More about the project

“Go Zero, Danube!” is a youth exchange programme focusing on Zero Waste and green entrepreneurship that was implemented between 2018 and 2021. In each of the four meetings, 15 - 20 youth from the Danube region discussed current problems in waste reduction, and tried to tackle the challenge. They got to know green start-ups and young entrepreneurs in the field of environmental protection and sustainable consumption. The meetings included experiential educational elements, Zero Waste self-sufficiency, workshops, an open event and social media activities. Together with the participants, a website and a toolkit with the results will be developed and published.

Promoting European citizenship

The topic of environment and waste prevention affects everyone, and is an opportunity to break down intercultural barriers and to meet with young adults from different European countries at eye level. It is about exploring new ways of sustainable coexistence, regardless of origin and language. The groups were accompanied by experienced team leaders who were already been experienced in the field. The participants keep in touch in established networks, and are encouraged to participate in educational work as multipliers beyond the project.

Why green entrepreneurship matters

During the exchanges, we focused on the importance of green businesses, and how each one of us could make a difference with a Zero Waste start-up.

Before starting to brainstorm ideas for future businesses, it is important to clarify some distinctions between the different types of entrepreneurial activities and their goals. Specifically, it is important to note the important differences between the more typical commercial entrepreneurship, and green entrepreneurship.

Commercial entrepreneurship is mostly oriented towards generating profit. The goal of this type of business is the production of goods or services in order to generate revenue, which is usually reinvested in the business or distributed between shareholders. However, in any entrepreneurial activity, the entrepreneur should aim to offer products and services of a higher quality than their competitors, and care about their employees by providing remuneration and favourable working conditions. The main focus of such a business is generating financial resources.

Green entrepreneurship as part of social entrepreneurship is a business model that follows similar principles to commercial entrepreneurship, but with a focus on providing a solution to an environmental issue such as climate change, loss of rainforests and biodiversity or water pollution. In other words, green entrepreneurship is a type of activity where the business model serves as an instrument to solve an environmental problem. The most important aspect is therefore not generating products of higher value, but generating

a solution to the problem. The philosophy behind green entrepreneurship is that profit is not the final goal of the business activity, but acts as a means to achieve the final goal of making our world a better place.

During the exchanges, we introduced problem-and-solution trees, business canvas and the importance of values. During the exchange, the participants had the chance to meet local and international entrepreneurs, such as Ribhu from Wasteless, Zero Waste Your Life and Zero Waste Society. We encourage young green entrepreneurs to undertake research within their surroundings, in order to connect with other entrepreneurs and find supporters and networks. The following exercise is also useful to let participants reflect on their local surroundings.

The online mapping project “Mapping for Good” offers a useful resource for all kinds of sustainable enterprises and initiatives in the field of Zero Waste. It is open source, and can be used for all sorts of sustainable mapping purposes. You can easily make new entries, leave comments and adjust past entries. The more hashtags like #zerowaste you leave, the easier it is to connect with others. The open-source project “mapping for good” tool is made for people like us, to become more visible as well as to explore new places and people.