The Bridges for Plastic project brought together Catfarm residents, local neighbors, and visitors to reimagine plastic waste as a source of creativity, collaboration, and awareness.
Throughout the project, we collected plastic waste around Catfarm and the surrounding area of Poussan using a cargo bike. We then recycled the materials with our Precious Plastic machines and transformed them into new, useful objects. What was once seen as waste became a symbol of community empowerment and environmental care. See the article from Precious Plastic here.
We believed—and proved—that plastic is not truly waste. With love, intention, and the right tools, we can turn it into valuable resources. This process united people from different cultural backgrounds, strengthened our connection with the local community, and raised awareness about environmental impact and circular economy practices.
By carrying out the project, we built bridges between Catfarm’s multicultural environment and the people of Poussan, a small town with few opportunities for intercultural exchange. Through shared workshops, open days, and creative recycling sessions, locals and international participants learned from one another, shared stories, and found new ways to collaborate.
One of the project's most playful elements was a plastic currency system: for every ten plastic bottles collected, locals received a handmade plastic coin they could exchange at Catfarm for experiences such as dinner, a yoga class, or a handmade product. This small act turned recycling into a joyful and meaningful exchange.
Our Precious Plastic station became a hub for education, creativity, and solidarity. It hosted activities for children, teenagers, local associations, and traders, showing how recycling can bridge people as much as it can bridge materials.
Through this project, participants not only learned about plastic transformation and 3D printing, but also experienced the warmth of community living, the power of intercultural learning, and the inspiration of creating something beautiful together.
Bridges for Plastic showed that with care and collaboration, even discarded materials can build lasting connections and spark change.
Results
Participants were greatly impacted by the atmosphere, what they learned, and their exposure to different cultures and traditions. They created simple friendships with people from all over Europe and had the opportunity to co-create these projects from the planning phase. Participants met new people and explored new cultures. They developed their language competencies and enhanced their European identity.
This motivated them to become change agents and keep working to make the world better by dedicating their passion to some of the project's topics. As a result, participants not only gained knowledge and built a network for future cooperation, but also used it as a foundation to contribute to sustainability in their local communities.
Moreover, participants improved their professional skills throughout the project's development. For example, some participants developed workshops. All participants hosted at least one workshop, and some attended the APV to develop the rest of the program and manage the exchange. These workshops built participants’ confidence in public speaking and technical skills, and gave them opportunities to create and share their knowledge. This motivated them to become change agents and to keep working to make the world better by dedicating their passion to some of the topics in this project. As a result, participants not only gained knowledge and built a network for future cooperation, but also used it as a foundation to contribute to their local communities. To multiply the project's results, we shared practices on international platforms and among partners.
With this project, participants developed their resilience in the face of changes in our societies and the challenging social issues of tomorrow; understood that there are other ways of living, consuming, working, doing, knowledge and know-how; were made aware of the power to act together to solidify their commitment to their communities; promoted the identity and values of Europe through the multicultural friendships that were created during the project. The participants developed their linguistic, educational, cultural, social, and ecological skills. A strong motivation to become actors of change and continue to work for peace and respect for living things through their passions and interests. Finally, to participate in the co-creation of a different story from our society and become an expert on your own experience.
In addition, the projects hosted by the community reinforced the idea that, through open dialogue with the volunteers living at the Catfarm, these exchanges produced varied results over time and had direct impacts on young people. By meeting travelers, digital nomads, creatives, artists, etc., participants could discuss different ways of living and working; managing their time and budget; and commitment and investment in projects of social utility, as well as ecological, cultural, and economic considerations. They built friendships and international ties, which helped solidify their understanding of international commitment.
Overall, the participants benefited from the following outcomes:
- They improved their learning performance;
- Their employability was enhanced and their career prospects improved;
- Their sense of initiative and entrepreneurship increased;
- Their self-empowerment and self-esteem increased;
- Their foreign language competencies improved;
- Their intercultural awareness was enhanced;
- Their participation in society became more active;
- Their awareness of the European project and the EU values improved;
- Their motivation for taking part in future (formal/non-formal) education increased.
- Social and civic competences, namely working with different people to co-construct, speaking in public, non-violent communication, creativity, and improvising, to name a few.
- Technical skills, namely identifying the different types of plastic, making the machines operational, creating objects out of it, initiative, and entrepreneurship.
Dissemination of results and outputs:
Social Media Posts on Adventures of the Valparaiso accounts: https://www.facebook.com/adventuresofthevalparaiso
Social Media posts on Catfarm accounts:
https://www.facebook.com/Catfarm.poussan
https://www.instagram.com/the.catfarm/
Open Source: Workshops, Games, Activities, Tools, Evaluations, and methodologies shared by participants and facilitators
Open-source practical and Reusable Resources and Tools used at the Catfarm
Dates: 10 th – 24th August 2023
Location: Catfarm Community - France
Coordinator: Adventures of the Valparaíso - Netherlands
Partners: Catfarm Education (France), PRAXIS (Greece), Fiatalok Egységben Egyesület (Hungary), ASSOCIAZIONE DI PROMOZIONE SOCIALE KORA (Italy), Back to the Roots (Spain)
2022-3-NL02-KA152-YOU-000095324