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 recruits long-term unemployed people, who find it difficult to get a job for any number of reasons – because they are ex-offenders, migrants, illiterate, ill, or just women who want to go back to work after raising a family.
Most of Ökoservice's employees have the status of ‘transit worker’ (Transitarbeiter) under Austrian law, which means that for up to 14 months their employer can claim a subsidy worth 60% of their wages costs from the Labour Market Office (Arbeitsmarktservice – AMS).
This is not the case for the so-called sozialökonomische Betriebe (social economic enterprises) which are driven by an administrative logic (i.e. spending a budget), rather than an entrepreneurial one (i.e. earning a profit), so they are unable to invest.
Ökoservice has become a local institution, and is seen to create a range of benefits: an appropriate type of work for the target group, a variety of different jobs that workers can switch between, and the opportunity to get a qualification.
It gives these people support and mentoring, and raises public awareness of ecological and labour market issues – Graz is an EU ‘Eco-city’ and Ökoservice was selected as a Local Agenda 21 good practice.
Another social enterprise, BAN (Beratung, Arbeit, Neubeginn – ‘Advice, Work, New Start’) [3], is to be found in an old house in the inner-city neighbourhood of Gries.
Like Ökoservice, BAN, which was founded in 1983, earns about half its revenue from selling goods and services, and makes up the difference with the grants it receives in return for integrating long-term unemployed people.
An upstairs room is the meeting point for the Graz Repair Network, which brings together representatives from a score of local businesses, who energetically debate their collective image and plan promotional events.
Many traditional crafts are built on the idea of durability and repair, and jewellers, watchmakers, cobblers, tailors, plumbers, carpenters, smiths, electricians and bicycle shops have all joined the networks.
RepaNet members agree a quality standard which commits them to attempt any reasonable repair, to deal with at least five different brands of equipment, and to charge a set amount for a binding quotation.
A more specialised operation is based on an industrial estate in Liezen, 120 kilometres northwest of Graz amid the mountains of Northern Styria.
The company has found a niche market at the intersection of tourism, the environment and science education, and also fabricates items such as Archimedes screws, which make popular hands-on exhibits at a local water theme park.
The waterwheels are GBL's trademark, but its high skills base means that the enterprise can fabricate all sorts of metal or wood prototypes and is always on the lookout for new product ideas.
It also renovates and repairs household equipment, especially white goods (washing machines, dishwashers, tumble driers, electric stoves etc.
The development partnership also has a 'vertical' dimension, linking the regional networks with the key decision makers at national level, including the environment ministry, employers and trade unions.
Nevertheless, local businesses sometimes fear that employment companies may constitute unfair competition, so it is an asset to have the ministry and chamber of commerce (Wirtschaftkammer) behind it.
So although its primary ideological drive is to reduce environmental damage through waste minimisation, it sometimes seems reluctant to go out and sell the products it so inventively designs and manufactures.
RREUSE holds meetings with the Environment Commissioner and European parliamentarians, and seems to have had a real influence on the WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) directive.
In March 2004 RREUSE members came to Graz to take part in the exchange mart the RepaNet DP organised within their transnational partnership SENECA – Social economy network for environmental co-operation activities (TCA 237).
The event enabled participating organisations to exchange ideas for new environmental businesses in the social economy, by addressing both customers and producers.
On the supply side, the regional RepaNet networks bring in small businesses and enable them to swap skills and knowledge to their mutual advantage.