Reykjavík Grapevine - jún. 2023, Blaðsíða 9

9

1 Eden Blanket, designed by
Aníta Hirlekar.
Made in Reykjavík from pure
Icelandic wool.
2 Arctic Blanket, designed by
Sigrún Halla Unnarsdóttir.
Made in Reykjavík from pure
Icelandic wool.
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Skólavörðustígur 7
Skólavörðustígur 12
Kringlan
Harpa
Flugstöð Leifs Eiríkssonar
BEST OF REYKJAVÍK
REYKJAVÍK GRAPEVINE
T H E
BEST DESIGN STORE
BEST OF REYKJAVÍK
REYKJAVÍK GRAPEVINE
T H E
BEST DESIGN STORE
BEST OF REYKJAVÍK
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BEST DESIGN STORE
All things
Icelandic in
design and
craft
WORDS Jóhannes Bjarkason
IMAGE Art Bicnick
A nna Worthington De Matos
has been a prominent figure in the
Icelandic environmental movement
since moving here from England.
Having founded the Munasafn Tool
Library in 2018 – which has landed
in Hafnarhaus after a few relocations
– Anna has been at the forefront of
the circular economy movement.

The idea behind a tool library is
simple: libraries lend books; tool
libraries lend tools. Despite this
seemingly simple and straight-
forward idea, Anna’s work is some-
times met with inertia. “There is a
huge lack of understanding of what
we do and a lack of understanding
what a circular economy is,” she
says. From going through the Kafka-
esque process of communicating
with city officials to securing funding
for the operations, she knows all too
well the frustration of bureaucracy.

SHARING IS CARING
In the last months, Anna has been
preparing for a new phase in the
library’s life. In between running the
tool library, the non-profit organi-
sation Hringrásarsetur Íslands
(Circular Centre of Iceland), and a
self-checkout circular library in three
locations, Anna has now secured an
investor to join the team.

The investor, Daniel Haltia, has
a background in circular business
development with IKEA and will be
joining the circular centre’s oper-
ations as a chief circular economy
officer. “His role is mainly helping us
find funding and make connections,”
Anna says. “I’ve been meeting with
him virtually and finally met him in
person at the Loop Circular Confer-
ence in Copenhagen the other day,”
Anna tells the Grapevine upon her
return from the late-April event.
“He understands my vision and sees
what we’re trying to do. If you’re an
investor, you need to check a lot of
boxes before I bring you on,” she
says jokingly.

The whole deal behind the tool
library is to create a community
that’s willing to share more and
emphasise user ship as opposed to
ownership. It’s an idealistic notion,
but Anna has realistic expectations
and believes in change. “There is
no alternative. Either we end up in
a Wall-E world where there’s trash
everywhere and fat rich people live
in space,” she muses. “Or we’re
going to end up in a society where
we care for each other and respect
the limited resources.”

The responsibility for addressing the
climate crisis is all too often passed
onto individuals. While individuals
can and should adopt environ-
mentally friendlier lifestyles, Anna
says change needs to be insti gated
top-down. “I think there’s a lot of
policies in place that need to be
changed to accommodate this new
concept of circularity.”
“Don’t get me wrong,” Anna clarifies,
“I understand the necessity of
money. If you need to use a drill every
day, by all means, buy a drill. But why
are we importing cheap and trashy
products to Iceland that break in six
months and end up in the landfill?”

A HOMEMADE SOLUTION
Asked whether local communities
should start similar lending schemes,
Anna encourages it but identifies a
common point of contention. Again,
it’s about ownership. “The main
issue with peer-to-peer lending,”
Anna says, “is that there has to be
an understanding that by donating
the item, you transfer the ownership
to the community. It’s complicated.
Emotions are complicated.”
In celebration of the 100th anni-
versary of the city library, Munasafnið
is offering free membership give-
aways which will run at least into
the end of May. You only need to
visit the downtown city library and
take a picture of your library card,
put it on Instagram with the ex-
clusive Hringrásar safnið filter and
tag the Munasafn Tool Library and
the Borgar bókasafn city library in
your story.

Hringrásarsetur operates a monthly
repair café where people can bring
broken items and repair them. You
can volunteer with them and learn
the tricks of the trade.
The Neighbourhood Watch The Munasafn
Tool Library Enters
A New Phase
Circular is the word of the day and the concept of the future
There is no alternative. Either
we end up in a Wall-E world
where there’s trash everywhere
and fat rich people live in
space. Or we’re going to end
up in a society where we care
for each other and respect
the limited resources.
Emotions are complicated.