I think most people understand that charities are an important destination for pre-loved clothes. Indeed, I think everybody has been touched by the great work charities do in recycling clothing, either through buying clothes at an op shop, or by placing second hand clothes in a clothing bin. Probably both at different life stages.
The quantities involved are staggering. According to the National Association of Charitable Recycling Organisations, charities in Victoria received an estimated 55,800 tonnes of goods. Of this about 65% was diverted away from landfill through reuse/resale, recycling into a range of materials (such as wiper rags) or exported to developing countries. The remainder went to landfill. The full report (pdf) can be found on the NACRO website.
Considering Victoria has about a quarter of Victoria's population, there's over 220,000 tonnes of goods handled by Australian charities each year. That is a monumental contribution.
Behind this story is a disturbing reality. Of the goods received by charities, about 35% goes to landfill. About 77,000 tonnes per year. You'd think this was avoidable, and it probably is, but it is a massive cost for charities. At a landfill cost of $100/tonne, this is an $8m problem. Each year. Not to mention time and resources sorting rubbish from good stuff, taking it to landfill and so on.
So a problem for charities, but an opportunity for some astute operators in the waste industry. Or perhaps operators outside the waste industry who don't accept the status-quo.
Imagine a partnership, charities doing their bit taking quality goods back to the community, and processors dealing with the waste (and establishing better channels to keep the waste from the charities in the first place). Working together to get some of that $8m back for charities to do their thing. Creating value from the reprocessed materials.
This has to be part of any vision for a new waste world. Crazy, entrepreneurial businesses who refuse to believe that charities have to shoulder the burden of rubbish, and that rubbish is even necessary.
What makes a good NFP? Basically they need to act as a business and do what we all do in the commercial sector and that is to look at new ways of creating revenue while creating a competitive edge. Creating sustainable business programs in NFP generates work opportunities for the disadvantaged, it raises the profile of the NFP entity and its brand, it allows for the creation of business initiatives without the burden of workforce costs (volunteering), etc. NFPs who rely solely on project based funding come and go as the funding varies.They therefore need to create revenue opportunities which are free of funding encumbrances and uncertainties.
ReplyDeleteOften NFP can be their own worst enemies in that they place donation bins at various locations in the community. As we have seen the community will support these efforts and "do the right thing". Sadly certain elements of the community see these drop-off sites as a place to dispose of a number of different waste items often having nothing to do with the material being requested. NFPs in these instances have no other option than to landfill unwanted material.
Let's get back to e-waste (sorry). Many NFPs run refurbishment operations and use social outcomes as a means to market themselves to donors. The outcomes of these programs can be fantastic with the right publicity and corporates will support them. Unfortunately much equipment donated is not reusable in the scope of the programs these entities run. The problem then becomes of disposal of surplus or unusable material. The last thing a NFP will want to do is to PAY a recycler to look after the residual material. They will therefore look to other avenues of disposal including export to less developed countries. In the past I have spoken to many NFPs and they all operate in pretty much the same manner in that the thought process is "how do we rid ourselves of this stuff at the least possible cost?".
Personally I have tried to work closely with WA NFPs to see how we can be off assistance to them as a commercial entity. About all we have managed to achieve is to negotiate purchase of disassembled and sorted material of varying types and worth. The opportunity to recycle has been made available but to date, the response has been poor.
NFPs can be quite aggressive in the market place and compete strongly with commercial service providers and often successfully mainly because the labour is cheap/free and people will donate thinking they are doing the right thing. Additionally, risk factors are not always taken into account and capital for expansion of the programs is not immediatly available.
My experience with e-waste leads me to believe that a key recruiting factor is the applicant's ability to work in a situation where risks are there every day and to work in such a way as they mitigate those risks or at the very least, can see risk and report it. Risk assessments often come after something has gone wrong.
Always plenty to discuss Adam..