Fretex is a social enterprise established in Oslo in 1905 by The Salvation Army, who has complete ownership of Fretex to this day. Fretex is a household name in Norway well known for its second-hand shops across the country. Fretex is located in most Norwegian counties working closely with government agencies, private sectors, donors, and customers.

Their mission is to contribute to giving people work opportunities and to improve the environment through re-use. They operate nationwide and are the largest vocational rehabilitation company and the largest second-hand chain store in Norway.

Fretex is the largest collector of used clothes and textiles in Norway, with over 3500 containers/collection boxes especially designed for this purpose. Fretex also have two sorting facilities for receiving and handling all clothes and textiles in Norway. Each year Fretex collects over 15 000 tons of clothes and textiles. Fretex also collects other used goods for re-sale. There are a total of forty second-hand stores and one online store operated by Fretex in Norway. Their stores had a turnover in 2021 of 168 million NOK.

The clothes/textiles they cannot make use of in their businesses are exported and re-used in other countries or re-made into clothes or products. Fretex International oversees the export to other customers in Europe, Pakistan, and Iraq, some of these countries will further export clothes and textiles to countries in Africa and Asia.

Fretex is an active member of the European Network of Reuse and Recycling (ENoR).

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There are 20 social entrepreneurs included in the enterprise Vollbekk Fabrikker in Oslo. Beside the stores, they develop solutions in reuse, repair and green production. Offering reasonable rents for production premises and offices, Vollebekk Fabrikker enables residents, companies, and contractors, to develop, test and present their alternative solutions, because they want to inspire as many legal entities as possible to sustainable business models. By sharing knowledge and activities they connect residents, entrepreneurs, and established companies and in this way create bigger interest for circular economy.

Vollebekk Fabrikker is a concept that uses unused premises to stimulate sustainable urban development where they highlight/support/promote circular economy, social entrepreneurship, and the neighborhood.

Vollebekk Fabrikker is part of an urban development project by Vollebekk, where large parts of the area will be transformed into a greener district. Vollebekk Fabrikker will help create lasting value and sustainable development in Vollebekk, focusing on a triple bottom line that promotes the environment, social values, and economic growth.

Vollebekk Fabrikker is a temporary place for the development and incubation of solutions within reuse, repair, and green production. By offering both production facilities and offices at an affordable rent, Vollebekk Fabrikker will enable residents, businesses, and contractors to develop, test and demonstrate their solutions.

Vollebekk Fabrikker wants to promote knowledge sharing, provide training and inspiration for sustainable growth in Norwegian local life. Through knowledge sharing and activities, they will connect residents, entrepreneurs, and established businesses, creating increased interest in circular economy.

Vollebekk projects wants to be a vibrant workplace and a meeting place where projects and solutions can be tested within circular economy, sharing economy, reuse, repair, and creative workshop.

As part of this a workshop on the topic of establishing an incubator in the field of circular economy in Slovenia was organised.

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Visiting shipping containers for touristic, industrial, office, educational or leisure purposes and was a true inspiration which Nature Compact Living is offering. Interwindment of design and creativity through design processes gives an inspiration of living in the nature, which is more and more appreciated. Technical characteristics of the layout and modular design can also be seen in the example of HUB and the student dorm at Sanefjord airport.

Nature Compact Living AS is a wholly owned Norwegian company from Larvik, established in 2018. Their business idea is to offer different type of holiday homes with unique living experience, direct contact with nature, combined with good comfort and high quality.

Their accommodation units are designed to be placed anywhere with minimal groundwork and are easy to put in place. In addition, they are removable even if they appear permanent.

The founder of Nature Compact Living has been remodeling containers since 1997, when he began developing and delivering container concepts such as kitchens, sanitary rooms and laundries for peacekeepers around the world. An advantage of Shipping containers is that they have an international standardization that can help streamline the shipping and construction process. Containers are like Lego pieces you can assemble, lift and move. They are functional and durable, and they can be used repeatedly.

In Europe, construction and real estate are responsible for a third of EU waste, according to the European Commission. Large parts of the waste cannot be recycled, which makes the idea of container reuse a possible solution.

A workshop of an example of circular economy with used shipping containers was also organised on this location – as an example of establishing the conditions (legal and implementation level) of setting mobile, modular objects based on the principle of reuse and redesign in Slovenia – for educational, business and other purposes.

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NLM Gjenbruket second-hand store in Sandefjord has a wide selection of second-hand clothes for women, men and children and knick-knacks (tableware, glassware, small goods). You will also find a large department for second-hand furniture, a large book section and a beautiful gallery wall with used art – to name a few. The store is about 1000m2.

NLM develop new opportunities within the recycling product cycle and continuously expand their commitment to society. NLM Reuse operates recycling stores all over the country – from Tromsø in the north to Mandal in the south. They have about 1800 amazing volunteers who work every week to keep the shops open.

The profits go to the Mission Connection (NLM). The Mission Connection has a great deal of work with many projects and envoys in Africa, South America, and Asia, in addition to Norway.

More on: https://nlmgjenbruk.no/

Den Gule Låven (The Yellow Barn) is a second-hand store of 900 square meters over two floors in an old barn. The thrift store is run by two former drug addicts, who have a keen interest in second-hand shops. The store is very popular with the people of the area, and the surplus of the money they earn from the store goes to different charitable causes in the surrounding area.

More on: https://www.anitaogjohn.no/

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Visiting Gokstad Akademiet, a new and modern school on higher education level in Sandefjord showed us its difference by being 100% equipped with second-hand furniture with the help of an expert, specialized in furnishing on the principle of reuse.

Gokstad Academy is a vocational school that was established in 2020 and is located in modern and bright premises on the fourth floor of the Hvaltorvet shopping center right in the heart of Sandefjord city center. All the furniture at the school has been used, at the request of the school that the entire premises should be furnished with second-hand furniture. Lucia was given the job of furnishing the school. Lucia Christoffersen runs the niche store @finndinskatt, where she specializes in antique chairs from Thonet that she imports from her home country, Slovakia.

"I'm very committed to the environment and recycling, so this project is fantastic for showcasing that you can decorate with used furniture without it costing the world," she says.

"We have made many good purchases at a reasonable price, in addition to getting some furniture for free that was given away. She has furnished three classrooms, the rooms by the office areas and obtained used auditorium chairs from a school in Bergen.

But Lucia faced a challenge at the very beginning of her planning.

"I knew the auditorium would be a demanding space for me to furnish. Among other things, there should be seating comfort and there were several requirements such as the seats should have pull-down tables for those sitting in the back," she says.

They were nothing but lucky when they came across that the University of Bergen was getting rid of their old auditorium, after searching several universities across the country.

"The auditorium was halfway out in the container, and we said 'stop, we want to use them!'" says rector Atle Bjurstedt.

Atle Bjurstedt is very pleased with Christoffersen's work and is pleased that the students now have a worthy place to study in Sandefjord.

More on: https://gokstadakademiet.no/

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Release is Norway's first, and only, mobile company that only sells used mobiles. They fight for used mobile phones to become our natural first choice.

Their goal is to make it easy and safe to choose used. They want to extend the life of a mobile, which in turn leads to reduced waste of electronics and lower consumption of endangered minerals and elements. Each cell phone goes through significant tests by experienced technicians, to secure the quality before they reach the customers.

At the same time is it important that we extend the time we keep the mobile we already have. Therefore, mobile repair is one of their most important services. If you repair your mobile when something no longer works, you will enjoy its high quality for much longer. Together with their Teknikmagasinet stores, they are nationwide on mobile repair.

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From a “whaling capital” to a sustainable municipality – is the vision of the municipality of Sandefjord, that has 65.500 inhabitants. This will be achieved with so called Climate budget 2022-2025. It is the first climate budget of the municipality, that is included in the action and finance plan of the municipality. Climate budget (450.000 EUR) follows reporting routines, such as financial budget.

Greenhouse gas emissions in the municipality Sandefjord will be by year 2030 reduced by 40% compared to the year 1990. The municipal council also decided to strengthen the goal at the revision of the climate and energy plan to 50% (even 55%) reduction of the emissions. Municipality Sandefjord will be climate neutral by the year 2050.

Public and private companies in Norway can get be environmentally certified. Certification means, that the company document environmental prosperity. In many cases the environmental certification is also economically profitable. There are several schemes of certification in Norway. The most common are Miljøfyrtårn (eco lighthouse) and ISO 14001.

Municipality Sandefjord has the environmental certificate in accordance with the standard Miljøfyrtårn and there are also many private companies in the municipality, that have an environmental certificate. There are new companies being established there all the time.

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