CIRTOINNO Film team with good practices & CE experts in Poland
Currently the film production team (Barck & Lindell, LNU and Wallin, ESS) is creating material for the five educational movies in Circular Economy that will be released by the end of fall this year. The objective of the films is to give knowledge and inspiration to companies that wish to develop and integrate CE solutions into their business. The films are complimentary to the workshops developed in the project.
First out was Avocado Bistro that offers delicious vegan ecological food in Gdansk. They were recently mentioned in the Polish Edition of Vouge in an article about 10 places in Gdańsk worth to visit. Sister company Avocado Vegan Shop (previously Zero Waste shop) allows customers to bring their own containers for packaging the food products as well as provides glass jars and paper bags in the shop. Each type of product in the store is sold in a larger jar or container, and customers take exactly the amount they need and fill their own smaller container, which is then weighed at the counter to determine the price. Avocado has rapidly become a well-known brand regionally and owner Joanna Krupicka is currently expanding adding Avocado Spot, completing an Avocado business triad.
Notera Hotel and Spa may look like an ordinary hotel but Aneta Zalewska, manager and designer of the establishment, has put care into integrating some technologies, e.g. energy efficiency measures, that decrease the overall pressure on the natural environment as well as saves money for the company. Some examples are rainwater recycling, heat recycling from the swimming pools, and placing the building in such a way that is maximizes the harvesting of energy and light from the sun.
Lawendowa Osada is another business that we visited and interviewed. They support their services and products on two well cared for lavender fields. They use ecological and locally produced products for their foods, and for their lavender products which includes e.g. a lavender syrup, soaps and bath salts. They also build the brand largely on their cultural heritage.
In addition to site visits and interviews with business representatives we made interviews with experts in Circular Economy and Design thinking. The latter can be used as a tool in the process of developing CE solutions. CE expert and professor Joanna Kulczycka says the three most important areas in CE to work on for companies are food, waste and energy. DT expert and workshop facilitator Agnieszka Mróz adds the top requirements for a business looking to develop and introduce CE solutions are team co-creation (team need to be part of creating the solutions and each step of the journey from idea to implementation), change of attitudes (openness to new ways of thinking and doing things), and bringing ideas in to practice (i.e. going from the idea stage to action).
The result of the polish contribution to the film production was over expectations. Next time we will explore and document CE solutions in Denmark.
