Refugees are helping Amsterdam become one of the first circular cities

Westerpark is about as Dutch because it will get. Constructed within the grounds of a former gasworks, this sprawling city park in central Amsterdam groups with hip eateries, open picnic areas, rain-fed waterways, and a maze of flower-strewn neighborhood gardens.

Simply off the park’s south-western edge, in a nondescript industrial unit near town’s ring street, a style of a new-look Netherlands is unfolding. It’s doing so to the sound of Arab pop music, the mechanical hum of stitching machines, and conversations in rudimentary Dutch.

Welcome to the United Repair Centre, the newest enterprise in Amsterdam’s efforts to turn into one of many world’s first absolutely round cities. Arrange final September with assist from town authorities and outside clothes model Patagonia, the centre employs round 20 full-time staff to restore ripped or damaged clothes that will in any other case be dumped within the bin.

Run as a for-profit social enterprise, the centre’s objectives are as a lot social and they’re round. Everybody on the corporate’s books is an financial migrant or refugee – or, because the initiative’s Brazilian-born co-founder, Thami Schweichler, prefers to say, a “newcomer”.

One such new arrival is Ramzi, a 50-year-old Palestinian who escaped to Amsterdam after life in his adopted house of Syria turned untenable. Earlier than the nation’s descent into violence, he labored as a tailor in Damascus, specialising in garments for women.

At the moment, he takes no matter comes by way of the door. He welcomes the range, he says: “With each piece, there’s all the time one thing new to restore, which helps maintain the work attention-grabbing.” 

With 5 youngsters at house, the job additionally helps put meals on the desk and a roof over their heads. The identical is true for his fellow staff, who principally come from Syria however who additionally embody Ukrainians, Russians, Chinese language, and Iranians, amongst different nationalities.

Some have tailoring abilities already, however on-the-job coaching is offered for individuals who don’t. As of this October, the centre will run a licensed coaching course in partnership with a neighborhood technical school. All 10 preliminary individuals are assured a job with the social enterprise after they graduate.

The centre’s impression goes past only a common pay packet. Schweichler and his colleagues additionally step in to assist with on a regular basis points that include settling into a brand new nation, from pointing them to language lessons to helping them with housing assist or authorized recommendation. 

There’s all the time one thing new to restore, which helps maintain the work attention-grabbing

Whereas small is definitely lovely, the centre’s full impression depends on attaining scale. On that rating, Schweichler has no lack of ambition. The 38-year-old industrial design graduate hopes to develop the workforce to 150 inside 5 years, whereas rising the annual variety of repairs to 300,000 (up from 25,000 at current).

A worrying cloud on the horizon is the politics of immigration within the Netherlands. Earlier this month, the ruling coalition authorities collapsed over plans to tighten immigration legal guidelines. Asylum functions are anticipated to hit 70,000 this yr, up from 47,000 final yr.

But this newcomer-friendly startup has a number of trump playing cards up its sleeve. The primary, curiously, is a strong observe report. Sharing the centre’s workspace is Makers Unite, a sister challenge additionally co-founded by Schweichler. Arrange in 2016, it employs newcomers to upcycle outdated garments and switch them into new merchandise. 

Makers Unite’s manufacturing is overseen by Fadi, a 39-year-old Syrian. Earlier than having to flee his native Aleppo, he ran his personal textile enterprise with 40 staff. His small workforce of tailors is presently placing the final touches to a brand new assortment of upcycled denims and denim jackets for the clothes retailer, C&A.

“The large dream of everybody who comes [to the Netherlands] as a migrant is to discover a job instantly,” he says. “However it’s tough as a result of it’s important to be in a camp for a yr and through that point you may’t work.”

The second issue within the centre’s favour is the backing of half-a-dozen manufacturers, together with Decathlon, Lululemon, Scotch & Soda, and Patagonia. Every has dedicated to ship the centre a daily provide of broken gadgets which might be returned by clients for restore – with the invoice picked up by the manufacturers themselves.

This assured movement of labor has enabled the Dutch social enterprise to set in movement plans for a second workshop, solely this time within the UK, the place the controversial Illegal Immigration Bill was approved on Monday. It permits the federal government to detain and take away anybody who enters the UK with out official permission. 

Nevertheless, regardless of the hardening stance in direction of refugees within the UK, all being nicely, a brand new United Restore facility will open in Leeds later this yr, with one other probably following in London at a later date, says Schweichler.

The choice to begin in Leeds is partly pushed by town’s lengthy heritage in textile manufacturing, but additionally by its excessive ranges of deprivation. Along with newcomers, Schweichler’s intention is to contain younger unemployed individuals in addition to the long-term unemployed on the Leeds website.

“It’s tough to ship repairs to and from the UK nowadays due to Brexit. The whole lot will get caught in customs,” the Brazilian-Dutch social entrepreneur explains. “So, we figured, why not arrange there? There’s a marketplace for repairs, there’s a transparent social want, and there’s a confirmed means for us to attach the 2.”

Primary picture: United Restore Centre