One of the big ideas to be explored in practice, and actually the originating idea for Garbologie, is Tip/Shop.
The Tip/Shop vision
Tip/Shop is a place for people to come in with their rubbish as they would to the tip, paying the usual fee, but we do everything in our power to make sure it doesn't go to the tip.
We do this first by creating the right space. We're not tucked away at the front, back or side of a landfill. We are in a stand-alone building, in a popular area, and make it into a place where people want to go. It's supposed to just feel nice.
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| Artist impression of Tip/Shop exterior |
When a customer arrives, we don't look over the load to bark out what the charge will be and then let the customer fend for themself. We help every customer to unload.
Why?
Well, besides the fact that it is a great service, it also means that we can protect goods being delivered from damage as they are unloaded. We can talk with customers to understand any particular story behind what they are bringing. We try to connect with the goods they are paying to get rid of.
Anything that has a market, even if some repair work is needed, we clean up, repair and resell in a shop. Goods that don't have a resale market are dismantled and the components recycled.
The idea is to have a little as possible go to landfill.
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| Artist impression of Tip/Shop interior |
Given the importance of resale, we will put a great deal of effort into our shop. We will have a cafe on site, something to let people tarry a while. Our inventory will be tightly managed, letting us know what we have, where it is, and to sell it both online and in the shop. We have a kids corner. We structure the resale so that it is appealing, not your standard tipshop crammed full of junk.
We value our community, and so use the space to host lessons in repairing stuff, to have movie nights consistent with our vision, we make the whole space visible to everybody. Our consulting offices are on the premises because this is what we are and we want our clients to see that.
The vision comes to life
Tip/Shop was always intended to happen, but to happen in 2014 once Garbologie Mattress has settled down, is profitable and we can afford the next step.
Things have not worked out that way. Instead, the perfect property became available a few months ago.
It is located on Stock Rd O'Connor, a major arterial in an area that is a hive of activity for people doing shopping from neighbouring bulk goods stores. About 30,000 cars pass every day, with the building being highly visible.
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| Tip/Shop, perfect location at the corner of Stock and Peel Rds in O'Connor, WA |
The suburb, O'Connor, is the centre of quite a large gap for any form of waste facility. Even better, the neighbouring Fremantle is an area where there is a massive green awareness. Perhaps the greenest in Perth (the first candidate for the Greens in the Western Australian Parliament Legislative Assembly, Adele Carles, represented Fremantle).
Plus it has a showroom, upstairs offices, about 1,100 square meters of space with an in door and an out door (actually, a loading dock, but building a ramp will turn that into an out door). As an old factory, it is truly a perfect site.
It isn't cheap, and the punt still makes me wince, but I put an offer in and it was accepted.
Getting it off the ground
Now that we have a site, we need to get approval from the local Council for the change of use. That seems straightforward, but it isn't.
The land is zoned "Commercial" (even though the building is an old factory, complete with gantry), and a "Waste Depot" is a prohibited use in the Commercial zoning (but permitted in the Industrial zoning immediately adjacent).
We could, of course, look to put it into an alternative building zoned Industrial, but then the cafe would be prohibited and people would have to mix it with trucks and all the rest of the industrial stuff. It wouldn't work as well.
So we really want it here, and have to do so by making the case that we are not establishing a Waste Depot.
We have done this by stressing the fact that we are not about waste. This is not a facility that will take bulk waste and put it landfill. This is more akin to an op-shop, a repair shop, a showroom.
The application was lodged with the City of Fremantle on Wednesday the 3rd of July. Other than the forms, the application is made up of three documents, each of which can be downloaded by clicking on its title below:
The next step is for me to speak with each of the Councillors on the Planning Services Committee, not to lobby them, but to ensure that they understand the application. Fortunately the City of Fremantle encourages Councillors to be approached about planning applications.
After that, I think I've probably done as much as I can and let it take its course.
To risk metaphysical hubris (something a teacher warned me of many years ago), it will be a matter of letting the Fates decide. And the Fates should have made their decision by the third week of August.
Credits
If you want to know who did the amazing artist impressions, they were brought together by the incredible Mara and +Clare S. Properjohn at +The Creative Arts House. They were turned around within a day!
And the plans were converted from hand-drawn sketches overnight by Shachila, who does work via Freelancer.com. That service is also quite amazing.
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