Building and scaling LOTs – experiences from Sweden

The ReSolutions project partner Föreningsalliansen has years of hands-on experience running a Fritidsbank in the central Swedish municipality of Bollnäs. A Fritidsbank is a local library of things (LOT) where you can borrow sports and leisure equipment free of charge for 14 days. The equipment is collected from items that would otherwise have become waste, but through Fritidsbanken it is reused. In Sweden there are over 130 Fritidsbanken LOTs across the country. Each one of them functions as a franchise with national coordination and support from Fritidsbanken Sweden, an organization that is also part of the project.

This initiative, which targets practical and local challenges in Bollnäs, has now also grown into a cross-border collaboration with European reach. A key enabler in this journey is the Central Baltic Programme. Through its support, project partners from Sweden, Finland and Latvia will collaborate in building and scaling LOTs and exploring upcycling innovations. Central Baltic has not just provided funding, but also a framework, for European cooperation where knowledge, methods and ambition could grow across borders. Read more here in Swedish: https://propell.se/foreningsalliansen-tar-cirkular-ide-till-europeisk-samverkan/

Article photo credit Björn Lans.