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Recycle. Many of the things we use every day, like paper bags, soda cans, and milk cartons, are made out of materials that can be recycled. Recycled items are put through a process that makes it possible to create new products out of the materials from the old ones.

In addition to recycling the things you buy, you can help the environment by buying products that contain recycled materials. Many brands of paper towels, garbage bags, greeting cards, and toilet paper, to name a few examples, will tell you on their labels if they are made from recycled materials.

In some towns you can leave your recyclables in bins outside your home, and a truck will come and collect them regularly.

Other towns have recycling centres where you can drop off the materials you've collected. Things like paper and plastic grocery bags, and plastic and aluminium cans and bottles can often be brought to the grocery store for recycling. Whatever your system is, it's important to remember to rinse out and sort your recyclables!�

In the second phase of the project the young participants assisted by the decision-makers created a policy draft for the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Youth Policy. The youth policy was inspired by the structure of the UN Resolutions and consists of four preamble clauses and 21 operative clauses. The full text of the youth policy is attached to the brochure.

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Opportunity to implement the policy draft The policy draft that was created reflects the needs and particular interests of 48 young people from six different European countries. The current youth policy is legitimised by being the common result of the structured dialogue between 48 young people from six European countries with eight decision-makers in the field of the environment protection.

The most impact this youth policy will have will be at decentralised levels. The main reason for this is that in most participating countries the policies of implementing the concepts of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle are left to the coordination of local administration.

It can be expected that in no partner country the youth policy will be implemented 100% as it was drafted. However, it is most likely that this youth policy will inspire and stand at the base of RRR local policies in the countries of participating in the project.

Long term results The project in its European and international dimension is closely linked with the targets of the Europe 2020 strategy in the field of environmental protection. By promoting our the policy draft online and by involving young people in solving the problem of RRR, this project has a medium and long term contribution to empower young people and foster sustainable consumption.

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List of references: • Resource Efficient Use of Mixed Wastes. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2015, from http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/ studies/mixed_waste.htm •

Waste. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2015, from http:// ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/

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YOUTH POLICY DRAFT “REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE”

The participants of the Erasmus+ KA3 project “Reduce Reuse Recycle” (9-18 October 2015, Băile Homorod-Romania)

Sponsors: All the participants from Romania, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Turkey and Slovakia Signatories: to be signed Topic: “Involving the young people in policy process (drafting and implementation) of Reuse, Reduce and Recycle Policy” Taking note of the United Nations Environmental Indicators on Municipal Waste Treatment, from 2011, Recognizing efforts taken at national levels to increase the rate of recycled waste, Identifying a reduced level of involvement of young people in the environmental protection policies in general and in the policy processes of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, in particular, Emphasizing the limited formal education in the field of environmental protection and the importance of raising awareness and taking actions, Stressing the potential dramatic consequences in case no action will be taken, 1. Urges all the relevant regional and national agencies to provide the context for theoretical and practical education in the field of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle; Page 20

2. Further requests the inclusion of environmental education and the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle triangle in the formal education curricula in primary, secondary and high school level; 3. Encourages the public sector to sup port nonformal learning activities in the field of env ironmental protection; 4. Emphasizing the urgent need for standardized EU level legislation on waste managem ent and selective waste collection for avoiding “transn ational garbage export�; 5. Encourages an increase in the eff orts of all stakeholders involved in changing attitudes of youth with regards to the application of Reduce, Reu se, Recycle; 6. Calls upon an increased involveme nt of the mass-media in the promotion and information of the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle triangle to the masses; 7. Proclaims the need to strengthen the relationship between social media and informal you th groups in promoting information and raising aware ness towards the importance of respecting the Reduce , Reuse, Recycle triangle; 8. Invites mass media to be more invo lved in inspiring youth to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle; 9. Recommends municipalities to suppor t the organization of Environmental Art Exhibitions; 10. Emphasizes the need of an increas e in the number of structured dialogues between pol icy makers and youth in the field of environmental pro tection; Page 21

11. Encourages the public sector to support NGOs that aim to raise awareness and organize activities related to the topic of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle; 12. Further recommends the involvement of the public sector in providing incentives to private companies in the production of more eco-friendly packaging and products suitable for recycling; 13. Supports the implementation of stronger sanctions for parties that breach the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle national and European Union provisions; 14. Recommends an increase of the monitoring and control procedures in the field of recycling and reducing at national and European level; 15. Emphasizes the social and economic benefits derived from applying Reduce, Reuse, Recycle principles aiming towards a more environmentally friendly European society; 16. Condemning the use and diffusion of plastic bags and urging their immediate ban; 17. Supports the use of renewable energy and the decrease of fossil fuels production and consumption; 18. Encourages the creation of standardized guidelines and knowhow for the population to better understand the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle triangle; 19. Trust in the collective efforts required in order to reduce the environmental footprint of our generation; 20. Condemns industries that do not integrate in their waste management systems Reduce, Reuse, Recycle principles; 21. Emphasizing the importance of the up-cycling process as a basic element of an efficient Reduce, Reuse, Recycle policy.

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Băile Homorod, Romania 9-18 October 2015 “REUSE REDUCE RECYCLE”

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ENVIRONMENTAL ART “One of our activity that had social impact was Environmental Art. In mixed teams, we had the task to create “art” using elements of the natural surroundings: branches, stones, grass. Our artworks aimed to atract attention of the locals and passersby and raise awareness on local environmental issues (water pollution, deforestation, drainage).”

Bogdan Vîlcan, Romania

The BIG BROTHER

Artists: Michal, Julianna, Zuzana

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The story of BIG BROTHER Once upon a time, far in the past there were beautiful nature and forests full of wild animals. Then came mankind and it started to create big population. These people were using natural sources a lot because they wanted to have prosperity.

One young prince – Stonekritos in Romanian kindom was against devastation of the nature and he wanted to save it.

Nobody respected rules and war had started. Prince Stonekritos was always in the nature in Homorod and he was trying to save this natural richness. After long time period he couldn´t see how people are destroying nature so he transformed to stone. So people started to use natural richess and they destroyed nature. Lot of people was sad because they haven´t got beautiful nature so they create heart of nature for prince Stonekritos because they wanted to got him back to save their nature.

Dying Sea World Once upon a time in the year 2015 there was a magical place called “Sea World”. It was a place full of excitement, kids’ laughter and amazing species of whales, dolphins, sharks, and other sea creatures that are now extinct. The waters were polluted by people and their recklessness and carelessness. They were throwing waste in the rivers, lakes, sea and the Ocean. Eventually, the water became too polluted and the sea world started slowly disappearing. The place lost its magic.

Imagine you’re in this future: without dolphins, without Nemo, without the beautiful “Sea world”. Now, imagine you have a time machine and the opportunity to go back to the year 2015. You have a second chance.

What would you do?

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Artists: Aleksandra, Radmila, Eli, Marija, Lina, Hekuran, Garbriele, Vanesa, Alex Rock Nemos

“Once upon a time in Homorod river, there was a lonely, lonely fish. All of his friends, his family and his girlfriend, died because of the pollution. So, instead of a happy river full of happy fish , Homorod river had only one inhabitant. Every night, the forest was filled with his cry for company. But no one paid attention to a fish’s feelings. Until one day when a great man who was passing through the forest heard the heart-breaking sound made by the lonely creature. He was so touched that he decided to do something to cheer the fish up. So he brought him friends , lots of them, colorful ones, meant to make him smile again. Now the river had a lot of inhabitatnts, each and every one as happy as possible.�

Madalina and Nicoleta

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The Protection EYE

“Once upon a time, in a land far, far, far, far, far away (more or less 200 m away from the hotel), there was a charming forest. One day, some evil people cut the trees, all the animals left and there was just emptiness. In that moment rain started and a miracle tear from Mother Earth fell on the biggest tree trunk. The tear became the eye of the forest that protects all the trees and animals. Since then, this reminds all of us the feelings of nature when we are hurting it.�

Artists: Elio, Irina, Tugce, Hudai, Blagojche Page 27

Eyes of Nature Nature gives us everything, however, people are not appriciate this beauty.

People polluted the environment. They taught the nature do not feel what happens to her. She is so sensitive, by the way. She has eye to see every-

Artists: Berat, Zeki, Bayram, Mustafa, Emre

Why you killed us? -Tree Cemeterey “Forests are cut down for many reasons, mostly related to money or to people’s needs. The bigger driver of deforestation is agriculture, in order to provide more room for crops or livestocks. Forests still cover about 30% world’s land area, but world’s rainforest could completely disappear in 100 years at the current rate of deforestation. For these reasons we would like to tell you a story: Once upon a time in Transilvania, a man was cutting the big trees growing on his property. Such trees were pretty old, they knew the mountains around very well, they hosted many animals during the years, making up a real forest. After he cut some of them, the man approached the oldest one to cut it as well. But the tree suddenly turned into a human, scaring the man and making him go away. The next morning some crosses appeared in memory of the deaths, placed there by the spirits of the woods. Since then, the trees are protecting the forest. You can still see there the souls of the trees who once lived there.”

Madalina, Bogdan, Caterina, Emilio, Bianca, Briggita, Maria, Giuseppe

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What is ENVIRONMENTAL ART? We start with a simple question: what is Environmental Art? After engaging the participants in sharing ideas of what they know about this topic, we found out the true definition of this concept in several ideas: Environmental art is an umbrella term for a range of artistic practices encompassing both historical approaches to nature in art and more recent ecological and politically motivated types of works.

‘The term “environmental art” often encompasses “ecological” concerns but is not specific to them. It acknowledges the early history of this movement (which was often more about art ideas than environmental ones) as well as art with more activist concerns and art which primarily celebrates an artist’s connection with nature using natural materials.

The term “environmental art” is used in a variety of different contexts: it can be used to refer to art describing the natural world, art that celebrates personal engagement with the natural world (“art in nature”), and to the practices of ecological artists, whose work directly addresses environmental issues (Ecological art or “eco-art”) through educating people about the natural world, or intervening in and restoring the natural world.

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ECO BATUCADA

“Within the activity Eco Batucada after we became familiar with playing the instruments of percussion (drums, maracas, tambourines) with the help of Jean Baptiste, we went together to make some instruments from waste materials. After transforming it into instruments and makings their own stories, we organised a performance in the local community of Miercurea Ciuc (outside the Prefecture) in order to raise awareness of the people regarding waste that can be turned into creative materials (reusing waste materials). The whole performace was a great success.�

Maria Bogdan, Romania

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Work visit to Prefecture of Harghita

“We had a work visit at Prefecture of Harghita in Miercurea Ciuc where we presented to the representative of the Prefecture and to the other representative responsible for the Protection of the Environment a list with advices, creative ideas and recommendations about reusing, reducing and recycling waste. They welcomed us very well.”

Bogdan Vîlcan, Romania

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THANK YOU

We want to say thank you to all 48 participants who joined our project “Reduce Reuse Recyle” that took place on 9-18 October 2015 in Homorod, Romania.

And to all those who made this possible: European Comission http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm ERASMUS+ http://www.erasmusplus.ro/ Romanian National Agency http://www.anpcdefp.ro/ Irina Giulescu irina.giulescu@anpcdefp.ro Harghita County Prefecture office@prefecturahr.ro Jean Baptiste Manitou odobestianu@yahoo.com Andra-Simina Tureac European Work in Progress SRL-D For more information about the project “Reduce Reuse Recyle”, please access: https://ka3reducereuserecycle.wordpress.com/.

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Contact Libertatii Street 8/3, Miercurea Ciuc, 530100 Romania Phone +40 (0)748 076 142 E-mail: office@yes-eu.ro Web: www.yes-eu.ro Project Coordinator Adrian-Dan VĂŽlcan