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Responsible consumption

See how neighbors are turning SDG 12 into everyday action.

Making, mending, and sharing with care — less waste, longer-lived things, and joy in what already exists.

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Ideas advancing SDG 12: Responsible consumption

Programme nearbyFood & Garden Frankfurt

Visit Rhine-Main organic farms this harvest wee in Frankfurt

Visit Rhine-Main organic farms this harvest wee in Frankfurt Dottenfelderhof in Bad Vilbel, Querbeet's Pappelhof in Reichelsheim, and Die Kooperative's Cityfarm in Oberrad open for Foodtura: apple pressing, potato digging, a hen walk, a farm festival, and a free family Sunday with a Schnippelparty in Frankfurt. What you can do - Press juice at the Jahreszeitenwerkstatt (19 September) - Dig your own potatoes at Pappelhof - Meet the hens or join the free Hoffest at Dottenfelderhof - Close the festival at the Familiensonntag on the Cityfarm (free) - Book the Farm to Table dinner at Tonka if you want a long table of Cityfarm vegetables How it works Farm days list prices and booking links on each page. The Hoffest and Familiensonntag are free drop-in. Wear shoes you can get dirty. Why it matters Seeing soil, animals, and harvest in the same week as city kitchens makes regional food feel real.

farm harvest organic

Programme nearbyRepair & Reuse Munich

Hofflohmärkte, neighbourhood courtyard flea market in Munich

Hofflohmärkte, neighbourhood courtyard flea market in Munich Hofflohmärkte is a Germany-wide reuse programme: residents register a private courtyard, garden, or garage and sell pre-loved goods while neighbours follow a linked tour plan through the district in Munich. The platform runs in 30+ cities and 300+ neighbourhoods; initiator René Götz operates registration, participants organise their own courtyards. What you can do - Download the tour plan PDF for your Viertel (published about one week before each market day) - Walk the linked addresses and buy second-hand treasures from neighbours - Register your own Hof if you have landlord approval and goods to pass on How it works - Sales stay on private ground only, not sidewalks or public space - Typical hours: Saturdays 10–16, Sundays 11–16 (Munich also runs selected Friday evenings with M-net sponsorship) - No food sales; private sellers only, professional dealers are not welcome - Registration closes three weeks before each date for tour-plan marking; late sign-ups are accepted but may not appear on the map - Organisers may cancel a date if fewer than 30 courtyards register, fees are then refunded About Hofflohmärkte Neighbours register a private Hof, Garten, or Garage on Hofflohmärkte and sell used goods on scheduled Viertel days. Registered addresses appear on a tour plan published about one week before each date. Sales happen on private ground only. See city pages for local schedules and Spielregeln & Tipps for seller rules. Why it matters Every item re-homed from a courtyard is one less thing bought new or landfilled, and a chance to meet the people who live behind the front doors.

flea market reuse neighbourhood

Programme nearbyFood & Garden Cologne

Get a Biotonne: close the compost loop in Cologne

Get a Biotonne: close the compost loop in Cologne About 40% of what lands in the grey residual bin is compostable organic waste. In Niehl it is burned: costing money, CO₂, and fertile matter that could return to parks and gardens as torffreier Kölner Kompost. What you can do - Ask your landlord for the free brown Biotonne (tenants can use Zero Waste Köln’s postcard template on their project page). - Line the bin with newspaper, keep it in the shade, and skip “compostable” plastic bags: they need industrial conditions Cologne’s plants do not offer. - Buy Kölner Kompost or Blumenerde from AWB/AVG outlets (the Verein advocates more neighbourhood pick-up points). Why it matters Separate bio collection has been mandatory in Germany since 2015, but Cologne households still need to request the bin. Less bio in residual waste can mean a smaller (cheaper) grey bin.

compost circular local

Programme nearbyFood & Garden São Paulo

Compost organics with waste pickers in São Paulo

Catadoras and catadores lead the loop Instituto Polis and the Brasil Composta Cultiva network support community composting and organic-waste treatment, now active across ten Brazilian states, with São Paulo as a flagship hub. The 2025 regional report cites recycler participation in organic management as a top Latin American success story. What you can do - Join a compost tour or training led by waste-picker leaders in the São Paulo metro area. - Start or support a neighbourhood compost point that partners with local catadoras/es. Why it matters Organic diversion cuts methane from landfills while keeping recycler cooperatives at the centre of the system, not at its margins.

compost recyclers organics

Programme nearbyFood & Garden Paris

Learn composting at Maison du Jardinage

A free compost classroom in Bercy The Maison du Jardinage et du Compostage in Parc de Bercy is Paris's hands-on hub for residents who want to compost with confidence. Two Saturdays each month, city gardeners run intro workshops on what goes in the pile, how to balance moisture, and how to use finished compost safely. What you can do - Check the monthly nature programme on paris.fr for the next atelier dates - Visit 41 rue Paul-Belmondo in the 12th arrondissement for demos and Q&A - Download the city's collective and school compost guides from the dossier page before starting your own site - Pair a workshop visit with a building campaign so référents arrive prepared How it works Workshops are free and aimed at beginners. Staff explain the three Paris pathways — collective bins, quartier sites, and lombricomposteurs — so you can pick the scale that fits your home. Why it matters Skills spread faster than brochures. One afternoon with a maître composteur can unlock years of shared soil for a whole stairwell.

compost education workshop

From a builderRepair & Reuse Frankfurt

Zerowaste Frankfurt

Der Zero Waste Guide für Frankurt: Abfall reduzieren heißt Klima schützen. Kampagne: Gemeinsam mit allen Menschen in Frankfurt wollen wir den Restmüll pro Kopf und Jahr von derzeit 205 kg auf 120 kg reduzieren. Was ist Zero Waste? Frankfurt möchte, als eine der ersten Städte Deutschlands, Zero Waste City werden. Was genau bedeutet das? Wirklich gar kein Abfall mehr? Zero Waste meint „keine Verschwendung“. Und damit weniger Müll. Genau dies ist das Ziel unserer groß angelegten Dafür gibt es viele interessante und motivierende Aktionen und Angebote. Wir möchten dich zum Mitmachen ermutigen. Denn: Sich gemeinsam gegen Verschwendung und für den Erhalt von Rohstoffen einzusetzen, macht Spaß und ist ganz einfach im Alltag möglich. Privat genauso wie im Job. Zero Waste Initiativen & Projekte in und um Frankfurt https://zerowaste-ffm.de/initiativenprojekte/ © Umweltamt der Stadt Frankfurt am Main 2026

circular economy reuse reduce

Programme nearbyFood & Garden Paris

Start shared composting with Paris Plan Compost

Turn food scraps into neighbourhood soil In Paris, organic waste still makes up more than 23% of what lands in the residual bin. The city's Plan Compost has supported more than 1,000 shared sites since 2010: courtyard bins, quartier composters, and individual worm boxes, all backed by maître composteur coaching. What you can do - Apply during a quarterly campaign to install a collective composter at your building or school (collective installation form) - Gather at least seven motivated households and two site référents who will attend training and keep the pile healthy - Order equipment or book a maître composteur visit through the city's online forms when campaigns are open - Join the public Composter à Paris community for tips and meet-ups How it works Copropriétés, social housing blocks, schools, and institutions with 5 m² of ground contact can host wooden 400–600 L bins. The city delivers bio-buckets, dry-matter reserves, aeration tools, and eight months of professional follow-up so the site becomes self-running. Why it matters Composting at home can cut up to 80 kg of waste per household each year while returning nutrients to balconies, courtyards, and shared beds — joy and soil, not guilt.

compost circular local

Programme nearbyRepair & Reuse Kiel

Pack Kita wet clothes in Wechselbüddel

Washable bags beat single-use plastic After a pilot, Kiel equipped about 55 Kitas with Wechselbüddel: waterproof, washable bags for muddy or wet children’s clothes instead of disposable plastic sacks. What you can do - Ask your Kita whether Wechselbüddel are in use; wash and return bags the same day when possible. - Replicate the pattern at home for swimming or forest days. Why it matters Daily Kita handovers add up; a durable bag removes thousands of plastic sacks per year across the city. Wechselbüddel

childcare reuse family

Programme nearbyFood & Garden Berlin

Neighbourhood compost with Kiez-Kompost in Berlin

Neighbourhood compost with Kiez-Kompost in Berlin Kiez-Kompost builds neighbourhood-scale composting for housing estates, garden clubs, urban farms, and solidarische Landwirtschaft projects in Berlin. Their bioreactor process keeps organic matter local and aims for humus-rich compost without industrial peat from drained moors. What you can do - Contact the team via kiez-kompost.de to ask about a neighborhood composter for your courtyard or garden association - Partner as an urban gardening or Solawi project that needs finished compost returned to beds - Follow their RBB Gartenzeit feature and Instagram for build updates while the venture scales - Start small: one shared bin plus clear rotation rules beats waiting for a perfect site How it works Kiez-Kompost is in an active launch phase: offerings evolve quickly. Reach out by email or the site contact form; they reply with project fit, bioreactor sizing, and neighbour onboarding steps. Why it matters Berlin loses fertile soil to bagged shop compost and long transport chains. Ortsnahe Kreisläufe keep carbon and nutrients in the neighborhood where people grow food together.

compost community bioreactor

Programme nearbyRepair & Reuse Buenos Aires

Support recycler cooperatives managing organics in Buenos Aires

Segregation at source: cooperatives in charge Argentina’s FACCyR-linked recycler groups manage organic streams where source segregation is in place, a pattern the 2025 regional report pairs with Colombian ANR experiences. Cooperatives such as El Amanecer de los Cartoneros in Villa Fiorito show how sorted organics and recyclables can stay in community hands. What you can do - Sort organics and clean recyclables before cooperative pick-up on your block. - Connect your barrio association with a registered cartonero/a cooperative for collection routes. Why it matters Recycler-led organics management turns a climate liability into local jobs and compost, without shipping waste out of sight.

recyclers organics cooperative

Programme nearbyFood & Garden San Salvador

Grow food sovereignty through community compost in San Salvador

Gardens, organics, and mutual aid The 2025 regional chapter stresses how community compost, source segregation, recycler inclusion, and community gardens (huertos) strengthen food sovereignty in vulnerable neighbourhoods across Latin America, with San Salvador among municipalities GAIA accompanies on zero-waste pathways. What you can do - Start or join a barrio compost pile that feeds a shared garden bed. - Partner with youth groups to run organic-waste recycling workshops at schools. Why it matters When food prices rise, keeping organics in the neighbourhood loop builds soil, skills, and shared meals, not dependency on distant supply chains.

garden compost food

Programme nearbyFood & Garden Quito

Join Quito's community compost and zero waste network

Municipal tools: neighbourhood compost Ecuador’s Alianza Basura Cero documents a growing compost network and municipal zero waste ordinances residents can advocate for locally. The alliance publishes a model ordinance and maps community compost sites, from Pomasqui and Cotacachi to neighbourhood clubs such as Club del Compost in Bellavista. What you can do - Find a mapped compostera comunitaria near you and volunteer for a work day. - Ask your parish or neighbourhood council to adopt zero-waste ordinance language from the alliance toolkit. Why it matters Community compost keeps food sovereignty and soil health local while giving municipalities a replicable legal frame, reuse included, not just collection.

compost ordinance community

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