History of the association

In 2010, two friends whose long careers had ended at their previous workplace pondered together: “Something ought to be done.”

At the beginning of the decade, activity related to the circular economy and reuse grew strongly, which increased people's awareness of the importance of the matter. These two friends also noticed that Tampere had no functioning reuse center activity. The previous operator had already closed down a few years earlier.

That was when the planning of the matter began, and the first reuse center started operating in Nekala in the spring of 2011. The premises were very modest and the staff numbered four people. The store quickly became too small, so additional space was acquired in the same property on Vihiojantie several times. At the same time, the activities were expanded first to Lielahti in 2012 and then to Hervanta in 2013.​

As the workload increased and the need for personnel grew, the number of cooperation partners also increased. Especially important to us has been the cooperation with the Pirkanmaa TE Office and the City of Tampere's employment services to help people in a difficult labor market situation.

In 2015 Ekokumppanit Oy contacted us and presented the idea of establishing a unit that recycles textiles. This is how the textile workshop Nextiili was born. Five years later, Nextiili recycles already over 300,000 kilograms of textile material per year, and is nowadays an independent association, Nextiili ry, as of 1 April 2021. 

The main location has remained the Nekala reuse center on Vihiojantie, but the other stores have had to move several times. Now the situation has stabilized so that Nextiili and the Lielahti reuse center are located in the same property in Harjuntausta, Lielahti. 

Since 2011 we have grown into a fairly large operator promoting the circular economy and have at the same time been able to help create opportunities for employment and participation for hundreds of people in various life situations. Nowadays around 100 people take part in our activities every day.​

When we now look back at the past 10 years, we are really proud of the work we have done to promote the circular economy and to support people forward in life.