RSL recycles. Circular home furnishings and appliances for OCMW homes

Cooperation with local and social partners to set up social welfare patrimony

Roeselare's social welfare centre (OCMW) has more than 100 homes for temporary accommodation. Partial refurbishment follows every six months on average, with a lot of materials often being lost. On the one hand, appliances and furniture are too quickly declared unsuitable due to a cumbersome logistical collaboration, and on the other hand, many difficult-to-repair short-lived products are purchased. 

With this project, Roeselare wants to work out a more circular approach through collaborations with local and social partners. We set up two test cases, one with a focus on furniture, and one with a focus on white goods. 

For furniture, we started a collaboration with Kringwinkel Midwest. In it, they offer us second-hand furniture from their range to temporarily furnish public social welfare centres. They also repair or replace defective furniture from existing locations. 

For white goods, through a co-creation process, we explored how to work out an as-a-service model with a role for local traders and social economy. Together with various stakeholders, all steps of the innovative chain operation were mapped and a new collaboration was designed. We then drew up specifications for a framework contract regarding the provision of washing machines via an as-a-service model with a local/social focus.

Stad Roeselare

Partners De Kringwinkel Midden West Vlaanderen, The Global Picture, Econocom Lease, Buurt & Co, Trifinance, Expert Crombez

Sectors

Themes

Organisations

MOST IMPORTANT
RESULTS

  1. We developed a new furniture service in cooperation with thrift shop Midwest. By using second-hand furniture and repairing defective furniture for reuse, we save considerably on new raw materials. 
  2. Because Kringwinkel Midwest takes care of the delivery, collection, repair and replacement of furniture, our own building service is considerably relieved. The cost of providing furniture within the public social welfare centre also fell by 26%. 
  3. Thanks to this cooperation, two additional workstations were created in Kringwinkel Midwest. 
  4. We drew up specifications for a framework contract regarding the provision of washing machines in public social welfare centres through an as-a-service model with a local/social focus.

MOST IMPORTANT
LESSONS LEARNED

  1. By involving all stakeholders in the development of the new service, we came to insights we would not have discovered on our own. For example, social workers indicated the importance of a homely atmosphere, which resulted in the use of furniture sets instead of a mix of furniture styles. 
  2. When setting up multi-stakeholder cooperation models, it is important that the effort of the different actors is not too large compared to the scale of the pilot project. A pilot project should be sufficiently large to make it attractive. 
  3. To co-create successfully, it is essential to engage with the right partners at the right level. For instance, the electrical procurement group, which was not initially involved, ended up being the missing catalyst to represent the electrical dealers. 
  4. By thinking and executing concrete and quickly, we learned in the collaboration for the furniture through trial and error, which saved us a lot of time.
89 Purchased second-hand furniture
26% Cost reduction
2 Additional jobs created
23 Furnishing actions

WHAT DOES
THE FUTURE HOLD?

As this project is financially viable, we will continue to cooperate with Kringwinkel Midwest for the furnishing of the public welfare centre's patrimony even after the project support. Through a cooperation agreement, we hope to ease the administrative side and formally confirm the cooperation. 

The tender concerning the provision of washing machines in public social welfare centres through an as-a-service model will be put on the market and we will follow it up once it has been awarded. A total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis will follow, and we will share our experiences and learnings after the launch. 

Kringwinkel Midwest plans to expand the new service to other municipalities and organisations within the Midwest region. 

Thanks to this project, partner Trifinance also discovered how to use their financial expertise to develop circular business models, and will continue to apply that knowledge in the future. 

Furthermore, all partners will actively work to publicise the new services through their channels.