Struggles from below

Looking to drastically cut down the city’s waste, Berlin’s government has just created a novel facility: a city-run department store that repairs and sells items destined for landfill, as well as providing education and training for citizens about repair and reuse.

In our top read this week, from City Lab’s Feargus O'Sullivan, we learnt about Berlin’s new B-Wa(h)renhaus store: a 7,000-square-foot shop, residing on the third floor of Kreuzberg’s Karstadt department store, that sells used and upcycled furniture, clothes, phones and other electronics.

The local government is looking to open three or four more reuse stores across the city in the near future; and, according to the Berlin 2020-2030 waste master plan, will eventually launch one in each of the city's 12 boroughs. 

As well as saving goods from the scrapheap, the stores will function as education centres to spread knowledge of reuse and repair, particularly among segments of the public that don't usually engaged with circular economic activities. 

Berlin is already a global leader when it comes to recycling and re-use systems, with the city now recycling 49% of the mineral construction waste (materials such as concrete, brick and gypsum) that once made up the lion’s share of its rubbish haul. Since 2008, the city has also managed to reduce household waste to 11 kilos per resident. 

But the local centre-left/green/left coalition government is aiming to double down on those efforts in the coming decade, and it estimates that 8% of the electronic goods thrown away by Berliners are reusable, as well as 6% of bulkier items such as waste wood and metal. 

Berlin’s recycling push comes as the European Union looks to promote the concept of the circular economy, an economic system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources, as part of its European Green Deal launched in December. 

Under the far-reaching “Right to Repair” recycling plan announced by the European Commission in March, manufacturers of phones, tablets and laptops will be legally obliged, from 2021, to ensure their products consist of changeable and repairable parts. Less than 40% of electronic waste in the EU is currently recycled. 

The European commissioner for the environment, Virginijus Sinkevičius, said the legislation formed part of the EU’s plan to adopt a new circular economic model, as it bids to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

“The linear growth model of ‘take, make, use, discard’ has reached its limits,” he told reporters. “With the growth of the world population and consumption, this linear model pushes us closer and closer to a resource crisis. The only way ahead is decoupling economic growth from extraction of primary resources and their environmental impacts.”

What we're reading:

Berlin now has a city-run recycling department store
The secondhand shop is a new spin on the city’s efforts to make re-use and repair a way of life. BLOOMBERG CITYLAB


The David And Goliath story playing out in Alaska's fisheries
Facing the loss of a resource that has supported generations of fishing families, this community set out to protect the pristine waters of southeast Alaska — and it's working. HUFFPOST


Blood pressure medications decrease death and severe disease in COVID-19 patients
At the start of the pandemic, there was concern that certain drugs for high blood pressure might be linked with worse outcomes for COVID-19 patients. But instead of putting patients at risk, a recent University of East Anglia study found that these medications actually lower their risk of death and severe disease. THE CONVERSATION


To ease depression, cancer patients will get group therapy — and a psychedelic drug
A small group of patients at Aquilino, an outpatient treatment centre at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville, MD, will have the chance to try something new — treatment that combines group therapy with a single dose of psilocybin, a psychedelic drug that is the active ingredient in so-called magic mushrooms. MEDIUM


Cooperative housing is redefining ‘home’ for people with disabilities
By sharing everything from services to accessibility renovations, co-housing strikes a balance between autonomy and affordability. REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL


How artificial salt marshes can help in the fight against rising seas
Made from Crossrail clay, Europe’s biggest coastal habitat restoration project is a valuable flood defence but is itself threatened by climate change. THE GUARDIAN

One to ponder:

Universal unions
Being an employee is a threat to your liberty. But while firms exist, compulsory unions are a basic safeguard of freedom. AEON

Quote of the week: 

"Joy can only be real if people look upon their life as a service and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness." — Leo Tolstoy