A peer learning session with speakers from Bosnia and Hercegovina, Greece, France, and Slovenia took place last November 20, and here are some insightful takes:
1. “Challenges in creating a conscious society in the field of environmental protection” – Mahir Bjelonja, Zeos eko-sistem (BiH)
- ZEOS eko-sistem is the 1st authorized operator of the Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) Waste Management System in Bosnia and Herzegovina, accredited by the Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism. The company serves as a legal entity to which importers, distributors, and manufacturers delegate their obligations to report, manage, and dispose of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Their mission is to finance, manage, improve, and promote e-waste disposal and recycling processes in compliance with legal regulations, fostering environmental protection and sustainable development for participants and e-waste holders.
- They run circular economy programmes in schools, national public awareness campaigns via TV and social networks, promotion of success stories and impact on the local communities, using influencers to spread sustainability messages, and introducing platforms and concepts for exchange and reuse, all in parallel with building new infrastructure and engagement in new projects.
- Lessons learned: TV can be a nice channel to reach families at that part of the day when they have time to think about what they see and hear. In a very successful project named “LIFE turn to e-circular,” they made 100 DIY videos, “Sure it can be done,” with a celebrity who became the national face of repair. Such content could also be adopted and used at the time of commercials and advertising. However, depending on the country, young people tend not to watch TV anymore but rather use social media. Therefore, you need to
select the right tool/channel depending on the target group you want to reach and engage.
2. “Storytelling for social transformation” – Maria Andrielou, Clean Stories/Greek Bioeconomy Council (GR)
- Clean Stories is a communication agency specialising in circular bioeconomy communication. Communication is good, but understanding is what matters. We “get it right” with effective communication based on
8 principles of communication: clarity, timeliness, coherence, conciseness, correctness, courteousness, completeness, and concreteness.
- Storytelling is a fundamental means of human communication that has been a part of our culture for millennia. Narrative cognition presents the default human thought, providing structure to reality, an underlying foundation for memory, and a pathway for comprehension. That is why good stories change the way we think, feel, act and behave. Using narrative anecdotes or storytelling to communicate complex scientific concepts to non-expert audiences can improve knowledge acquisition about science and create a sense of connection and inspiration. If we want to learn about a culture, we have to listen to the stories. But if we want to change the culture, we have to change the stories.
- Lessons learned: To introduce the repair economy, we also need to outline the advantages of reuse for people, not just the planet and the economy.
Fundamental human needs (protection, affection, understanding, leisure, participation, creation, identity, freedom, subsistence) have to be fulfilled to transfer and accept the change.
3. “Coordination and communication of the French National Repair Days – Rémi Reboux, Halte à l’Obsolescence Programmée (FR)
- HOP – Stop Planned Obsolescence is a consumer and environmental NGO working to extend the life of products. Their main focus is on campaigning for the extension of product lifetimes and uniting citizens to influence public decision-makers and manufacturers to move towards sustainable and repairable products in France and Europe.
With their help, France now has repairability and durability index as well as repair bonuses. They have also proved planned obsolescence, resulting in a fine against Apple (€ 25 mil)…
- They organise together with Make.org Foundation the French National Repair Days, with the following strategy: speak to a large audience with friendly communication (colourful visuals with icons) about environmental aspects but also economic savings, promotion on local and national levels by including press agencies, media, social networks, influencers (singer), and storytelling approach (videos). They connected a large number and variety of national stakeholders (profit, non-profit, cultural, public…). They created a wide partnership (repair cafes, retail e-companies, artisans, NGOs), including sponsors (computer and fabric retailers, insurances…), (free) media, and public entities (municipalities, French Ministry of Ecological Transition…).
- Lessons learned: There are many environmental events on national or world days. Such commemorative days can be an opportunity to merge similar content and be more visible or another challenge to gather all actors, especially public institution representatives, in one place. If an event is big, it can also be tricky to gather indicators nationally; the organisation behind the event must be very structured and clear (who does what, etc.). Another way to stand out in this amount of events is by being present at different locations at the same time.
4. “Let’s talk about REPAIR” – Katja Sreš, Ecologists Without Borders (SLO)
- Ecologists Without Borders (EBM), is a prominent Slovenian NGO committed to environmental preservation. Founded during the two « Clean Up Slovenia » campaigns, they organised the largest volunteer initiatives in the history of independent Slovenia, bringing together 280,000 participants and leading to the creation of Slovenia’s only comprehensive Register of Wild Landfills. This action clearly showed the need to work on waste prevention, therefore most of their work addresses waste at its origin; as an active member of global networks like Zero Waste Europe, Let’s Do It World!, Break Free From Plastic, etc.
- Their work is based on tangible, always fresh, and new data because they believe that
without data, an individual is just another person with an opinion.
Also, they find this to be a good way for journalists to stay interested. So they do a lot of research, regularly gather with stakeholders (conferences), and prepare new materials for other people to use (toolkits, e.g., how to organise a clothing swap, Kickstart reuse). A part of web communication is also
a web portal called « Less is more» with maps of zero waste shops, repairers (textile, sports goods, etc.), and reuse shops in Slovenia.
They are currently negotiating with the Ministry of Environment for the portal to become of national importance and for the implementation of repair bonuses in Slovenia.
- Lessons learned: Faces count – do what you preach, be a role model yourself, or use sustainable, green influencers, but continuously the same person. Trustworthy institutions like professional firefighters can be a better choice than a teenage fashion influencer – choose wisely. Prepare great video content – it is a must (short for social media and longer for conferences and other promotional events). International days should be observed, following the work of others – network. Combine the topic you want to promote with good food, drinks, and music (use old vinyl records) – a good way to reach many people who otherwise would not come to the repair workshop event.
As a conclusion, a few tips for communication:
- Consider which part of the brain we are addressing – rational or emotional: both can be effective if certain conditions are met. Studies show that positive feelings tend to be a greater incentive for action.
- Use social influence: the sustainable option was twice as likely to be chosen in surveys when others were present than when the decision was made privately.
- Form good habits and take advantage of the domino effect: positive habits can be created through the use of prompts, feedback on goal achievement, encouragement in marketing. When people adopt one sustainable behaviour, they are often willing to adopt other positive changes in the future
- Prioritise experience: only saying that we are moving towards sustainability/green, is generally not enough for the consumer, unless we also speak to all the languages and fields of their personality. It is also important to appeal to smell, touch, taste and to stimulate attention through elements of surprise, especially when we involve the consumer experientially in the story. Use metaphor and storytelling!
