Exercises: Sharing, circular, social and solidarity economy

Explain the difference between a linear economy (make → use → dispose) and a circular economy using the example of a mobile phone: what happens to it in each model when you stop using it?

The sharing economy consists of sharing underused resources. Classify these examples as sharing economy or not and justify your answer: (a) a neighbourhood board game library; (b) buying a drill that you will use twice in your life; (c) the school textbook scheme; (d) renting a holiday apartment managed by a company with $200$ flats.

The diagram shows the circular economy cycle applied to clothes in the school locker, but one of the stages is covered with a question mark.

1. a) State which stage is missing between 'use' and 'reuse' (extending the garment's life by repairing it) and explain why it is the preferred option before recycling.
2. b) Go through the cycle with a school hoodie: what happens to it at each stage if the system works well?

Order the 'three Rs' by their environmental priority — reduce, reuse, recycle — and explain with the example of a water bottle why recycling is the last option and not the first. What does 'the best bottle is the one that is never made' mean?

Explain in your own words what the social and solidarity economy is and name two examples that could work in your school or neighbourhood (a cooperative, a barter association, a time bank). What distinguishes it from a traditional business?

Classify these school actions as reduce, reuse or recycle: (a) the used textbook bank; (b) printing double-sided and only what is necessary; (c) separating paper into the blue bin; (d) removing single-use cups from the coffee machine; (e) fixing broken chairs in the workshop instead of throwing them away.

Explain what a time bank is (swapping hours of skills with no money) and give three examples of services you could offer and three you would like to receive. What problem of money does it solve and what new problem does it create?

Define 'responsible consumption' and write three questions a responsible consumer asks before buying (do I need it?, who made it?, what will happen when I no longer use it?). Apply them to buying a new mobile phone.

The ecological footprint measures the impact we generate. Calculate this comparison: one single-use plastic bottle per day during the school year ($200$ days) versus a reusable steel bottle that lasts $5$ school years.

1. a) How many plastic bottles does each option consume over $5$ school years ($1.000$ days)?
2. b) If manufacturing the steel bottle is equivalent to $30$ plastic bottles, from which day onwards is it worth using the reusable one? Explain your calculation.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are $17$ global targets (no poverty, clean energy, sustainable cities, responsible consumption and production…). Choose two SDGs that fit this school project: 'a school uniform and textbook exchange hub'. Explain what the project contributes to each one and how you would measure it (what number you would record each month).

At the local farmers' market, almost all of the $20\ \text{€}$ you spend on cheese from the local dairy stays in the town (the cheesemaker buys feed from the cooperative, the cooperative hires local residents…), whereas almost all of the $20\ \text{€}$ spent at a supermarket chain leaves the area. Explain what local development is and why money circulating locally 'multiplies' its effect.

The school canteen throws away $12$ kg of food every day, around $2.160$ kg a school year. One group proposes weighing the leftovers daily and publishing them on a display board.

1. a) Explain how a simple visible measurement can change behaviour (what psychological mechanism it uses) and propose two more actions to cut the waste in half.
2. b) Calculate how many complete $400\ \text{g}$ meals could be saved with the $2.160$ kg and argue who they could legally be donated to.

Your school cooperative is debating whether to buy plastic cups ($0,03\ \text{€}$ each) or compostable cups ($0,08\ \text{€}$). About $400$ cups will be used at the fair.

1. a) Calculate the extra cost of the compostable option in euros and as a percentage of the cost of the cheap option.
2. b) The stall's expected profit is $150\ \text{€}$ and half of it is donated to an NGO. Argue which option you would choose if your values say 'we look after the environment', and explain how to communicate it to customers so that the extra cost becomes a selling point.

A group of neighbourhood mothers has set up a buying group: they order vegetables directly from a nearby market garden, with no middlemen, and share them out on Thursdays. Explain what type of economy this is (collaborative, social, circular, local), what each party gains (families, farmer, neighbourhood) and which two practical difficulties it will have to solve (distribution, minimum orders, who coordinates).

The parcel delivery company you use is replacing new cardboard boxes with "second-life" boxes (already used boxes that have been inspected and reinforced). Explain which circular economy principle it applies, calculate the savings in trees if each new box is equivalent to $0{,}2\text{ kg}$ of wood, an average tree produces $100\text{ kg}$ of wood, and they ship $50.000$ boxes per year, and name a potential image problem the company will have to manage.

Choose one of the SDGs (for example: sustainable cities, responsible consumption and production, climate action) and design a mini-project for your school that contributes to it: what you would do, which number you would measure each month to know it is working (an indicator) and what target you would set yourselves for the end of the year.

Every year your school generates whole cupboards of lost property, abandoned books, and broken sports equipment. Design a circular system for the school: what is collected, how it is sorted (repair, reuse, recycle), who manages it, and how it is funded. Provide two indicators to check that it works (kg reused, % of material recovered…).

A local greengrocer is considering turning into a worker cooperative: the employees would be owners and make decisions in an assembly, sharing the profits among themselves.

1. a) Compare its objectives with those of a chain greengrocer owned by an investor: what changes in decisions regarding prices, wages, and suppliers?
2. b) Analyse two advantages and two difficulties of the cooperative model for this specific case.

A 'fast fashion' chain sells T-shirts for $4\ \text{€}$ that last $10$ washes; a local brand sells T-shirts for $20\ \text{€}$ that last $100$ washes.

1. a) Calculate the cost per wash for each T-shirt and discuss which one is truly "cheaper".
2. b) Analyse what other costs do not appear in the price of the $4\ \text{€}$ T-shirt (environmental and social) and who pays for them.

The school's second-hand market wants to move from an annual event to a permanent online shop. Some say this way much more will be reused; others say a permanent shop turns the donation into a business and it will lose its spirit.

1. a) Summarise the best argument of each position and detect what tension there is between growing and keeping your values.
2. b) Design the model you would choose (management, prices, destination of the margin) with two written rules that protect the project's social character even if it sells a lot.

A city is considering banning combustion-engine cars from the centre within $5$ years. It affects $2.000$ residents living inside the zone and $400$ shops that receive deliveries.

1. a) Analyse the measure with the sustainability criteria: what environmental problem it tackles, who pays the cost of the transition and what social effects it can have on those who cannot change their car.
2. b) Propose a transition plan with three supporting measures (grants, alternative transport, exemptions) and defend why the package as a whole is fairer than the outright ban.

'The circular economy is impossible: recycling costs more than manufacturing new, so nobody will do it of their own free will.'

1. a) Explain why current prices do not include all the costs (pollution, landfill, health) and what an 'externality' is, with an example from your surroundings.
2. b) Propose two mechanisms that would make the circular option profitable without relying on goodwill (landfill charges, deposit-and-return schemes for packaging, green public procurement) and analyse who pays in each case.

Your cooperative wants to calculate the footprint of its breakfast stall. Estimated data per breakfast: compostable cup $12\ \text{g}$ of waste, napkin $2\ \text{g}$, fruit scraps $30\ \text{g}$ (compostable), bread wrapper $5\ \text{g}$. They will sell $300$ breakfasts at the fair.

1. a) Calculate the total kilos of waste, separating compostable from non-compostable, and the percentage of each type.
2. b) Propose three changes to the stall ordered from least to greatest effort (signposting the bins, changing the napkin, removing the wrapper) and estimate the new compostable percentage if the first two are applied, explaining your assumptions.

Two projects are applying for the same council premises: a 'library of things' (lending tools, games and equipment, a fee of $10\ \text{€}$ a year) and an organic café that would pay $400\ \text{€}$ a month in rent.

1. a) Compare what each project brings to the neighbourhood with the criteria of the social and circular economy: use of resources, cohesion, money coming into the council.
2. b) As a councillor, decide and defend your decision by explaining how you value the benefits that are not euros and what you would do so that the project not chosen does not die.