During this academic year, 2025-2026 I was the productowner for a first year team from Windesheim’ s GPCM-education. The team consisted of five students, Emma, Naomi Kuiper, Esmee Nijp , Gabrijel Unoic, and Juliana. They worked under the name Relectric.
There mission, create awareness on the topic of e-waste. Target group: young people.
E-waste is the hidden “cost” of our use of digital equipment, smartphones, watches, laptop, PC’s etc. etc. Most is this can be used way longer, is not recyclable, and the costs in materials, CO2-emissions, child labour, water usage and environmental and healthcare damage when this e-waste is finally destructed. (watch this shocking documentairy) or search Youtube for Ghana, e-waste) The whole cycle of this is very bad.
First semester the team wrote a project plan around getting awareness on e-waste around Zwolle. The second half year was executing the project. Some things where easy (making posters) other stuff was harder, like creating a podcast. Very hard was it to reach out to people. People didn’t call back, didn’t answer their mail or just weren’t open to a conversation about the problem. Even under Windesheim students’ e-waste wasn’t really an issue were students think about. You need to harden as an activist!
But the created stuff which hopefully is helpful. There is a Google Map with alle the Repair Café in Zwolle.
They created a TikTok channel and Instagram channel under the name ”relectric_gcpm” which attracts thousands of view. (Because I stopped using Meta’s social media and never used TikTok I missed out on this content.)
They tried making a podcast. They produced one podcast where they talked to one of their lecturers, my great and inspiring Windesheim colleague and international known climate activist Maria Garcia Alvarez about e-waste and the problem this is in our ecosystem. You can listen to that one at https://open.spotify.com/show/5b1Mda7UCwzYNUjgyiNP3o