photo Mikołaj Tym
A new initiative by Interzero and Mama Projekt - the Turning Point educational center in fashion and the fight against greenwashing
We live fast, we produce fast, we consume fast. Fast fashion wins hearts and achieves high profits, regardless of the social and environmental consequences. Every year, 92 million tons of textile waste goes to landfills, and only 1% is recycled. At the same time, for young people, appearance and fashion are a means of expressing themselves and building their identity. How to find your way in a world where producers often pull the wool over our eyes with ecological slogans and countless marketing techniques bombard us with their messages? EkoCentrum Turning Point comes to the rescue - the place where change begins.
About fast fashion at FSO
The main theme of the Turning Point is the impact of fast fashion and packaging on the natural environment. The topics and methods of conducting innovative educational activities have been tailored to the interests of young people. Thanks to an engaging narrative, learning through discovery and solving puzzles, teenagers gain practical knowledge of ecology.
- The opening of the ecological education centre in the former FSO car factory is a symbol of the green transformation taking place around us. As the Interzero Group, we focus on our pro-environmental activities, primarily on limiting the waste of natural resources, closing the raw material cycle and waste management. Our ambition related to ecological education is to talk about civilization challenges in an accessible, engaging and interesting way. The Turning Point, of which we are a patron and partner, is an example of this. I am very glad that we could get involved in this initiative - says Monika Grom, vice-president of the Interzero Group in Poland.
Mysterious rooms
There are four themed rooms in the Turning Point. One of them was substantively developed by Interzero experts. After entering it, visitors receive a message from the future and a garbage sorting task. The main goal of this part of the story is to present the impact of proper waste segregation on recycling and closing the circulation of packaging and raw materials.
– At the Turning Point, we create fashion for the environment. We do this by using engaging teaching methods that have proved successful in previous projects carried out in partnership with Mama Projekt, such as the Ekoeksperymentarium exhibition and online games. This time, we are looking ahead to the near future, explaining today why textiles will be included in the separate waste collection scheme from 2025. We aim to educate through experience and thereby change behaviour, encouraging reflection and responsible attitudes; this is why the Turning Point’s slogan is “You are the change” – says Katarzyna Kacz, manager of educational projects for children and young people at the Interzero Group.
In each of the four thematic rooms of the Turning Point, groups of students look for answers to questions related to the environmental consequences of the activities of the clothing industry. After completing all the tasks, they meet with the animator in a special dialogue zone, where they discuss the conclusions from this journey through the world of fashion and packaging.
– Reports suggest that young people have heard about climate change, but lack the knowledge and tools to understand its consequences, which is why they often adopt a passive attitude towards this phenomenon. “If I have to die anyway, let it be in fashionable shoes,” one teenager told us during interviews. This was the inspiration behind creating an alternative form of environmental education. Gameplay, collaboration, high-quality graphics, multimedia and expert knowledge presented in an interactive format are the key ingredients of Turning Point. We have been designing innovative tools for environmental education for 10 years, and creating an interactive EcoCentrum was Mama Projekt’s greatest dream. Come along and see for yourself how it turned out – says Małgosia Żmijska from the Mama Projekt collective.
EkoCentrum Punkt Zwrotny is located at 88 Jagiellońska Street, in the former FSO gate (currently FSO Park). Registration for free workshops is available via the website www.punktzwrotny.com . On weekends, it will host less waste workshops, inspiring meetings and clothes exchanges. It is also possible to rent the EkoCentrum space.
It's time for the Turning Point! 🚀🌱 Welcome!
