Racing internationally
Let's go international!
Race Against Waste is making headway both nationally, and internationally. Important, because we want to make as much positive impact as possible. And of course we do that together, because together we can move mountains!
We are currently active in 7 countries with our race concept.
We are working hard to provide more information per country on our website. For now, we give a small glimpse into our collaborations with international partners.
France - Germany - Spain - Belgium - Chile - England
France!
The first Textile Race in France was launched in 2022, in partnership with Refashion. Refashion is responsible for implementing the Textile EPR in France. In Europe, France is the first country to have a nationwide EPR system for textiles. The cooperation with Refashion is therefore special and incredibly inspiring for other countries in Europe!
In autumn 2022, the Textile Race Aix-Marseille-Provence took place.
The race ran from 10 October to 17 November 2022 in seven cities around Marseille. Ten primary schools (330 pupils aged 10-12) competed with each other to do as much as possible in textile repair, clothing exchange and collection. The aim was to make children aware of reduce, reuse and recycle around textiles. And they succeeded!
For four weeks, all participating schools make their best efforts to contribute to a circular economy. The Textile Race has had a lasting effect: many pupils continue to repair, swap clothes and collect after the race. A teacher from La Penne-sur-Huveaune indicated that the Textile Race has activated the whole school to continue to organise repair workshops in the future and motivate pupils to use textiles in a sustainable way.
"Although I was already aware of recycling and not wasting, this project reactivated my knowledge! I plan to continue offering recycling workshops to my students from time to time. All the children were very motivated. Even though it is obvious that we are not going to win this race, we had a lot of fun, and I hope good habits were learned..."
- Carole Guirao, école Beausoleil -
It was a successful race. The 10 schools collected a whopping 17,340 kilos of textiles through campaigning. This is a great result!
Primary school Cros from Éguilles collected 5389 kilos single-handedly, making it the winner of the first ever Textile Race in France. On 18 November, the official award ceremony was held at the school. This fun reel was recorded during the award ceremony.
Germany!
In 2021 the initiative of the E-Waste Race was brought to Germany by Das macht Schule. In 2024 the Textile Race followed. The project has won several awards, including:-
- The Circular Award Public Netherlands (2021)
- A place in the TOP 100 Recycling Heroes by Stichting Global Recycling (2020)
- The Energy Globe Award Netherlands, co-organized by the United Nations (2017)
- A mention in the Sustainable Young 100 (2016)
- Winner of the E-waste 2.0 Challenge (2013)
This success builds on an earlier initiative, founded in Germany in 2006 by Bernd Gebert. Gebert was recognized by Ashoka in 2007 and appointed as a member of the international network of leading social entrepreneurs. In 2023, the project was among the top 30 of the German Sustainability Award "Local Heroes.
España!
In 2023, SETEM Catalunya and Race Against Waste joined forces and launched the E-waste Race (“Cursa Electrònica”) and Textile Race (“Cursa Tèxtil”) in Catalonia. SETEM will implement the educational campaigns locally. The first races took place in Barcelona and Rubí.
België!
Through a great collaboration of partners, we will organize the first E-waste race in Belgium in mid-May/June 2025. We are super proud that our southern neighbors are joining the race concept and look forward to the first results!
Chile!
We are proud to announce that we will be working in beautiful Chile!
Together with Metazero we will further develop the race concept in Chile. Very exciting news, which we are very proud about.
England!
In cooperation with Solutions for the planet, we want to go for a more sustainable approach in the world. That is why we are joining hands and looking together for the possibilities for the race concept in England.
Together we are going for a more beautiful world!
