ARNO Celebrates Membership in the RREUSE Network with Powerful Joint Advocacy

In April 2025, ARNO proudly became a member of the RREUSE Network, joining a vibrant community of organizations across Europe dedicated to promoting the circular economy through social enterprises. While we didn’t have a moment to celebrate back then, today we’re thrilled to share the first meaningful outcome of this membership—and it’s a powerful one. We’re amplifying our voice through thousands of others with the newly released position paper, “Advancing Sustainable Resource Management with the Circular Economy Act.” This document perfectly reflects our values and the impact social enterprises can have in creating a just, circular, and inclusive economy.

“Social enterprises play a key role in waste prevention, collection, (preparing for) reuse, and recycling, while they also generate remarkable social and economic benefits.”

✅ Each year, RREUSE members collect over 1 million tonnes of goods
♻️ Nearly 70% is diverted from landfills
👷 On average, they create 70 jobs per 1,000 tonnes of collected materials for reuse
💶 They generate more than €1 billion in annual turnover

These numbers aren’t just impressive—they show the transformative potential of a circular economy built on solidarity, environmental justice, and inclusion.

The position paper calls on EU and national policymakers to:

🔺 Prioritise the upper levels of the waste hierarchy
🪙 Uphold the “polluter pays” principle
🤝 Protect and scale the role of social enterprises, in line with the proximity principle

The upcoming Circular Economy Act is a rare opportunity to create a more sustainable Europe—not only by managing waste better, but by preventing it altogether. At ARNO, we are proud to stand alongside our peers in RREUSE and contribute to this collective mission.

👉 Read the full position paper here: https://lnkd.in/eRysGqQE