Announcing a ‘Reuse Logo’ for Everyone to Use

 

The Reuse Logo – The More We Reuse, the Less We Waste.

Over the past few years, Reuse has refocused Australia’s interest and attention at the top of the resource hierarchy as a driver of the circular economy.

But it has lacked a compelling, singular and engaging logo to represent itself. Until today.

Charitable Reuse Australia has created a Reuse Logo for everyone to use. Please use and share this widely, because The More We Reuse, the Less We Waste.

The big, bold heart of the logo represents pre-loved items, as well as a deep caring and love for people and planet. The arrow vector represents reuse in keeping products circulating for as long as possible – essential for a circular economy.

We’d love everyone to adopt and use the Reuse Logo including … Op Shops, Reuse Social Enterprises, Commercial Reuse Organisations, Councils, Governments, Circular Fashion Brands, Circular Economy Practitioners and more.

• It can be used anywhere preloved items can be found.
• It can be used as price tags for selling pre-loved.
• It can be used by councils and governments promoting reuse.
• It can be used anywhere reuse is in action.

Everyone can download the Reuse Logo from the link below. We’re also creating Stickers and GIFs and more for everyone to use. Let’s get the Reuse Logo out there so it can start accelerating and promoting our sector, because:

• The more we reuse, the less we waste.
• Reuse is second only to reducing consumption for environmental benefits

Download and start using the the Reuse Logo today.

World Op Shop Day Logo 

The Reuse Logo is also at the heart of the new World Op Shop Day Logo, which is available to all Charitable Reuse Australia members along with bespoke World Op Shop Day marketing collateral to help attract massive foot-traffic, sales, donations and volunteers on Saturday 18 October 2025.

Chosen by Charitable Reuse Australia members, the logo is available in coral red, forest green, mint, grey, black and white from the Member Hub where members can access all the high resolution versions directly for their own use alongside their own logos and marketing collateral.

World Op Shop Day is an invitation for all Australians to engage with an op shop either as a customer, a donor or volunteer on Saturday 18 October 2025.

Charitable Reuse Conference – Early Bird Rates Now Available

Check Out the Full Conference Agenda – Best Ever Line Up of Speakers

With the 2025 Charitable Reuse Conference billed as the ‘Event of the Century’, its fitting that the line up of speakers is the best we have ever convened.

Topics include: 100 Years of Op Shops, Resilience, Changing Landscapes, Market Shifts, Cost-of-Living Crisis, Government Partnerships, Greenwashing, People Leadership, Thrift Chic and Shifting Fashion Shopping Habits, Power of Reuse, Small Electricals and Electronics, Research Insights Driving Op Shop Purchasing, Improving Donation Quality, Key Media Messaging, Communicating Sustainability and Social Impact, Charity Shops Around the World – Who Does it Best, How the Sector is Evolving, Digitising Reuse, Retail Crime and Customer Aggression Strategies, Bridging the Donor Gap, Easy AI to Valuable AI, the AI Future of eCommerce Retail, How the Clothing Sector Affects Charity Business … plus the Shop Manager Break-In and a Preloved Fashion Runway at the Gala Dinner.

Check out the full agenda below, or get your Early Bird tickets now:

Conference Proudly Supported by Shop for Shops and re-UP

 

South Australia’s Waste Strategy – Public Consultation Open

Accelerating SA’s transition to a circular economy: South Australia’s Waste Strategy 2025-2030, has now been released for public consultation.

Consultation on the draft strategy will be open for 8 weeks, closing on 23 July 2025.

Bill Gates’s daughter Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni announce on LinkedIn the launch of Phia. An AI shopping app using smart tech to promote secondhand fashion and support circular economy solutions.

 

 

 

 

Award-Winning Keynote Speaker for Charitable Reuse Conference

Heidi Dening – Tough Times Don’t Last. Resilient Professionals Do. 

Heidi Dening believes that education changes lives. Combining the insights she has learned from surviving a paralysing illness, a gunpoint kidnapping, a life-threatening tsunami, and petrol bombs with her impressive business and health education background, she has a unique ability to elevate the professional resilience of leaders and their teams. This enables them to make better decisions, be more innovative, have more energy, optimism and empathy, and successfully deal with change, stress, and uncertainty.

Heidi has dedicated her career to inspiring thousands of people globally with practical strategies that improve resilience and self-leadership, from small children on remote Pacific islands to professional teams across 19 different industries.

This has meant she has delivered onstage and online presentations and programs to thousands of professionals from across the globe, including Coca-Cola, Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, REINSW, Raine and Horne, Financial Planners Association, Metcash, Insurance Council of Australia and Westpac.

She was named ‘Best International Keynote Speaker’ in the Asia Pacific region and is the author of an Amazon best-selling leadership book called ‘’Her Middle Name is Courage – How Self-Leadership Transforms Pressure into Performance, Chaos into Clarity and Rage into Resilience”.

Heidi is presenting the opening keynote at the 2025 Charitable Reuse Conference – Register now to see her live.

 

 

2025 Conference Agenda Includes Three Unique New Elements …

… Celebratory Inspiration, Resilience and Capacity Building

Check out the Conference agenda at the link below as it’s starting to take shape.

This year, in addition to all the contemporary thought-provoking future-strategies brought to you by the most inspiring, engaging and collaborative speakers, the Sydney Conference agenda incorporates three unique elements:

• Celebratory Inspiration – The 100 Years of Op Shops theme in 2025, the launch of World Op Shop Day and the Gala Dinner activations are designed to celebrate and elevate our sector, and to inspire all Australians to engage with an op shop this year either as a donor, a customer or a volunteer.
• Resilience  – The 2025 year has started with many challenges, not only for our sector in Australia but charity shops globally. This year’s conference builds in more sessions on resilience and leadership, as well as directly addressing all the key challenges with a focus on collective solutions.
• Capacity Building – The Shop Manager Break-In Sessions build on the success of last’s year’s launch to educate, engage and elevate your shop manager teams with powerful bespoke content designed for members by members.

Given the challenges facing the sector in 2025 and its celebratory opportunity to elevate interest in op shops, we recommend that all Charitable Reuse Australia members, partners and supporters attend this Once in a Century event.

In order to share the best-practice educational sessions with as many of your frontline teams as possible, we’re offering complimentary all-staff Livestream access and complimentary Conference Recordings for all organisations that register either four delegates into the Conference, or six Shop Managers into the Shop Manager Break-In Sessions.

You’ll Want to Break Into the Shop Manager Break-In Sessions …

… Build Capacity, Energy and Inspiration for Your Shop Managers

Huge thanks to the NSW member group creating the agenda for the Shop Manager Break-In Sessions to ensure its perfectly aligned with the needs of their shop manager teams:

• Yolanda Saiz, NSW Director (CEO St Vincent de Paul Society)
• Cayte Moxom, Salvos Stores
• Gemma Presley, Vinnies NSW
• Cally Piper, Red Cross
• Mark Jeffrey, Lifeline Harbour to Hawkesbury
• David Ison, Lifeline Direct
• Other NSW Members are welcome to join this group

This is a one-day session on Monday 13 October 2025 so your shop managers don’t spend too long away from their shops, and they can be back running their shops on Tuesday – and preparing for the massive foot-traffic expected on World Op Shop Day on Saturday 18 October 2025.

Conference Proudly Supported by Shop for Shops and re-UP

 

World Op Shop Day – Save the Date

Save the date of Saturday 18 October 2025 and get ready for World Op Shop Day.

Here’s a sneak peek into what’s in store:

• Purpose of World Op Shop Day – To drive foot-traffic, donations and sales for all our members, and elevate awareness of charitable reuse.
• Call to Action – An invitation for all Australians to engage with an op shop either as a donor, a customer or a volunteer on World Op Shop Day.
• Frequency – An annual event timed for the third Saturday in October.
• Brand Owner – Charitable Reuse Australia on behalf of all our members.
• Marketing Plan – We’ll prepare a foundational marketing plan including collateral for all members to use.
• 100 Day Countdown – The social media countdown to World Op Shop Day commences from 10 July 2025, where we will also celebrate all member and partner anniversaries happening in 2025.
• Logo – A compelling and engaging logo for World Op Shop Day is coming soon.

We’d love to see the Aussie term ‘Op Shop’ gain global traction with the other nomenclatures of ‘Charity Shop’ in England and ‘Thrift Shop’ in America – and to accelerate our collective global customers and donors together with our wonderful peers and peak bodies overseas.

Look out for more details coming to all members soon.

Charitable Retail Benchmarking Stats Revealed

Charitable Reuse Australia has been collecting quarterly Retail Benchmarking data from over 1,200 op shops and reuse shops since 2022.

We are pleased to publicly share the top line National Averages for the first time, based on the December 2024 Quarter:

• $4.90 – Average Item Price
• 2.9 – Average Items Per Sale
• $14.27 – Average Transaction Value
• $116,160 – Average Shop Revenue
• $1,568 – Average Sales Per SQM

The full datasets, including drilldowns by state, shop size, regional v metro locations and staff v volunteer run shops are available to participating members to help them compare like-for-like shops and improve retail performance.

Huge thanks to Ian Moore, State Manager,  Save the Children who originally suggested the idea of a Retail Benchmarking tool to Charitable Reuse Australia back in 2019 and created the metrics and data sheets we are currently using.

In 2025, we will be expanding the Retail Benchmarking metrics based on member needs. Look out for an invitation for all participating members to a collective meeting discuss what additional metrics they would like included for the future.

NSW Reuse Calculator Video

Provide Feedback for Queensland’s Waste Strategy 2025 to 2030

The new Queensland Government is seeking feedback on their draft Waste Strategy 2025 of Less Landfill, More Recycling which seems to be focused only on boosting recycling to try and reduce waste. They also want to support jobs.

Reuse, repair and other higher order interventions for waste avoidance don’t seem to be prioritised at all so far.

The Queensland Government’s Consultation Process and Feedback Survey presents an important opportunity for all reuse organisations, councils and advocates of the Waste Hierarchy to provide feedback on the power of reuse to help inform their strategy.

The Power of Reuse in the Waste Hierarchy

• Reuse is second only to reducing consumption for environmental benefits.
• We can minimise waste if we can get into the habit of reusing items.
• Most of the carbon footprint of items are created in manufacture,  so it makes sense to prolong their use and spread this impact over a longer time.
• The longer we keep things; not replacing them; the less waste we produce.
• The more we reuse, the less we waste.
• Nothing should be recycled unless it’s been reused or repaired first.
• The future is reusable.

The Power of Reuse in Job Creation

• Recycling creates 9.2 jobs for every 10,000 tonnes processed in Australia.
• Reuse creates 25x more jobs than recycling per 10,000 tonnes in NSW.
• Reuse creates 34x more jobs than recycling per 10,000 tonnes in Tasmania.
• The job creation multiple for reuse over recycling in Queensland is likely to be within this range.

To provide feedback for the Queensland Government’s consultation, please click their website link below.

‘Famous Campaigns’ on LinkedIn highlighting AI artist Emanuele Morelli taking a powerful swipe at ultra-fashion brands like Shein.

‘OceanCare’ on LinkedIn cleverly highlighting the plastics crisis in our oceans.

And a wonderful message from ‘1 Million Women’ to curb our impulse buying and encourage us to become more conscious, ethical and sustainable consumers.

 

 

 

 

Register Now for the ‘Once in a Century Event’ in Sydney in October

Charitable Reuse Conference – Best Discount Tickets Available Now
The 2025 Charitable Reuse Conference will be held at the award-winning UTS Aerial Function Centre in Sydney on 13-14 October 2025.

Located a short walk from Central Station, with stunning city skyline and Darling Harbour views, the venue is the perfect setting for a very special and celebratory ‘Once in a Century’ event.

Our conference theme for 2025 is ‘100 Years of Op Shops’ where we will bring the entire reuse sector together to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the uniquely Australian term ‘Op Shop’ that was first coined in 1925 by Melbourne show girl, Lady Millie Tallis (friend of Charlie Chaplin). Millie wanted to give charity stores or thrift shops a more dignified name, so she coined the term ‘Opportunity Shop’.

The celebrations will be inclusive and expansive as we bring everyone together with this opportunity to acknowledge, scale and accelerate the power of reuse and the charitable second-hand economy. Some of our members have already been operating for well over 100 years, while others don’t identify as op shops but as non-profit social enterprises. Our partners include commercial suppliers, and our stakeholders include governments and councils and academia and more.

We invite All of You to convene together at the Charitable Reuse Conference in Sydney on 13-14 October 2025 for this Once in a Century event.

This really is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to be at the same place at the same time, discussing the future of our sector – and what it holds for all of us.

 

Big Savings on Conference Ticketing – Available Now

• Member Tickets – Only $699 for a short time only. Our Supporters, Corporate Partners and Government Stakeholders can also use this rate.
• Non Members – Great opportunity for suppliers, councils, academia and consultants to network and engage with the sector at $895.
• Conference Gala Dinner – $175 each for members and partners, or $235 for non-members.
• Shop Manager Break-In Session on Monday – From $220 per delegate to $365 depending on how many Shop Managers you bring.
• Livestream & Recordings – $550 for All Staff Livestream access and Recordings.

Click below to buy tickets.

For larger orders, please contact Charitable Reuse Australia to issue an invoice.

You’ll Want to Be at this Event with Your Leaders and Shop Managers

In addition to the main conference plenary, we’re bringing back last year’s successful launch of the Shop Manager Breakout Session, which was so popular, delegates began renaming it the Shop Manager Break-in Session!

The two will run concurrently.

Conference Plenary: All the future strategies around charitable retail, reuse and resource management packed into 2-days of inspiring, elevating thought-provoking strategies delivered by a highly curated group of the very best speakers and panelists. The Pre-Registration rates are available now, so book all your leaders into the Conference Plenary now at the very best discount rates before they expire. The Conference tickets include access to ‘break-in’ to the Shop Manager sessions anytime.

Shop Manager Break-In: A separate 1-day bespoke session offering specific, practical, operational and learning content for Shop Managers only, designed by members and delivered for members. Check out the attractive sliding scale rates that make it super-affordable to bring five, 10 or 20 of your shop managers for this Monday-only session. On Tuesday, they can all be back at their shops armed with new insights to drive sales and impact.

Gala Dinner
Make sure you also book the Conference Dinner on the Monday night for leaders and shop managers alike. And given the 100 Years of Op Shops theme, its going to be a celebratory dinner like you have not seen before. We’ll bring back the glitz and glamour that was 1925 with activities befitting a gala event – but don’t worry, we won’t make you dress up. Unless you want to. Either way, you’ll want to be at this dinner.

Registration is now open, so make sure you join your peers and all the leaders of the charitable reuse sector in Sydney on 13-14 October 2025 … this Once in a Century event.

Book Now to get the best rates – the ‘Pre-Registration’ Discounts won’t last.

Conference Proudly Supported by Shop for Shops and re-UP

 

Tasmanian Reuse Impact Study Launch & Immersive – Hobart

Tasmania Unveils its First Ever Comprehensive Data Study on Reuse.

Over 40 stakeholders attended the Hobart launch of the Tasmanian Reuse Impact Study, organised by Charitable Reuse Australia in partnership with the Tasmanian Waste and Resource Recovery Board, and hosted at Hobart City Mission and Resource Work Cooperative.

Pam Allan, Chair, Waste and Resource Recovery Board unveiled the findings of the first comprehensive data study of reuse in Tasmania, which has a long history and culture of reuse. Tasmanians are already known as Australia’s most generous donors of preloved items to charity, reflecting the state’s well-known stewardship of the environment with its commitment to society in helping those in need.

The datasets detailed in the reports (below) are as inspiring as they are powerful in providing essential insights into the size, structure and unique characteristics of reuse in Tasmania, as well as an evidence base demonstrating the importance of higher order interventions like reuse. They quantify what the Waste Hierarchy has known all along – that the most effective interventions are prioritised at the top.

The datasets also drive the accompanying Tasmanian Reuse Impact Calculator to enable reuse organisations and councils to easily assess, quantify and demonstrate the environmental, economic and social impact generated through their reuse activities.

Webinar – Unlocking the Insights of the TAS Reuse Impact Study

If you missed the TAS Reuse Impact Study launch event, then join us for this webinar, where we will share the key findings of the recently conducted study on reuse data in Tasmania. This webinar will provide valuable insights for all reuse organisations and Tasmanian councils on how to leverage this information to accelerate reuse initiatives.

• Date: Monday 7 April
• Time: 10am to 10.45am (AEDT)
• Format: Zoom link to be provided

Register now to find out the environmental, social and economic impact of reuse in Tasmania.

 

Webinar – Unlocking the Insights of the TAS Reuse Impact Study

If you missed the TAS Reuse Impact Study launch event, then join us for this webinar, where we will share the key findings of the recently conducted study on reuse data in Tasmania. This webinar will provide valuable insights for all reuse organisations and Tasmanian councils on how to leverage this information to accelerate reuse initiatives.

• Date: Monday 7 April
• Time: 10am to 10.45am (AEDT)
• Format: Zoom link to be provided

Register now to find out the environmental, social and economic impact of reuse in Tasmania.

The Elephant in the Room is Overconsumption

How Can Australia Begin a Conversation on Overconsumption?

Reading the J. B. Mackinnon book The Day the World Stops Shopping brings home, in intricate detail and impact, the cataclysmic risk of infinite growth in a finite world – not only to the environment, but to our society as well as the economy.

However, there are things we can do to collectively mitigate the damaging effects of overconsumption, while at the same time creating a better life for people and a greener world for our planet – like changing our consumption patterns so that they are sustainable.

There are no easy answers. But ignoring the elephant in the room is never a good strategy. Paying lip service to the word ‘Reduce’ at the very top of the Waste Hierarchy won’t cut it either. One step we can all make is to begin a sensible collective conversation on overproduction and discuss what sustainable and circular consumption might look like. And how it can protect and advance the planet, society and economy.

Charitable Reuse Australia has reached out to a handful of likeminded circular economy advocates – committed to the tenets of the Waste Hierarchy and to a sustainable future – to discuss how we might get an active conversation started on the topic in Australia. Not a solution (yet). Not even a strategy (yet). Simply a way for governments, circular economy practitioners and citizens to open our eyes and understand the threats we are all facing and to acknowledge the truth of what is – infinite growth on a finite planet can’t last. Call it a Coalition of the Willing. If this resonates with you, and you’d like to be part of this collaborative, future-focused group, then please reach out to omer@charitablereuse.org.au.

One anecdote from the book is a salient reminder of the definition of the word ‘Consume’. Look it up. To ‘consume’ means to destroy or expend by use; use up. That’s exactly what we are doing to the planet we live on – we are consuming it.

The More We Reuse, the Less We Waste … So Put Second-hand First!

We more we reuse, the less we waste.
Reuse is second only to reducing consumption for environmental benefits.

As I was pondering the issue of overconsumption, I came across this Kennards sign in my local neighbourhood that seems to sum up a pointless addiction.

Here’s a somewhat more inspiring; and rather clever; image and message that I came across, courtesy of the Humble Earth Initiative. Well done them!

 

Particularly salient to overconsumption is that Australia hit ‘Earth Overshoot Day’ on 19 March. Thanks Gayle Sloan and WMRR for getting the word out.

 

Australia’s Circular Economy: Unlocking the opportunities

The Australian Government Productivity Commission has released its interim report on Australia’s Circular Economy: Unlocking the opportunities.

Submissions are invited and due by 11 April 2025.

ACT Government Convenes First Textile Workshop for the Territory

Charitable Reuse Australia was pleased to represent the reuse sector at the ACT Government’s first ever Circularity in Textiles workshop, along with some of our members – including Vinnies Canberra/Goulburn, Red Cross and Salvos.

We look forward to supporting the ACT Government on their textiles journey, and providing valuable feedback and consultation on the next steps.

This is NOT a Donation Bin – It is NOT Charitable – It is Illegal Dumping

How to Identify a Bone Fide Charity or Commercial Donation Bin

Cumberland City Council approached us about this unbranded, metal contraption illegally dumped on council land, which most certainly is NOT a donation bin! It looks like it once had a former life as one, but its previous ownership has been covered up with all sorts of unauthorised stickers. Council is treating this entire contraption as illegal dumping that will be removed and sent to a scrap metal recycler – at least the metal has some value.

Here’s what to look for in professionally operated bone fide donations bins:

• If operated by a registered charity themselves directly, it is authorised to carry the NSW Government ‘Charity Operated’ sticker
• If operated by a commercial business, it must display the NSW Government ‘Commercially Operated’ sticker, including when the commercial bin operator has a charity partner.
• It needs clear identification and a phone number of the operators.
• It needs to be legally placed with approval from council or a commercial landlord.
• It would also do to be visually nice and clean, reflecting an ethos of care from the operator.

Please don’t support unbranded, or illegally placed bins or non-compliant labelled bins. Please encourage donors to give to either bone fide charities or approved commercial operators, and especially to export accredited organisations for higher standards.

If you are a council, a government or a commercial landlord, you may wish to ensure your donation bin partner meets all the eligibility criteria for professional collections, bin management, dumping deterrence and clothing reuse exports.

Here’s an easy list for reference:

Queensland Litter and Illegal Dumping Social Research

The Litter and Illegal Dumping Social Research report is available on the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation website, with comparisons from the previous survey, tracking trends and changes in the Queensland public over the past five years.

One of the summary points in the report are:

• Significantly more people are disposing of their clothes at a charity shop or donation bin
• More people are using the council kerbside collection to remove green waste.
• There has been a significant increase in people disposing of bulky items through kerbside collection and selling and donating them.
• Very few people (2%) admit to deliberately illegally dumping.

The main areas of confusion leading to illegal dumping include:

• Leaving household items outside a charity shop or next to a donation bin.
• Leaving items on the side of the road with a ‘free’ sign.
• Leaving furniture on the side of the road outside their homes, outside of kerbside pickup times.
• Leaving green waste in a park, bushland or national park.

National Waste Policy Action Plan Update

The National Waste Policy Action Plan website has been updated to include the published Australian Government Implementation Plan.

Good to see governments acknowledging we must move beyond ‘recycling’ to embrace behaviour change, better consumption and higher order initiatives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The NSW Environment Protection Authority has again taken the lead on reuse by funding the development of the NSW Reuse Impact Calculator.

Based on the comprehensive NSW Reuse Data Study and supported by world leading environmental conversion factors, this powerful new resource enables organisations to assess, quantify and demonstrate the environmental, economic and social impact generated through their reuse activities.

Please click the link below to start using the NSW Reuse Impact Calculator.

Charitable Reuse Australia and the NSW EPA partnered on an Australian-first project to conduct a triple bottom line assessment of the reuse sector in NSW. As part of this study, our research partner Rawtec compiled a list of (then) available Environmental Conversion Factors (ECFs) for estimating carbon, water, and energy savings from displacing products through reuse.

These ECFs were peer reviewed by Lifecycles as fit-for-purpose for the project to estimate the high-level environmental impacts of reuse at a statewide level. As part of our continual improvement process, Rawtec noted that as the ECFs could not be used to estimate benefits at a more nuanced level (such as by organisation or by product level) given they were compiled from various studies with varying estimation scopes and methods, Rawtec also recommended the development of a comprehensive and consistent set of ECFs aligned with all the product item categories within the National Reuse Measurement Guidelines.

Charitable Reuse Australia engaged and funded Lifecycles to create this set of ECFs, aligning all factors to a consistent source of data, and further improving the quality of the environmental datasets in the NSW Reuse Data Study (and for subsequent studies across other states, including the Tasmanian Reuse Data Study currently underway).

Importantly, these ECFs also enable the development of a bespoke Reuse Impact Calculator – to identify detailed impacts by organisation, by product groups, by individual product items, or by other planned reuse interventions.

Check out the full Lifecycles ECF Report below, as well as the updated National Reuse Measurement Guidelines which now includes these ECFs.

The Tasmanian Waste and Resource Recovery Board (WRRB), in partnership with Charitable Reuse Australia, is conducting a Tasmanian Reuse Data Study with Tasmanian reuse organisations.

Tasmanians take pride in their strong reuse culture, and we are inviting all Tasmanian reuse organisations to participate in a study that will, for the first time, measure the scale and impact of reuse activities across Tasmania.

Tasmania is the second Australian State Government to fund a Reuse Data Study, which will be conducted in line with Monash University’s National Reuse Measurement Guidelines and harmonised in scope with the successful and inaugural NSW Reuse Data Study completed in June 2024.

The Tasmanian Reuse Data Study 2024 will gather data on reuse activity, economic value, associated employment, social and environmental impacts, and the repair of second-hand items prior to sale.

The reuse sector does not receive any direct government policy or funding support anywhere in Australia to accelerate its impact. It is currently all self-funded. Tasmanian reuse organisations can help to change this.

The survey will:

• Inform government policy development to support reuse.
• Highlight the value of your activities to stakeholders.
• Help WRRB identify ways to accelerate reuse efforts in Tasmania.

Charitable Reuse Australia has engaged Rawtec, a leading consultancy in the circular economy, to manage the survey, data analysis, and reporting. Your responses will be kept confidential to Rawtec and Charitable Reuse Australia and will be anonymised in all reports.

Charitable Recycling Australia hosted a reuse immersive on Wednesday 2 November with 50 key government policy makers and council stakeholders attending the Monash University presentation on the headline findings from the ARC Research on Measuring the Benefits of Reuse in the Circular Economy.

Most also attended the site tours at Reverse Garbage, Salvos Stores and King Cotton for a deep operational dive into the reuse operations at a charity, a social enterprise and a commercial reuse facility for a sector-wide educational. Delegates shared how impressed they were with the efficacy of the reuse operations with its 86% Resource Recovery Rate … although quite a few also wandered off to the retail areas to do some op shopping (which is just fine).

Delegates were treated to an enjoyable day and an education on the huge environmental, economic and social benefits of reuse – which sits at the top of the waste hierarchy as a best and highest use intervention but remains largely unrecognised in government policy interventions and unfunded, with most government funding only focusing on lower level interventions such as recycling and resource recovery.

Interestingly in Europe, it’s not just Environment departments that embrace reuse. European Government Employment departments actively fund reuse as it is a great economic and job creation activator – creating 10-20x as many jobs compared to recycling alone.

Charitable Recycling Australia’s Reuse Immersive was designed to help Australian governments embrace reuse and accelerate towards the Circular Economy through faster progress towards their own targets as well as other clear benefits:

• CO2 Reductions
• Landfill Reduction
• Economic Growth
• Job Creation
• Social Welfare
• Engagement with the Next Generations

This event marks the commencement of the evidence base and advocacy campaign from Charitable Recycling Australia to get reuse, repair and other higher level waste hierarchy interventions integrated into government policies.

Check out the video and photos from this event below.

 

Charitable Recycling Australia congratulates Bingo Industries which has been selected as the successful tenderer for the ‘AU-980521 – Multi-site Waste Collection, Recycling and Disposal Contract for Charitable Recycling Organisations’.

The key driver of this tender was for the launch and implementation of Weight Based Billing for charitable recycling organisations in New South Wales. This ground-breaking initiative could not have been possible without the vision and work of MRA Consulting, nor the funding and support of the NSW EPA/DPIE over what has been a two year project. Huge thanks to both organisations.

What makes Weight Based Billing so innovative, is the transparency and accountability of costs linked directly to weight of waste to landfill, that provides a direct lever for waste reduction, delivers cost efficiency and savings for charitable organisations, and the opportunity to access the NSW Community Service Exemption through a contractor providing the required reporting protocols.

This promises to be an important step and indicator of the future of waste collections for our sector.

The NSW EPA’s Waste Delivery Plan is now finalised and can be accessed on the EPA website.

Zoom Town Hall Meeting – Wednesday 2 February at 3pm AEST

The Australian Fashion Council and Consortium members – Charitable Recycling Australia, QUT, Sustainable Resource Use and WRAP – invite you to a webinar briefing and stakeholder engagement session on the National Clothing Product Stewardship Scheme.

As a key stakeholder in Australia’s National Approach to Fashion Circularity, please join us online on Wednesday 2 February, 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM AEST to provide your feedback on how the sector can best navigate and respond to the environmental and social impact of clothing in Australia.

Register Your Interest Here

The purpose of the webinar is to:

• Initial Briefing – Provide an initial briefing on the Federal Government’s $1 million grant for the Australian Fashion Council-led consortium to design, develop and implement a Product Stewardship Scheme for Clothing, along with a National Roadmap for Clothing in Australia.
• Stakeholder Feedback – Gain feedback from all stakeholders in the clothing value chain, including producers/brands, retailers, reuse charities, commercial collectors, repair, recycling, remanufacturing, State Governments, councils plus academia, industry experts and others.
• Additional Sessions – Identify what additional stakeholder engagement sessions, working groups and discussions we will need to help co-design the most effective scheme possible for the Australian market.

This webinar will be the first of a series of interactions that we will deliver to the industry members who represent every element of the value chain in fashion circularity.

Join us to start the conversation, to hear more about the proposed Scheme and determine what your role is in ensuring Australia’s fashion textile industry is making a difference now and for future generations.

Sustainability Victoria has announced that the Victorian Government will award up to $750,000 in funding for Textiles Innovation and Collaborative Innovation, through the Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre (CEBIC).

Textiles Innovation

This stream will provide grants of between $75,000 and $150,000 for collaborative projects that explore, test and/or demonstrate innovative circular solutions that design out textile waste in the make phase or use phase.

Collaborative Innovation

This stream will provide grants of between $150,000 and $250,000 for collaborative projects that explore, test and/or demonstrate innovative circular solutions that design out waste in the make phase or use phase from multiple organisations within a specified supply chain, sector or region.

Kenya is one of the largest importers of second-hand clothes in Sub-Saharan Africa because of its use and export to other countries. The second-hand clothes industry contributes to government revenues. The existence of second-hand clothes is a demand-side issue rather than a supply-side issue. For a considerable number of people, incomes in the country can only support the buying of second-hand clothes. This is a reflection on incomes rather than whether the supply of new clothes and footwear is available.

Over the past few months, the cost of shipping export container freight out of Australia has risen by 150% to 200%, due to supply chain issues, increased prices and a lack of availability of containers.

These already inflated prices are expected to continue to rise.

This is creating a very real and imminent threat to the commercial viability of Australia’s charities to be able to continue exporting pre-loved clothing textiles for reuse in international markets.

Australian Landfill Risk Alert – Australian Governments and Councils

Charitable Recycling Australia is alerting all Australian governments and councils that there is a short and medium risk to Australian landfill. If the 102,000 tonnes of clothing for reuse currently exported by charities each year is forced to stay in Australia, it will likely be destined to domestic landfill.

The commercial second-hand clothing export sector’s viability is similarly affected, adding to the volume of landfill risk.

While the charitable reuse sector is doing all it can to respond to these market conditions, as are the commercial exporters like King Cotton and SCR Group, there are risks to landfill in the short-medium term.

The unintended additional consequences may be equally dire:

• Without reuse exports, charities will suffer an additional $50 million in lost revenue that would otherwise go towards social welfare programs locally.
• Without reuse exports, the overseas demand will still remain, and the gap will be filled by an influx of cheap, newly manufactured clothing from Asia.
• This would accelerate even more low quality clothing production that may further exacerbate environmental harm in destination countries, due to the shorter life of cheaply produced clothing not designed to last long.
• Reuse exports globally also create millions of jobs in low income countries, predominantly for women, aiding poverty reduction and gender equality.

The situation in Australia is particularly severe, due to the local shortage of shipping containers from a decrease in trade between China and Australia, as well as increased demand for containers in countries such as the US that are slowly starting to open.

To compound the problems, industries with higher priced commodities are paying higher prices to secure a supply of containers. There are also unconfirmed reports of empty containers being fast-tracked back to China to meet this demand, further reducing container supply for Australian exports and driving up prices.

Charities and commercial second-hand textile exporters are unable to pass on these high costs to lower income end markets or absorb them to protect this important trade which has low margin and high volume traits.

Recommendations to Charitable Recycling Australia Members

Charitable Recycling Australia recommends members engage with their textile partners sooner rather than later to understand the risks and unpack possible options with them such as temporary storage, interim pricing, and discussion around other ways of potentially mitigating risks.

Charitable Recycling Australia has already raised a verbal alert with both Commonwealth and State Governments, and will continue to liaise with our government colleagues and stakeholders to inform and collaborate on this issue.

Request to Shipping Companies

If rising prices escalate to threaten both landfill and social welfare in Australia, Charitable Recycling Australia would like to raise discussion with Government on the possibility of requesting shipping companies to reduce (or at least cap) the escalating shipping costs, on the basis of environmental and social compassionate grounds and the fact we are dealing with very low-priced commodities.

We will keep members informed on this, as both the situation and a possible collective response evolves.

The Government of Western Australia has announced its Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2030 with a vision that Western Australia will become a sustainable, low-waste, circular economy in which human health and the environment are protected from the impacts of waste.

Textiles is a focus area for the Victorian Government in 2021-22.

Following an insightful Textiles Workshop hosted by DELWP and Sustainability Victoria, the Circular Economy Business Innovation Centre (CEBIC) has been launched to support the textiles industry through a grant stream.

CEBIC’s priorities are collaboration and innovative ideas to reduce textiles waste and use materials more efficiently.

Register for grant funding and workshops:

Did you know that the average Australian donates 39kg of goods for reuse to charity each year? 12kg of that is clothing.

• Which state is the most generous? Tasmania.
• Tasmanians donate a massive 67kg a year to charity!

Charitable Recycling Australia thanks all Australians for their generosity, without which charities could not deliver the massive social and environmental benefits they do.

Check out how your state fared in terms of average donations each year:

• 67kg Tasmania
• 56kg South Australia
• 55kg Queensland
• 36kg Victoria
• 31kg New South Wales
• 31kg Western Australia
• 31kg Northern Territory
• 14kg Australian Capital Territory

A typical charity shop receives an average of 376 tonnes of donations a year, with 339 tonnes donated in store and 37 tonnes donated via collection bins.

The Nordic Council of Ministers’ Green Growth Initiative highlighted the need for comprehensive collection, reuse and recycling of used textiles as part of a growing circular economy.

A major study in close cooperation with the 13 largest exporters of used textiles estimated the socio-economic and environmental impacts arising from their subsequent treatment. The key findings of the Nordic Council of Ministers Report are essential reading, and point to a strong net environmental benefit, support for thousands of jobs as an important vehicle for poverty reduction, savings in carbon emissions and water, and a realisation that if imports were restricted the gap would likely be filled by increasing imports of cheap new clothing from Asia, not by resurgence in local production.

In Australia, the Charitable Impact Study shows that textile exports for reuse:

• Generate $50 million for charity towards social welfare programs locally
• Extend the life of 100,000 tonnes of wearable garments
• Support commercial recycling and job creation domestically
• Serve overseas consumers with low incomes that need quality clothing
• Support livelihoods and poverty reduction overseas

The Monash Sustainable Development Institute has created a best practice guide to the circular economy, through the lens of a T-Shirt.

This is the first in a series of Circular Economy Stories

Click here to download.

Charitable Recycling Australia is pleased to announce that Brian Walker, CEO at The Retail Doctor Group, Peter Knock, Director at Peter Knock Consultancy and John Elliott, Founder at Looptworks have been appointed as inaugural members of the newly formed Retail Advisory Group.

The Charter of the Retail Advisory Group is to:

• Ask fundamental questions and provoke transformative action in the retail arena, including a vision for the sector by 2028.
• Bet at the forefront of communicating triple bottom line impact, closing the gaps between profit and purpose.
• Educate and encourage Charitable Recycling Australia member enterprises with best practice retail management.
• Help develop effective benchmarking for the charitable retail sector.
• Support the development of an effective online retail model for the sector.
• Help to set an ambitious agenda to grow the size and scale of the charitable retail sector.
• Help promote awareness of the charitable retail sector with consumers.
• Engage diverse talent within the Advisory and other spaces to drive collaborative inclusive outcomes.

Inviting Applications for the Retail Advisory Group:

Diversity is the lifeblood of progress. Retail specialists outside of the charity shop sector, across all levels of expertise, including aspiring leaders are invited to join the Advisory. Two voluntary positions are available, and we would love to see real diversity so please feel encouraged to apply.

Please email Omer Soker with your interest, focusing on three questions:

• Why do you want to join the Retail Advisory?
• How will you contribute to the Charter?
• What retail skillsets do you bring to the Advisory?

Charitable Recycling Australia was one of three organisations invited to present at the National Clothing Textiles Waste Roundtable at Parliament House in Canberra, along with the Australian Fashion Council and WRAP.

Hosted by the Hon. Sussan Ley MP, Minister for the Environment and the Hon. Trevor Evans MP, Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction, the Roundtable brought together industry leaders to address the 800,000 tonnes of textiles discarded by Australians every year – prompting the Government to prioritise clothing textile waste and invest $1 million to fund a new grant round under the National Product Stewardship Investment Fund.

Charitable Recycling Australia has long advocated in support of an Australian Fashion Council led product stewardship scheme for clothing, aligned around a WRAP model but designed specifically for Australia’s unique circumstances with support from the National Retail Association, the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association and local subject matter experts including Sustainable Resource Use.

This open, collaborative model and ‘coalition of the willing’ brings together global best practice and support, with an opportunity to develop it further into an Australian ‘Dream Team’ where everyone who has a stake can be involved and make a contribution – with a clear line of sight in delivering the Government’s key objectives and with full accountability on real, measurable impacts to solve Australia’s clothing textile waste problem.

The Government’s initiative is an exciting opportunity to bring together industry, reuse charities, academia, technology companies, subject matter experts and collaborative organisations with an ethos for being part of a coordinated action plan for Australian clothing textiles.

Huge thanks to DAWE for organising the Roundtable, and to Salvos and Vinnies for participating in the exhibition under the Moving the Needle banner to accessorise Ministers, MPs and Government staffers with donated ties and scarves that made for a very engaging, informative and educational exhibit.

Charitable Recycling Australia also thanks the Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence for its guidance and expertise.

WATCH VIDEO: https://www.facebook.com/100059431605965/videos/158023519670786

Monash University has been awarded an Australian Research Council Linkage Projects Grant to measure the benefits of reuse in the circular economy.

“The COVID-19 crisis has shown how vulnerable our society and economy is on globalised commodity chains so this grant is timely in that we must reset our materials economy along more sustainable lines, embracing circular economy principles that promote product longevity, and the repair and reuse of products and materials,” said Dr Ruth Lane who is overseeing the research for Monash University.

Charitable and community enterprises play a critical role in domestic commodity chains involving repair and reuse. They collect donated goods that would otherwise go to landfill, they provide skills development and employment training for staff and volunteers, and they ensure the availability of affordable second-hand goods and materials.

Research partner organisation National Association of Charitable Recycling Organisations estimates that 285 million products are reused each year, diverting 622,000 tonnes away from landfill.

Charitable and community enterprises also offer insights into how we could better support reuse commodity chains as part of a wider reset for a more sustainable circular economy that delivers social as well as environmental benefits.

The just announced research project, ‘Measuring the benefits of reuse in the circular economy’, will advance understanding of reuse commodity chains, their societal benefits and contributions to a sustainable circular economy. Drawing on case study research with charitable and community reuse enterprises, it will identify factors that facilitate or inhibit reuse and develop rigorous methods for assessing the benefits of reuse organisations in terms of materials processed, employment, skills development and contributions to regional economic development.

The National Waste Report (2020) indicates that reuse generates more jobs per tonne of goods than recycling, which in turn generates significantly more jobs than traditional landfill.

The outputs of the research will provide a sound evidence base for government policy and target-setting and strengthen conceptual understanding of the key drivers and enablers of reuse and how these are linked with broader economic activities.

“COVID-19 has shown how important reuse is, to reset an unsustainable material economy, to create new jobs into the future, and provide affordable second-hand goods and services for those in need”, added Dr Lane.

For more information, please contact:

• Dr Ruth Lane, Monash University
• 03 9905 2937
• lane@monash.edu

NACRO is delighted to announce that Griffith University have won a $347,000 Australian Research Council Linkage Grant social media grant to promote responsible donating. This is supported with an additional investment by the Department of Environment and Science, as well as NACRO members. The objective is to understand the social media messages that drive behaviour change among donating public. Charities are grateful for the generosity of Australians, and this initiative looks to better inform donors who are committed to making a social and environmental impact.

Read more in this Courier Mail article >

NACRO members are the original circular economy experts. We divert waste from landfill, generate funds to support the community, and create thousands of voluntary and paid positions around the country. However, we know very little about our collective impact – the contribution that we, as a sector, make to Australia’s social, environmental and economic fabric. Understanding our collective impact will create an evidence base for the unequalled social and environmental benefits of our sector, helping all NACRO members to demonstrate their unique selling points to customers, businesses and governments. It will also help NACRO to advocate on behalf of the sector, providing hard data and case studies to back up what we already know – that the charitable reuse, recycling and retail sector creates unparalleled social and environmental benefits for the Australian community.

NACRO’s proposed approach seeks to link charitable reuse and recycling with its social, environmental and economic impacts, by inviting members to regularly contribute basic information about their work and impact. This information will be used to build up an increasingly detailed picture of our sector’s collective impact around the country. Individual organisations will be able to access their own data, and ultimately, generate reports and infographics for use in stakeholder communications, annual reports, tenders and grant applications.

This project is based on prior work conducted by Zero Waste Network from 2016 to 2019 which focused on community reuse organisations, excluding charity op shops. Moving forward the project will include ongoing research collaborations with the Centre for Social Impact and Monash University. With the merger of Zero Waste Network into NACRO, we are now in a position to continue this work as a united sector, and will be measuring the impact of the whole sector, including charity op shops. Based on research and interviews with charitable peak associations and networks overseas, it is clear that collective impact measurement is one of the most effective ways to demonstrate value and catalyse sector growth, and we are looking forward to working closely with all our members to move this project forwards in the coming year.

Member consultation and project planning will begin from October 2019 – for more information, contact Matt Allen:

MATTHEW ALLEN
Program and Sustainability Manager
0432 538 827
matt.allen@nacro.org.au

Join leaders of the charitable recycling sector for the most important and thought-provoking two days of the year – at the NACRO Annual Conference at the Pullman Albert Park Melbourne on 14-15 October 2019.

Take a look at the Conference Agenda and book at Early Bird rates today.

Day 1 Recycling has Australia’s best speakers on the circular economy, sustainable fashion, product stewardship, recycling technology and reuse.

Day 2 Retail includes how to turn donors into shoppers, online solutions, outperforming commercial retail, disruption, innovation and donor trust.

The Hon Lily D’Ambrosio, Minister for Environment will open the conference in person to set the tone for an amazing two days of future vision into our sector.

The Early Bird discount rates won’t last long, so book today before the conference sells out.

Australia’s recycling industry is concerned that Sunday’s 60 Minutes program didn’t paint the full picture of Australia’s recycling efforts and didn’t highlight the industry’s contribution of some 50,000 jobs and $15 billion in value, with real potential for more benefits.

The report included:a false claim that much of Australia’s plastic waste is being disposed of incorrectly in south-east Asia; didn’t sufficiently highlight recycling’s many upsides, and; should not discourage the vast majority of Australians who regularly recycle to keep doing so because their efforts matter.

Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR) CEO, Peter Shmigel, said:“Australian recycling is highly successful, despite some ill-conceived claims in the broadcast.In fact, up to90per cent of material collected for recycling is made into new products.”

Waste Management & Resource Recovery Association (WMRR) CEO, Gayle Sloan, said: “Australia’s industry is aiming to get even better through investment, innovation and community education to build a stronger domestic recycling system, and is therefore advocating a new labelling scheme for community confidence.”

National Waste & Recycling Industry Council CEO, Rose Read, said: “The community votes in favour of recycling through its very strong participation. We encourage householders to continue to separate and sort their recycling correctly to reduce contamination and realise the environmental and economic benefits of recycling.”

According to the National Waste Report 2018 undertaken by the Commonwealth Government,plastic exports from Australia decreased last year by 25 per cent.

It also found that:

• Australians generated 67 million tonnes of waste (including 13 million from kerbside collections)
• 37 million tonnes of waste was recycled(5 million from kerbside collections)
• 33 million tonnes of the recycling was undertaken in Australia
• 4 million tonnes of material was exported from Australia for recycling(over 50% being metal)

It is estimated that between 10 and15 per cent of kerbside recycling cannot be recycled because it is contaminated with nappies, soft plastics, garden hoses, bricks and batteries.

A claim was made by 60 Minutes that 71,000 tonnes of recyclable plastic was exported to Malaysia.“

If the claim that all these materials are not being properly processed is accurate, this is very concerning, as there are also legitimate processors in Malaysia. 71,000 tonnes represents less than 2 per cent of the 4 million tonnes of what is actually exported and less than 0.2 per cent of the 37 million collected for recycling,”Mr Shmigel added.

“The community want and support kerbside recycling. With better support from all levels of Government, the waste management sector is well-placed to achieve better recycling outcomes,” added Tony Khoury from Waste Contractors & Recyclers Association of NSW (WCRA).

The local recycling industry, which employs more than 50,000 Australians and generates up to $15 billion in value, is currently making some of the most advanced recycling investments in the world in response to the impacts of restrictions across Asia, including high-tech infrastructure to improve sorting and processing to produce high quality materials from recovered waste from households, businesses and construction sites.

Recycling groups including the Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR), Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association Australia (WMRR), the Australian Organics Recycling Association (AORA), Waste Contractors & Recyclers Association of NSW (WCRA) and National Waste and Recycling Industry Council (NWRIC) have been urging greater investment, regulatory reform and policy support from Governments.

A recent Reachtel survey commissioned by ACOR found that almost 93 per cent of people said reducing waste and recycling products into new products is important to them and 87 per cent supported increasing recycling and reducing landfill by processing food and garden material from rubbish bins into useful products.

“There is not a shred of doubt that the industry wants to see maximum resource recovery. Our local industry is investing heavily and working collaboratively to upgrade local processing capacity which in the past were, to some extent, built to meet China’s previous specifications,” added Ms Sloan.

“We need a Made with Australian Recycled Content label which will do two key things –empower the community to take action and ownership of the materials they consume and incentivise manufacturers and brand owners to include recycled content in their packaging and products. This will create new markets for recycled materials and ensure a sustainable future for kerbside recycling, local resource recovery,and remanufacturing. Developing any industry is a collaborative effort and one that takes time. As we move forward, the industry is seeking leadership from all levels of Government.”

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Chris Hall (Primary Communication)
m 0419 607 909
chall@primary-pr.com

Frank Coletta
m 0468 987 295
fcoletta@primary-pr.com

NACRO launches a new policy position and 3-point plan to tackle dumping at charities, to increase reuse and recycling in the charitable recycling sector, and to educate consumers on responsible donations. Omer Soker, CEO of NACRO was invited to launch the plan live on air on Weekend Sunrise.

Policy Positions