Green Collect: Sustainable Resource Recovery and Social Change

Green Collect is a non-profit social enterprise that focuses on sustainable resource recovery and social change. They aim to create new opportunities for vulnerable communities through resource recovery activities. Learn about their initiatives and impact in this article.

Green Collect

The non-profit social enterprise that is Green Collect is dedicated towards sustainable
environment along with social change. They aims at generation of work via resource recovery
activities for furnishing social benefits via creation of new opportunities for societies that are
vulnerable. The initiative was taken up by Darren Andrews and Sally Quinn in 2001, the idea of
waste collection shaped idea to pilot project, emphasise on cork that is being discarded via
hospitality industry and provides employment to the collectors who have travelled to city by
collection of corks within the trolleys. In 2005, Green Collect have been evolved for collection
of wide ranges of items by emphasising on the waste that is being generated via a corporate
offices. The firm is rendering their functioning over 200 businesses across the Melbourne, UK.
They aims at identifying enhanced environmental results for resources that are regarded as a
waste. From electronics, fold-back clips, cartridges, letterhead and computers.
Green Collect are the specialists that finds out the best possible environmental outcomes
for hard-to-recycle items from home and office. In this case, they emphasise on innovative
recovery of the resources that are dedicated for maintaining excess along with office waste items
away from landfills by keeping them within the circular economy via reuse, remake as well as
recycle. The highest priority of Green Collect is reuse. For attaining this, they identify new home
via local community groups, online and offline stores.

In case if any of item cannot be reused then firm upcycle this. They are accountable for
having wide range of unique upcycled items that also comprises of notebooks. Here, the
notebooks are prepared from different folders which reflects that there prevails creativity along
with innovation within the organisation. They sort items in order to recycle, separate critical
materials via hands so that those can be individually processed. They aims at having or disposing
zero waste into the landfill.
Green Collect renders adequate support to their employees for gaining as well as
maintaining work even in the critical circumstances. They tend to hire people who have faced
certain barriers within the employment that includes refugee status, homelessness or even
refugee status by rendering relevant opportunities for longer frame of time and have a stable
work. They have the clients that involves businesses, government departments and councils.
Green Collect renders means by which customers can acknowledge social along with
environmental goals via resource recovery of the items that are wasted or are not of any use. The
organisation do not just pick up waste and put them in different bins. Instead of this they
approach critical waste problem with creativity, perseverance and creativity for modelling
business on the basis of circular economy of ecosystem. In this case of the resources will be
repurposed and not even a single instance will be wasted.
The organisation have chosen to handle hard to recycle office items for creating a
potential solution to prevent disposal of harmful materials into the land of finding best strategies
to reuse, recycle or upcycle the pathways.

Reuse
They identify the areas where they can make use of items again, they will be sorted, tested and
prepared for reuse. Green Collect prioritise to find out new homes that have quality life and
possess plenty of life present within them.
Recycle
Green Collect separates the material and they send those items into the recycling partners.
Here, they have specialised within e-waste along with recycling of office waste for making sure
that safe disposal of toxic or dangerous materials is being attained.
Upcycle
The solution of Green Cycle for multiple or around thousands of folders that have been
gathered each week is furnishing innovative notebooks which can be further customised for

suiting to the business requirements. In the year 2019, organisation have saved more than 1
million items from the landfills. Furthermore, it is identified near around 60% of the waste that is
being gathered is re-used and approximately 35% of items have been dismantled within the
materials that can be further recycled.
In the year 2019, Green Collect have received the award of “Social Enterprise of the
Year” by national organisation in the category of small enterprise. The collection service
operations are dependent upon the process of gathering, sorting and selling. This comprises of
cages or delivering boxes to the working premises for collecting as well as transportation of hard
to recycle items of the office into the warehouse of Green Collect. The organisation will further
sort and process items for reusing (testing and repackaging), upcycling (comprises of production
of notebook range) and recycling (includes teardown within components). Now, these resources
will be sold back in new form to the businesses, recycling partners or new customers. The Green
Collect respond back to the organisation to create the awareness about social and environmental
results that have been attained.
Green Collect have processed 125 tones of the waste from 2009 to 2019 that is all being
diverted from the landfill. This comprises of around 17 tonnes of the electronics, office supplies
counts to 28 tonnes and folders comprises to 12 tonnes. In addition to this, Green Collect has

also recognised the role that is being played by other organisations within the ongoing operations
fro attainment of significant growth. The partners have made significant investment within the
planning, strategies along with organisational support that is accountable within furnishing
adequate social as well as environmental influence on the Green Collect. Their partners are
Toyota, Westpac, Senvic, Nacro, Social Traders, Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation and
Clayton UTZ. The recycling station services are designed with an intent for departments,
councils and businesses for having significant collection of items that have to be recycled.
The respective organisation is accountable to set up as well as maintain on-site stations
within office or public locations. The friendly staff of Green Collect will aid them within regular
clearing of the items and rendering them ample of quantities that are being saved from the
landfill. The recycling stations of Green Collect can gather any of the respective aspects, they are
phones, ewaste, video tapes, CD, DVD's, floppy, data disks, globes, fluro tubes, X-Rays,
Batteries and many more gadgets that are not of any use to the organisation or any other
individuals. Green Collect is liable for having these resources and recycling this with rationale to
eradicate the pessimistic impacts that are being created by these items on the environment.
There vision to promote eco-friendly practices with intent to protect environment from
any kind of pessimistic impact. As the creative and innovative business, organisation tends to

make sure that requirement of people are addressed in an affirmative way. In addition to this they
emphasise on making use of single part with ensuring its long life. The rationale of Green
Collect is to eliminate the waste into landfills. The Social enterprise have gathered near around
50,000 plastic bags from the offices. Across Australia, they are the only group that is accountable
for actual diversion of folders from the landfills as per Sally Quinn. The organisation takes
leverage from sustainable solution for having value from the office waste and diverts them the
landfill. The relevant affirmative environmental influence will be paired with the social influence
via provisioning of employment on the longer term for individuals who goes through certain
problems to have employability.
The organisation have taken initiative for furnishing flexible and supporting training
programs for delivering pathways to different target groups. They are liable for providing
employment along with mentoring so that a sustainable change can be achieved and significant
impact can be created on the social aspects. Green Collect, work in collaboration with other
businesses for attainment of higher probable environmental results for different resources that
have been discarded by working premises. Within the organisation, they make sure that they
utilise resources to complete potential. This implies that they not only recycle materials but also
tends to identify the ways in which this can be re-used within the community. Here, they make
use of resources but it is not necessary that again the same product will be developed but rather
they transform into the other products which can be utilised and serve for longer frame of time.

In this manner, Green Collect also provides employment opportunities to people who are facing
certain barriers.
Green Collect is continuously processing innovative solutions for dealing with complex
waste problems with intent to formulate a world that is without waste. As per Sally Quinn, if
they can alter anything then they look forward that individuals can access different opportunities.
This the part of their passion as well as aims at bringing in Green Collect to the Footscray. They
value people along with this they are given opportunity for being the part of sustainable planet. It
is not easy for the organisation to sell the rubbish that has been transformed. Thus, firm have
employed socially disadvantaged individuals for refashioning those into useful so that they can
be sold back to the organisation that have thrown them away.