ECO-Step Youth

Project Overview

ECOStep Youth involved working with young people from Ireland, France, Spain, Greece and Morocco on an international design competition and web documentary to raise awareness about reuse and careers in this area. In Ireland CRNI and its members Rediscovery Centre and ReCreate worked with three wonderful teams of young people from Colaiste Dhulaig and ECO UNESCO. 

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission under the Erasmus+ Programme. This website reflects the views only of the author(s) and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Design Competition

Image: Tyre Team entry

Twelve youth groups entered the competition to build an upcycled item from secondary materials. They worked with a range of materials from wood to rubber, plastic and metals. All entries are shown here.

We are delighted that the Irish “Tyre Team” won the competition, facilitated by Rediscovery Centre and ECOUNESCO, for their tyre bench entry pictured across.

The Irish jury included a panel of experts including Przemek Drusewicz, Upcycling Project; Tony Fegan, Tallaght Community Arts ; Brendan Madden, Brendan Joseph Studio @brendanjosephstudio; Derek McGarry, National College of Arts & Design; Carrie-Ann Moran, Rediscovery Centre; Deidre Rogers, ReCreate Ireland; Joanne Rourke, Eastern Midlands Region Waste Office.

Interactive Web Documentary

Another key deliverable for this project was an interactive and educational webdoc here.

This is designed to inform and inspire people about waste and environmental issues and especially to encourage young people to pursue careers in reuse and repair.

It includes videos, images and links to campaigns under different material categories as well as a visual glossary.

Participatory Workshops

The third deliverable was participatory workshops sharing upcycling skills with a wider group of young people.

These were held at the ECO-UNESCO Awards event and ReCreate Open Day in 2018.

Project Consortium:

We were delighted to work with the following partners on this project:

Atelier D'Eco Solidaire: creative reuse centre (France)
Passeport Europe: consultancy in innovation and in European projects (France)
Fundacio Trinijove: training and socio-labour areas, with people in social risk (Spain)
InterMediaKT: supporting, inspiring and empowering actions of evolving business and entrepreneurship (Greece)
Association Al Ikram: working for disadvantaged people through social, economic and professional inclusion (Morocco)
Foro Tecnico de formacion: developing training courses in the field of social/health services addressed to employee of public, private and non-profit organisations (Spain)

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Our funders

Department of the Enviornment, Climate and Communications

CRNI receives core and operational funding through the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. 

For more information, check out their website

Project Funding

Waste Regions Logos

Green + Social Virtual Trade Fair

CRNI’s Green + Social Virtual Trade Fair is funded by Ireland’s Regional Waste Management Plan Offices. This innovative virtual platform is open 24/7 and gives visitors the opportunity to explore green and social procurement opportunities provided by reuse, repair and recycling social enterprises and community-based organisations across Ireland.

Access the Green + Social Virtual Trade Fair here.

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