Page 31 - U4SSC Case study: Re-use of consumer goods and tools loaning, June 2020

Munich is an urban development concept established by the City Council in 1998. So far, it has been
updated four times.

In order to respond to the city’s challenges and support the Perspective Munich!, the Halle 2 project
was launched by the city in 2016. The project consisted in setting up a second-hand store to recycle
and re-use waste materials.

The project targets are summarized below:

– Sustainable targets: The reduction of the amount of waste by selling still useful items to Munich
citizens. Due to information campaigns and stronger cooperation with companies that support
recycling, the number of resold items had risen in recent years.
– Social targets: Halle 2 offers Munich citizens cheap used products. Halle 2 is also used as a ‘re-
use-lab’. AWM provides a knowledge platform for re-use ideas. At the same time, AWM tests new
ways of arranging awareness-raising campaigns and public relations by installing repair cafes, by
contacting stakeholders of the ‘sharing economy’, by providing space for upcycling workshops, and
by organizing exhibitions, music performances, science conferences, lectures, and so on.

– Job perspectives: Halle 2 offers training and qualifications to social enterprises for special target
groups like young or long-term unemployed people.

Promoting circularity

Vision and content

Halle 2 combines a circular economy with the idea of sustainable lifestyles in Munich. In fact, by being a
second-hand store that sells goods collected in the 12 Munich Recycling Centres, Halle 2 greatly extends
the lifetime of everyday items and is also a good example of embracing active, societal responsibility
because it is based on strong partnerships between the city and many non-profit organizations.

Halle 2 is more than just a second-hand store; it is a ‘re-use lab’, which means a testbed in which to
develop new ways to increase the number of re-used items. Halle 2 is also a communication platform
to reach people who are not interested in re-using and recycling. In Halle 2, repair cafes, auctions,
information and cultural events, online-marketing activities, and so on are organized routinely. The
experiences of this project are shared with other municipalities and are included in the AWM’s
sustainability report.

In the future, Halle 2 would be combined with the AWM’s online flea market platform, the repair guide
and the lending guide. The implementation of a ‘re-use and repair network’ with all other local actors
in the waste reduction field could be the next step. In the future, it could be possible to reserve goods,
and receive an alert if they are collected by AWM.

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