CHF 100
Crowdified!
This project has been successfully funded on 14. January 2023. Thanks to the 22 boosters that made it possible!
Windows for Ukraine
Help Ukrainians to rebuild their homes - in the smartest way
Project Overview
Millions of windows have been destroyed in Ukraine since the start of the war. To keep people warm this winter, as many windows as possible need to be replaced now. Therefore, we collect used windows in Switzerland and send them to Ukraine.
2.725 CHF
Crowdified
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22
Boosters
supported project
It is estimated that millions of windows ( nyti.ms ) have been destroyed since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Without windows, life gets cold in winter. Manufacturing all these windows from scratch would take a long time and cost a lot of money and resources, but that’s not necessarily the only way to go! … In Switzerland, thousands of perfectly functional windows are dumped every week. They could instead be sent to Ukraine.
For this purpose, Barbara Buser, architect and reuse-expert in Basel started the “Windows for Ukraine” project with her daughter Anna Buser, social anthropologist and environmentalist as well as Karl Martin, reuse entrepreneur ( www.useagain.ch ). The project is a mission to save windows in Switzerland and deliver them to Ukraine. Since its beginnings in May 2022, “Windows for Ukraine” has been integrated into the newly established association “RE-WIN” ( re-win.ch ), and extended its reach with even more competent volunteers and helping hands, including Ukrainian refugees residing in Switzerland.
As a volunteer-driven, non-profit association, RE-WIN is able to deliver used windows at minimal cost. Based on our estimates, we can deliver five times more windows than if new windows were purchased in Ukraine for the same money. However, some tasks, in particular the transportation and logistics, require paid professional contractors, which is why we now ask for your donations.
There are more benefits to sending used windows to Ukraine: not only do we deliver necessary construction materials, but we also save the energy invested when making the window (embodied energy), reduce the amount of resources needed and waste being produced. All in all, taking the transport to Ukraine into account, we cause less carbon emissions compared to producing new windows.
In Ukraine, the windows are distributed by our trusted partner Proactive Generation ( proactivegeneration.org ). After our first load of windows in July, they were overrun with requests and have asked us for 2000 additional windows!
Delivering a window to Ukraine costs about 90 CHF a piece (details in separate section). With this fundraiser, we want to finance the next 360 windows, which is approximately the number of windows that we can fit into 3 trucks.
By supporting this project you:
1) Help Ukrainians rebuild their homes with the most urgently needed construction item: Windows
2) Make a maximal financial impact with your donation
3) Drastically reduce the carbon footprint per provided window
Moreover, donations to RE-WIN are tax deductible.
For this purpose, Barbara Buser, architect and reuse-expert in Basel started the “Windows for Ukraine” project with her daughter Anna Buser, social anthropologist and environmentalist as well as Karl Martin, reuse entrepreneur ( www.useagain.ch ). The project is a mission to save windows in Switzerland and deliver them to Ukraine. Since its beginnings in May 2022, “Windows for Ukraine” has been integrated into the newly established association “RE-WIN” ( re-win.ch ), and extended its reach with even more competent volunteers and helping hands, including Ukrainian refugees residing in Switzerland.
As a volunteer-driven, non-profit association, RE-WIN is able to deliver used windows at minimal cost. Based on our estimates, we can deliver five times more windows than if new windows were purchased in Ukraine for the same money. However, some tasks, in particular the transportation and logistics, require paid professional contractors, which is why we now ask for your donations.
There are more benefits to sending used windows to Ukraine: not only do we deliver necessary construction materials, but we also save the energy invested when making the window (embodied energy), reduce the amount of resources needed and waste being produced. All in all, taking the transport to Ukraine into account, we cause less carbon emissions compared to producing new windows.
In Ukraine, the windows are distributed by our trusted partner Proactive Generation ( proactivegeneration.org ). After our first load of windows in July, they were overrun with requests and have asked us for 2000 additional windows!
Delivering a window to Ukraine costs about 90 CHF a piece (details in separate section). With this fundraiser, we want to finance the next 360 windows, which is approximately the number of windows that we can fit into 3 trucks.
By supporting this project you:
1) Help Ukrainians rebuild their homes with the most urgently needed construction item: Windows
2) Make a maximal financial impact with your donation
3) Drastically reduce the carbon footprint per provided window
Moreover, donations to RE-WIN are tax deductible.
The first truck, carrying 120 high-quality windows (mostly 2- or 3-layered, vacuum-separated), was dispatched on the 15.07.2022 and received by Proactive Generation in Kyiv on the 19.07.2022. Since then, additional window deliveries by truck and rail have been completed. We have managed to send almost 800 windows by November 2022!
The expenses of sending a truck (about 120 windows) can roughly be divided into:
Organization/management/logistic: CHF 4500
Reloading/transport CH: CHF 1000
Administration (customs etc.): CHF 200
Interim storage: CHF 300
Pallets and similar: CHF 1000
Transport UA: CHF 3600-5000
This totals CHF 10600-12000 (1 CHF is approx. 1 EUR).
The expenses of sending a truck (about 120 windows) can roughly be divided into:
Organization/management/logistic: CHF 4500
Reloading/transport CH: CHF 1000
Administration (customs etc.): CHF 200
Interim storage: CHF 300
Pallets and similar: CHF 1000
Transport UA: CHF 3600-5000
This totals CHF 10600-12000 (1 CHF is approx. 1 EUR).
The price to deliver a window to Ukraine is taken from the example of a previous shipment and is around 90 CHF. The cheapest retail prices for windows are around 300 CHF per m2. The windows that we have delivered are on average 1.5 m2, implying a retail price of around 450 CHF. 450/90=5, meaning that the retail price is 5 times higher than what we pay.
Producing a new 2 m2 window causes emissions of around 85.6 kg CO2e. Here we assume that the glass part is a 1.6 m2 2-layered vacuum separated window (44.4 kg CO2e per m2 and the frame is 0.4 m2 and wooden frame (36.4 kg CO2e per m2). The emission coefficients include window production and disposal.
Transporting a 60 kg window (with associated container weight of 40 kg) - be it new or used - 1400 km from CH to UA causes 25 kg CO2e (0.183 kg CO2e per kg and thousand km), whereas producing a window emits 85 kg CO2 - i.e. it can be transported 4700 km until the embodied CO2e is compensated by the transport.
The emission data is taken from: www.kbob.admin.ch
Producing a new 2 m2 window causes emissions of around 85.6 kg CO2e. Here we assume that the glass part is a 1.6 m2 2-layered vacuum separated window (44.4 kg CO2e per m2 and the frame is 0.4 m2 and wooden frame (36.4 kg CO2e per m2). The emission coefficients include window production and disposal.
Transporting a 60 kg window (with associated container weight of 40 kg) - be it new or used - 1400 km from CH to UA causes 25 kg CO2e (0.183 kg CO2e per kg and thousand km), whereas producing a window emits 85 kg CO2 - i.e. it can be transported 4700 km until the embodied CO2e is compensated by the transport.
The emission data is taken from: www.kbob.admin.ch
We find or are informed of properties that are about to be demolished and ask the owners if they can extract the windows carefully and donate them to us! This may sound bold, but it turns out that there are many supportive property owners out there who gladly donate work and windows to this cause. Then, the windows are transported to one of our storage locations in Switzerland, where the windows are measured, catalogued and stacked on wooden palettes that we build. From there, they are shipped to Ukraine, either by truck or train. Once in Ukraine, the windows are received and distributed by our partner organisation Proactive Generation ( proactivegeneration.org ). From them, we receive pictures of where the windows are built in, which is a great confirmation that the concept is working 🙂
RE-WIN
Basel, CH
The team behind the scene is a multinational, multilingual and interdisciplinary mix, everyone with their own abilities and skills. RE-WIN is a tax-exempt association with the goal to promote the reuse of used construction components and materials by salvaging them from being discarded and arranging for their reuse in Switzerland and abroad. All this work is only possible with the help of all the invested and interested people that are working voluntarily.
Axel Theorell
Birsfelden, CH
Communicator
Doing communications for RE-WIN is a privilege: This project combines so many things that I believe in! Add inspiring coworkers and you have it :)
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