There is a shopping mall where everything has already been used but can come back to life: it is ReTuna, a mall in Sweden that sells only recycled products. Born in 2015, it is the world's first recycling mall and promises to revolutionise shopping in an environmentally smart way. Here, old objects return to a new life through repair and upcycling. In addition, everything sold is recycled or reused or has been produced in a sustainable way.
There is a shopping mall where everything has already been used but can come back to life. In fact, Sweden really believes in the philosophy of recycling and reuse. Proof of this is ReTuna, a large mall that sells only recycled products.
It is the first shopping centre of its kind in the world.
An Alternative Shopping Mall
There are more and more shopping centres in the cities. Crowded places, sometimes chaotic, where people toil in search of clothes, shoes, accessories. They are not the best places to promote the circular economy, in short.
However, the city of Eskilstuna strives to be an ecological reference model. Here, in fact, the idea of opening a shopping mall with real shops but with a range of reused products was born.
ReTuna Återbruksgalleria sells only recycled products. It has 14 shops, a restaurant, an exhibition area and an educational programme so that people can learn how to recycle even more. It is the world‘s first recycling mall and promises to revolutionise shopping in an environmentally smart way. Here, old objects return to a new life through repair and upcycling. In addition, everything sold is recycled or reused or has been produced in a sustainable way.
The shopping centre opened its doors in August 2015 and is near the Retuna Återvinningscentral recycling centre. This makes it much easier to recycle objects.
How the Recycling Process Works
Visitors can take anything they don’t use from toys to furniture, clothes, decorative objects and electronic devices into the mall‘s warehouse, called “Returen“. In the depot, staff make an initial collection of what is usable and what is not. After that they take the selected items to the shops in the mall. The staff of each store then makes a second selection, where they choose what they want to repair, convert, refine and finally sell. In this way, the materials have a new life.
Anyway, the idea seems to be successful. In 2016, ReTuna Återbruksgalleria sold SEK 8.1 million worth of recycled products, or USD 850,000. The hope is that it will also inspire other countries around the world.
However, as the official website says, this project is more than a shopping mall. “ReTuna is more than just a market. It also wants to be an educational moment. It organizes events, workshops, conferences, theme days and more, all focused on sustainability. There are also conference rooms. Café Returama offers organic lunches and dinners”.
