Our Circular Economy FutureChampioning the Circular Economy for a Sustainable Environment and an Equitable Society
Strategic Plan FY 2023
Our Circular Future
Impact Measurement
Strategic Action Items
All of our activities are led by data. We measure the social, environmental and economic benefits of the charitable second-hand economy and our members’ contributions to it in order to build a clear business case for government funding and community support.
- Embed the Charitable Impact Study with members and support them to better leverage the data and insights with consumers and government stakeholders.
- Implement the Monash University ARC Grant findings Measuring the Benefits of Charitable Reuse in a Circular Economy and integrate this within a Reuse Policy and advocacy campaign.
- Launch a Charitable Retail Benchmarking Tool to provide members with insights to financial and other key performance indicators, to help elevate and deliver retail best practice.
- Support members to navigate future trends with Collective Consumer Insights Research, by compiling and sharing learnings into a Top 10 Consumer Insights Toolkit.
Advocacy
Strategic Action Items
We encourage all levels of government to integrate and fund reuse within their policies, and reduce charitable costs in order to improve circular economy outcomes for our members which, ultimately, increases their social and environmental impact.
Our Circular Economy Future
- Articulate a Circular Economy Strategy for the sector, identifying the future horizon for charitable reuse and retail, and what’s required for members to succeed within it.
- Develop a Reuse Policy and advocacy campaign to influence all levels of government to formally integrate and fund reuse within their policy frameworks.
- Launch a Clothing Reuse Export Accreditation Scheme to support and communicate quality standards to uphold trust and transparency with stakeholders including governments.
State Government Waste Levy Protection
- Ensure 100% protection for members against all state waste levies, whether through exemption models, rebate schemes or hybrid systems.
- Victoria – Launch an advocacy campaign to secure a 3-year renewal of the Landfill Levy Relief Program from 2023.
- South Australia – Increase Government support from 50% to a 100% rebate scheme in 2023.
- Tasmania – Secure Government support for 100% protection from the waste levy in 2023.
- New South Wales – Fine tune the implementation of the Weight Based Billing system for members to access 100% of the NSW Community Service Exemption.
- Queensland – Secure ongoing extensions to the existing 100% exemption/rebate program.
- Western Australia – Secure ongoing annual extensions to existing 100% rebate program.
Capacity Building
Strategic Action Items
We help our members do what they do, better, by providing resources, tools and advice on becoming more innovative and progressive reusers, recyclers and retailers. This, in turn, empowers them to become key drivers and accelerators of the circular economy.
Membership Development
- Achieve a 90% retention rate for members into FY 2023.
- Implement a new member acquisition campaign, using the Benchmarking Tool and other new services to attract new members.
Resourcing Requirements
- Invest appropriate retained earnings to gear up the association for the next horizon, and better support members leverage business transformation in the circular economy.
- Increase staff resourcing to develop and implement added member services, through the creation of a new role of Membership Development Manager (Circular Impact Manager).
Capacity Building and Member Services
- Launch a Corporate & Enterprise Partner Program to attract a wider group of companies and social enterprises to service the needs of members across all aspects of their operations.
- Launch a virtual Business Services Directory to link members and relevant business suppliers.
- Strengthen the eligibility criteria for Supporter Organisations to uphold professional standards and better clarify roles and expectations.
- Conduct research to better understand the barriers faced by members from accelerating progress or taking more active steps in retail transformation and new business models.
- Launch a members-only portal on the website for delivery of exclusive new member services.
- Organise a hybrid face-to-face and virtual conference in Sydney in October 2022.y
- Develop new documentation on best practice Donation Bin Operations and Donation Bin Design to support members and supporters in upholding trust in the national bin network.
- Deliver a shovel ready Clothing Product Stewardship Scheme with reuse at the heart, in collaboration with the Australian Fashion Council led consortium.
- Leverage the interventions in the Clothing Product Stewardship Scheme to help develop charity capacity on collections, stock yield, brand partnerships and new business models.
- Support members with working groups on the development of new business channels, including Online Retail (Recommerce), Social Media and Brand Partnerships.
- Explore opportunities with the Charity Retail Association in the UK to co-market or design applicable retail services to members in Australia on a pay-for-service basis.
Education
Strategic Action Items
We educate and inspire Australians to choose reuse as a simple, cost effective way by which they can purchase quality items while also reducing their environmental footprint and enabling social good in their community.
- Launch a National Volunteering Drive to support members encourage new
volunteers. - Launch a National Campaign on Reuse to support the Reuse Policy, influence government stakeholders and help members attract new customers and donors into the sector.
- Expand our social media conversations on Instagram to include all key topics and messaging in support of the sector, including responsible donating and reuse in the waste hierarchy