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Social economy in the western world constitutes nowadays of social enterprises in different possible types and offers possibilities of entrepreneurship activities and employment forms for various special population groups. Addressed in this work is the activity 'solid waste recycling' and the population group 'Roma people' in Greece, focusing in the field of technology wastes from end-of-life electric and electronic equipment. The dominant, starting-point peculiarity of this activity is that it is already on-going since many years in the form of informal recycling or scavenging and that it is challenged to adjust to the contemporary needs, standards and constraints of sustainable waste management, the challenge addressing equally the particular population group, as well as the involved competent authorities and licensed entities or systems for alternative solid waste management together with a number of other stakeholders. In this paper, a historic review of informal recycling in the western world and Greece is initially presented, whereby certain comparisons with developing countries in other continents, where informal recycling is still a widely applied practice, are also performed. Focusing on the case study area and the waste fraction of WEEE, a SWOT analysis and of a new social enterprise presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any long-term physical or mental disabilities are an important parameter of a population's health and quality of life. In EU15, people with disabilities represented a significant part of overall population, whereas in Greece this percentile is the smallest in EU15, yet still significantly as well. In this study, people with disabilities are classified according to their skills and abilities sorting, reuse and recycling, applied on the fields of waste paper and Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment. Case study area is the Hellenic island of Lesvos in North Aegean, where two social enterprises are active in the addressed two fields. A historic overview of their activities is presented, which was so far focused on paper recycling and is currently expanding into Waste of Electric and Electronic Equipment as well. Experience, know-how and best practices also from similar Waste of Electric and Electronic Equipment activities and networks in Germany is drawn and customized in the particular needs of the Hellenic study area, for setting up and organizing the local waste sorting centre and the overall reverse logistics supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]