The City of Kiel succeeds in introducing low-waste daycare centers with its reusable bag rental system
Prize money enables ESD project in daycare centers and provides effective impetus for greater sustainability
In 2021, Kiel, a city in northern Germany, won the German Sustainability Award in the category of large cities. The prize was endowed with 30,000 euros. This money was to be used to strengthen ESD in Kiel, including a project that would make ESD tangible and practice-oriented.
Therefore, the International Affairs and Sustainability Department in the Mayor's Office consulted with other relevant departments. In collaboration with representatives from the Office for Children and Youth Facilities, Education Management, and the Environmental Protection Agency, the idea of supporting daycare centers in becoming sustainable facilities was quickly born. In the next step, the administrative representatives sought dialogue with daycare center employees to elaborate on the project. The path to the Wechselbüddel project was then not far off. “Wechsel” means changing, “Büddel” is a dialectal word for bag. The Wechselbüddel in Kiel is a reusable, washable, sustainably manufactured bag that replaces plastic bags in daycare centers.
With the Wechselbüddel bags, Kiel's daycare centers can now set a positive example by avoiding plastic in everyday life and at the same time raising awareness of the need to use resources sparingly.
Procuring the reusable bag: no easy task
As quickly as the idea for a reusable bag was born, procuring one proved difficult. Even after intensive market research, no bag could be found that met all the required sustainability criteria (e.g., material and country of manufacture). The solution then came from a small start-up in Kiel that offered reusable bags for environmentally friendly vegetable shopping. These bags could be adapted in terms of quality and manufacture to the needs of the Kiel daycare centers and thus converted into exchange bags. These are not only waterproof and washable, but also manufactured in Germany and the material is eco-certified. The bags were also printed with a specially designed pattern in Germany. The design ensures high recognizability and makes it easy to identify the bags as the property of the daycare centers. The selection and procurement process took a total of around nine months. But the result was worth the effort: a bag that also meets high standards in terms of sustainability.
The project launch: Wechselbüddel pilot phase in five daycare centers in Kiel
In January 2023, nearly 50 educators from municipal daycare took part in the kick-off event for the launch of the Wechselbüddel rental system. Representatives from the five municipal pilot daycare centers received the first Wechselbüddel bags for their daycare centers to test the rental system, which is free of charge for parents, in their facilities. From now on, educators will no longer pack wet laundry in plastic bags, but in waterproof bags, which will then be placed in the child's compartment. Parents take the bag with the laundry home and clean it there after emptying it. They then bring it back to the daycare center and the Wechselbüddel is ready for the next round. This way, the bags remain in circulation and a separate one is not needed for each family. Instead, the bags belong to the daycare centers and are only loaned to parents temporarily.
Instructions for use in the form of a poster and a short video explain to parents how to use the bag properly. Both the poster and the video rely primarily on pictures and graphics, thus largely circumventing potential language barriers.
Der Wechselbüddel schafft Anlässe für Gespräche und Bildungselemente
Die Einführung des Verleihsystems wurde von verschiedenen Bildungselementen für das pädagogische Fachpersonal, für die Eltern und die Kinder flankiert:
In der Auftaktveranstaltung thematisierte ein Vortrag „Zero Waste“ und das Kita-Fachpersonal konnte sich in Workshops einrichtungsübergreifend austauschen und Ideen sammeln, wie mehr Nachhaltigkeit in Kitas etabliert werden kann.
Die pädagogischen Fachkräfte lobten bei einer Umfrage/Evaluation die Bildungsangebote. Im Rückblick gehörten die Bildungsangebote zu den Faktoren, die maßgeblich zum Gelingen des Projektes beigetragen haben.
Fachlich gut vorbereitet konnten die Mitarbeiter:innen im Kita-Alltag die Wechselbüddel nicht nur in die pädagogische Arbeit mit den Kindern einbeziehen, sondern auch mit den Eltern über nachhaltige Entwicklung ins Gespräch kommen, das Thema auf Elternabenden einbringen und so gezielt Anregungen geben. Für die Kinder gab es außerdem eigene Workshop-Angebote, die zwei externe Referent:innen durchführten.
The Wechselbüddel creates opportunities for discussion and educational elements
The introduction of the rental system was accompanied by various educational elements for teaching staff, parents, and children:
At the kick-off event, a presentation focused on “zero waste” and daycare staff were able to exchange ideas and gather suggestions on how to establish greater sustainability in daycare centers in workshops involving employees from different facilities.
In a survey, the educational staff praised the educational offerings. In retrospect, the educational offerings were among the factors that contributed significantly to the success of the project.
Well prepared in terms of expertise, the employees were able to not only incorporate the Wechselbüddel into their educational work with the children in their everyday daycare routine, but also engage parents in conversation about sustainable development, bring up the topic at parents’ night, and thus provide targeted suggestions. There were also separate workshops for the children carried out in an age-appropriate manner.
Expansion of the project following the end of the pilot phase
The daycare centers gained a wealth of experience during the pilot phase: the bags were leak-proof and easy to wash; parents returned them reliably; awareness of the issue of resource conservation increased and spread to other areas. This was reason enough to enable other daycare centers in Kiel to join the Wechselbüddel rental system. More than 50 facilities – both municipal and privately run daycare centers – applied to participate since 2023 and were supplied with the bags. The educational staff at these new daycare centers were also able to take part in training courses and book workshops for the children.
Summary: Project provides effective ESD impetus
The project will not be expanded further in 2024. The reason: the prize money has been used up. However, the daycare centers that have already received bags are continuing with the rental system. They are simply unable to buy more bags, as they are not available in small quantities. Some daycare centers are now getting around this by sewing their own bags together with the parents.
The impetus for greater sustainability has certainly borne fruit: the project has provided effective ESD impetus in the urban educational landscape and continues to make a significant contribution to achieving Kiel's zero-waste goals. In addition, three daycare centers have come up with new sustainability projects.
Kontakt
Hannah Bahr
Projektkoordinatorin Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung
E-Mail: hannah.bahr@kiel.de
Telefon: 0431 901-2506
Landeshauptstadt Kiel
Büro der Stadtpräsidentin
Internationales und Nachhaltigkeit
Fleethörn 9, 24103 Kiel
Text by Marco Schmidt and Alexandra Kandzi, translation by Lea Schütze, supported by DeepL
