RREUSE (Reuse and Recycling European Union Social Enterprises) is an international nonprofit network linking social enterprises active in the environmental field of reuse, repair and recycling. The NGO says its mission values the three pillars of sustainability — environmental protection, social equity and economic viability — equally.

Mission and Activity 
RREUSE's mission is to empower, represent and support the social and circular enterprise community and to lobby at the European Union level for stronger policies in favour of repair and reuse of end-of-life products. RREUSE wishes to see an inclusive circular economy based on re-use and repair for the good of both society and the environment. Based in Belgium, RREUSE notes that it has 102,000 employees, trainees and volunteers working across more than 29 countries.

RREUSE activities include representing re-use and recycling social enterprises, general advocacy, and research. The association also partners in international projects, working with institutions like universities and research centres. Examples include the LOWaste Project as well as the Quali Pro Second Hand Project II (an innovative European initiative on "second hand" product usage). In 2011, RREUSE received the European Week for Waste Reduction award for that campaign.

Origin 
Interests in social enterprises working together in environmental services increased during 1999-2001. A few events and projects were set by a few organisations from the social economy sector. Some organisations also started working together on the forthcoming European WEEE Directive (adopted in 2001), to address the concern about the possible impact of the WEEE-Directive on social enterprises working in the recycling and reuse sector. In November 2000, a decision was made to develop a European network of social enterprises working in the waste sector to provide a forum for political debates and unfolding legislation in Brussels on a more regular basis. 

A network of 17 social enterprises was constituted on 26 February 2001. Representatives from the European Parliament, Belgium Ministry for Social Economy, and the Directorate Environment of the European Commission expressed their general support. RREUSE was founded in August 2022 under Belgian law with the status of a Non-profit organisation. 

In 2003, RREUSE opened a secretariat for Belgium and international environmental and social NGO's at Mundo-B house, an ecologically renovated office building in the centre of Brussels.

RREUSE members are: 

 AERESS (Spain)
 Association Citizens "Hands" (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
 Associazione Orius (Italy)
 BKN (Netherlands)
 Cooperativa Sociale Insieme (Ireland) 
 CRNI (Ireland)
 CRNS (UK) 
 Dobrote z.b.o (Slovenia)
 donateNYC (United States) 
 Ecological Recycling Society (Greece)
 EKON (Poland)  
 Emmaüs Europe
 Emmaüs France (France) 
 ENVIE (France)
 Herwin (Belgium)
 Humana Nova (Croatia) 
 Humusz Szövetség (Hungary)
 Kierrätyskeskus Oy (Finland)   
 Klimax Plus (Greece)
 Macken (Sweden)  
 RECOSI (Ireland)
 RehabRecycle (Ireland)
 RepaNet (Austria) 
 RESSOURCES (Belgium)
 Reuseful UK (UK) 
 Tramel Oy (Finland)
 Uuskasutuskeskus (Estonia) 

The network RREUSE has a non-bureaucratic structure.

The members meet three times a year working on the different waste streams, such as:

 WEEE (Waste electrical and electronic equipment), 
 Textiles, 
 Bulky waste, 
 Bio-waste, 
 Resource consumption and product policies etc. 

Most of the work is done by volunteer members between the meetings.

Funding 
RREUSE is financed by the membership fees. In the first two years RREUSE received seed funding from the Belgian Government to promote the launch of the organisation. Later, RREUSE received some funding by DG Environment and DG Education. Recently  RREUSE has received funding from Fondation de France.

See also 

Computer recycling
Electronic waste
Planned obsolescence
European Ecodesign Directive
Life-cycle assessment
Waste hierarchy
European Waste Hierarchy
European Employment Strategy
Social economy
Social inclusion
Biodegradable waste

References

External links 
 

Recycling organizations
International organizations based in Europe