Wikipedia
RepaNet is an environmental and employment creation project based in Graz, Austria. It was part of a development partnership within the EQUAL Community Initiative, part of the European Union's Structural Funds.
It is notable for the way it combines three complementary goals: the ecological goal of cutting waste by repairing and reusing things instead of throwing them away, the social goal of providing jobs for long-term unemployed people and the local economy goal of supporting small firms and building regional value.
The initiative is a triangular partnership involving small firms as well as NGOs and the public sector. The co-ordinartors see this as a 'win-win-win situation': The local authority and the ministry prize the environmental benefits, the chamber of commerce sees benefits for local firms, and the labour market service sees disadvantaged people back in work.
RepaNet is not just creating jobs that are sustainable in resource terms, but is also building attitudes and practices that are vital for the long-term development of the local economy. It is a training ground where consumers can learn to reuse waste, businesses can learn to co-operate and politicians can learn to think in terms of balanced growth. It thus contributes to the strategy set out in the European Commission’s Integrated guidelines for growth and jobs (2005-2008), COM(2005) 141. 1. Guideline 14 encourages the adoption of environmental technologies, guideline 15 calls for local industrial clusters, and guideline 18 recommends measures to include disadvantaged people in the labour market.