Good practices from EPR members on training and employment for a green transition
AFID Diferença Foundation, Portugal: its project AFID Green provides services for the creation and maintenance of green spaces, including tree planting, irrigation systems installations and waste management. It combines quality with social responsibility and inclusion by training and employing people with disabilities (for more information see https://afidgreen.pt/category/afid-green/).
Fundaciòn Rey Ardid, Spain: it offers to people with mental health issues and unemployed a wide range of training courses in gardens and green area maintenance, horticulture and floriculture. Moreover, the foundation has various social enterprises which offer employment opportunities to vulnerable people in green sectors and sustainability, for example Emprey Jardinería Fundación Rey Ardid, focused on garden planning and maintenance with reduced water waste and the use of ecofriendly products and electric tools, or a florist in Zaragoza which creates vertical gardens and an Industrial Laundry service in Zaragoza which limits plastic production and water and electricity waste by using efficient washing programs, renewables and paper strapping machines (for more information see https://www.reyardid.org/servicios-empresas/).
ILUNION, Spain (business branch of ONCE Social Group): it has a circular economy division which encourages recycling and re-use of products, aiming at a positive triple impact: economic (profitable and sustainable), social (social and workforce inclusion of vulnerable groups or at risk of exclusion), and environmental through recycling activity. It launched ILUNION Recycling in 2009, specialising in WEEE recycling. Since 2020 the project is called Recycling4All thanks to an alliance between ILUNION and Repsol Foundation. In 2020 they treated 14,000 tons of WEEE, of which 90% was reintroduced to the productive circuit, reducing CO2 emissions by 100 tons/year thanks to a sustainable vehicle fleet. Recycling4all is the only treatment plant in Spain awarded with and EFQM+500 Certification. The company creates employment in rural areas and 101 of its 166 employees have disabilities (for more information see https://www.ilunion.com/es/ilunion-y-fundacionrepsol-crean-una-nueva-compania-de-economia-circular)
Fundaciòn Intras, Spain: Intras has launched two green projects. The first is an eco-friendly apple orchard, which aims both at recovering the orchard, which has been abandoned over the last few years, and improving the life of people with mental health issues. The second project revolves around two shops of eco-friendly products in Toro and Valladolid called “Un punto de locura”. Both shops promote a circular economy and socially responsible consumption by selling vintage articles or organic products collected from an orchard, while also employing people with mental health issues and fostering an inclusive working environment (for more information see https://www.intras.es/articulos/abrimos-tienda-de-productos-ecologicos-en-valladolid).
Mariaberg, Germany: with the project Green³, the facility trains and offers working opportunities to PWD in gardening, green area mantainance, garden planning and others. It also has a flower shop in Gammertingen (Germany), where PWD work and create bouquets and decorated potted plants. Mariaberg also offers PWD the chance to work in farming and agriculture in an area of more than 100 hectares of land. The organic products are then sold in a farm shop that was opened in 2020 (for more information see https://www.mariaberg.de/gruen3 and https://www.mariaberg.de/landwirtschafthofladen).
Rehab Group, Ireland: Rehab Recycle is a market leader specialised in confidential data and document destruction, WEEE recycling and refurbishing with a cost-effective and earth-conscious 10 ‘nothing wasted’ approach, which employs PWD. Clients can also decide to donate electronic equipment which Rehab will then re-use to support charities, schools and community groups (For more information see https://rehab.ie/enterprises/rehab-recycle/).
Workshop “Panagia Eleousa”, Greece: Environmental Training Department organises lessons on environmental training and at practical level recycling programs are implemented. For the implementation of all the training programs educational methods tailored to the specific needs of people with intellectual disabilities are used such as imitation, task analysis, repetition, the visual display, etc. (for more information see https://www.ergpanel.gr/pagesen.php?m=24)