The project is organized in five thematic cycles consisting of workshops, public lectures and public discussions that each cover a specific type of recyclable and upcyclable material (wood, electronic devices, plastics, biowaste, furniture waste). This project centers both education and skill learning as well as the formation of a public forum dedicated to differing opinions and voicing specific, overlooked issues that need to be addressed through stronger local civic engagement.

City of Zagreb, Croatia

The broadest challenge our project will tackle concerns the civic disengagement that can be felt in the target districts of Zagreb, specifically its adverse impact on the capacity of the local residents to address burgeoning ecological issues. Related challenges include insufficient knowledge of recycling and upcycling practices and techniques; unawareness of broader social, political and ecological issues related to recycling and upcycling; the inability to voice particular perspectives related to the lived experience of those issues. Each of these is tackled by a particular format of the project (workshops, lectures, discussions). Concerns and solutions voiced, formed and discussed during the project will be formulated into a document addressed to the local governing bodies.

Local population, high school students and their parents, college students. Our organisation’s existing volunteering and workshop programmes are already engaged with these target groups which will help us in the initial outreach, as well as in adjusting the project to these particular groups. Of particular importance for the project, and the organisation in general, is to include more of the local population in our activities. To achieve this the project is centered on pressing local issues that are invisible in the broader public sphere.

The project is divided in five cycles, each taking place over two months. Each of the five cycles is dedicated to a particular material or waste category: wood, electronic devices, plastics, biowaste, bulky waste. Each cycle will include three formats of interaction with the local population: workshops, lectures and discussions. Workshops will take place over two days and teach the applicants differing methods of upcycling, corresponding to the current cycle (for example composting during the biowaste cycle, reusing and upcycling old furniture during the bulky waste cycle and making new furniture out of discarded wood through the wood cycle or DIY fixing small electronic devices). Lectures will be dedicated to specific issues relating to each cycle (waste on the black market, global electronic waste distribution, plastics qualifications, food waste, bulky waste management in the context of Zagreb's devastating earthquakes of 2020.). Discussions will be centered on one of those topical issues related to the cycle but also maintain the quality of open forum for broader concerns. We will maintain a correspondence with each of our attendees and use their input, particularly during the discussions format, to formulate a document that synthesizes their ideas and concerns. Once argued, edited and signed by the attendees, this document will be passed on to local public bodies.

Our project will equip local citizens to change their own practice with regards to recycling and upcycling. Perhaps more importantly, it will also strengthen their sense of communal interests and provide them with the tools to think and act with regards to specific issues outlined by the project. The project will also result in a collaborative document, signed and edited by project attendees, that will present the local population’s concerns and proposed solutions and be passed on to local public bodies. Combined, these interventions will present a noticeable and long lasting change in the civic engagement of target districts and consequently, the visibility of its policy and environmental challenges.

Discussions about waste management in the Croatian public sphere are still muted and/or technocratic. Our project will bring them to the Zagreb districts which are affected daily by the issue. It will link the knowledge of the waste management issues to everyday experiences through discussions with fellow district residents. Thus the project combines the goals of relevant specialist knowledge and local context awareness which are at the heart of active citizenship. Active citizenship will also be strengthened by the formulation of a constructive and collaborative document passed on to local public bodies at the end of the project.

CDA is an organisation with more than 20 years of experience in production of relevant and popular cultural and civil society programmes. We are located in one of the projects’ target districts so our everyday experiences are also impacted by the lack of civic cohesion and harmful practices that characterize the area. Our project team consists of Luka Antić, Maxime Weinmann, Ivana Vilović, Vanesa Matošević and Danijel Badanjak. All of them have years of experience in the civil sector, specifically in project and community management (Antić, Badanjak), financial administration (Vilović, Matošević), technical production and workshops (Antić, Weinmann), programme promotion (Badanjak) and advocacy on ecological issues (Antić, Weinmann).

Office expenses 2.000,00 EUR,
Travel and accommodation costs 1.000,00 EUR,
Promotion 3.500,00 EUR,
Personnel costs 20.500,00 EUR,
Materials and equipment 8.000,00 EUR