New local initiative promotes re-use of unwanted items

“Don’t throw it away, re-use it!” is the message from the waste management company for the Chania region, DEDISA. A new digital platform, which was unveiled at a press conference on 9th February at Chania Town Hall, gives citizens the opportunity to exchange, sell or give away unwanted products and appliances. At the press conference DEDISA said that it is “going a step further in meeting environmental challenges and in the search for a more sustainable management of Urban Solid Waste, with the creation of a platform for disposing of and exchanging products under the title RE-USE.GR by DEDISA.

“The new platform is based on the philosophy of the circular economy, with the object of minimising the production of solid waste, through the re-use of objects, products and materials, giving them a ‘second life’. With re-use, far fewer resources and energy are required in comparison with the processes involved in manufacturing new products or in recycling, and in this way we can protect the environment.”

Re-use.gr press conference
At the press conference announcing the launch of the new website on 9th February were, from the left: the general secretary of DEDISA Kostas Paterakis, deputy mayor Michalis Tsoupakis and head of the Environmental, Green and Sanitation service of the Municipality of Chania, Katerina Katsiaganni. Photo: Haniotika Nea.

Deputy mayor Michalis Tsoupakis emphasised that the platform can help reduce waste and said that the initiative aims to send a message of the re-use of unwanted products and appliances. The general director of DEDISA, Kostas Paterakis, noted that the platform is the first of its kind in Greece. He said that the need to create the website arose from the observation that many functioning products are being left in the rubbish. The platform covers the full range of consumer goods and appliances.

How it works
Registration is required to offer products for exchange or sale, and to communicate with other users. Signing up is free, and requires giving a name, address, phone number and email as well as a username to be displayed with one’s profile. There are 8 main categories, with several sub-categories for each:
Miscellaneous,
Cars – Motorcycles – Boats
Hobbies – Interests
Electrical Goods
Music – Films – Books
Family – Children’s – Infants’
Clothing
House and Garden
There is also a map showing offers in one’s area. The site having only recently been launched, there are only a dozen or so products advertised so far.

Re-use.gr web page
The new website announced by DEDISA aims to promote the re-use of products and appliances, which consumes less resources and energy than manufacture or recycling. Photo: Haniotika Nea.

The contact form can be used to communicate with other users, to give more information about the product you are offering or to seek information about an item you are interested in. There is a disclaimer to the effect that “DEDISA AE will in no case be involved in transactions between users, it acts exclusively as the provider of the platform and of no other service”.

“Reuse is even better than recycling. What is of no use to us can be useful to someone else,” DEDISA says. “In view of the fact that the organisation manages around 7,000 tons of bulky objects annually, the aim is for RE-USE.GR by DEDISA to become an instrument for the promotion of Prevention, Re-use and Reduction of Urban Solid Waste – activities of central importance for achieving the circular economy – while at the same time it aims to promote a culture of the exchange of products between citizens.”
(Haniotika Nea, 10/02/24)