Issue Two:
Good360
Good360 is a charity organisation that connects excess products from companies to charities which redistribute them to people in need. Even though they have had a national presence from the organisation’s inception, locating themselves in the heart of Western Sydney has enabled a different level of connection to community that they are not able to establish with other communities in Australia. Their redistribution centre in Smithfield is the place where the operations team from Good360 engages face to face with the charities and organisations collecting the goods; this has allowed them to build stronger relationships and social connections with their members and the surrounding community. Good360 provides these resources in exchange for impact stories, which work as their “currency”. These impact stories demonstrate to donors the good their donation created and the positive effects they are having within the community. Impact stories are promoted on their website, social media, annual report and in the media.
“When one in seven Australians are living under the poverty line and there’s $4.5 billion worth of goods going to waste every year, we are the go-between… We’re the connector and we are incredibly proud of our impact and particularly our impact in Western Sydney.” – Susan Wallis, Head of Government and Philanthropy, Good360
Good360 uses a capability approach through its provision of resources and goods from organisations to redistribute these to people experiencing poverty. In Western Sydney specifically, we can see this as a two-pronged approach: firstly, providing these resources to community organisations for subsequent distribution to community members increases people’s capacity to focus on other aspects of their lives, thus reducing stress on both the individual experiencing hardship and the system that supports them (Hick, 2012). This results in the alleviation of the impact of poverty and cost of living pressures for individuals and families experiencing hardship and crisis. Secondly, Good360 recognises charities and organisations may not have the time, capacity or funds to seek out these resources themselves. By forming strong relationships with local councils and networks and being centrally located in Western Sydney, Good360 simultaneously shoulders the work on behalf of other charities in the region to find such goods, and removes the need to pay shipping costs due to the redistribution centre being within the same community that they support. By providing these resources to organisations, Good360 is relieving aspects of poverty beyond financial hardship and increasing the opportunities for people to achieve a higher quality of life.
Good360 employs a circular economy through its work redirecting excess goods to organisations which will then distribute them to people who need these resources. Their approach, in which surplus goods are not wasted or disposed of but instead are redirected to those that need these goods (Hobson, 2020), is environmentally and economically sustainable and is often ethically aligned with the goals of charities to support communities. By creating this avenue, these resources are diverted away from landfill, reducing our overall environmental footprint. The organisation has distributed an estimated $540 million worth of goods nationally since opening in 2015, with approximately 30 percent of these goods distributed in Western Sydney. In addition, Good360 has recently partnered with Optus to provide donated data and devices to those experiencing digital exclusion. Another successful partnership is with the Australian Bedding Stewardship Council (ABSC), a not-for-profit product stewardship scheme managing mattress and bedding waste in Australia. This partnership has enabled the redistribution of near new or demo mattresses to individuals who are in need of bedding, which also diverts them from landfill. By creating a model that connects organisations with surplus goods, Good360 is able to reduce the burden and cost of sourcing these goods as well as connect individuals with much-needed resources.
Good360 has recently opened a pilot Community Hub in Smithfield, which offers a retail-like, dignified, bespoke individual shopping experience while providing goods for free to those in need in the community. This purpose-built shop is part of Good360’s aim to move away from simply being a transactional presence, due to the organisation’s traditional model of Business-to-Business not Business-to-Consumer. Good360 is currently accepting expressions of interest from organisations that would be open to providing goods and resources for people in the community via this community hub. The organisational and cultural benefits to be able to do more with less, and say yes instead of no, is the essence of what this hub, and what Good360 as a whole, can potentially give to the communities they work with.
Evidence in practice
The capability approach seeks to explain poverty and hardship beyond the traditional economic parameters. It understands poverty as a multifaceted issue and recognises the impacts of resource and opportunity poverty on individuals as part of the wider societal issue (Clark, 2009). Under this approach, there are two main aspects in the assessment or development of a person’s wellbeing or quality of life: a person’s capabilities, which are the opportunities accessible to them through various resources and goods; and a person’s functionings, which are the realisation or achievement of these capabilities (Sen, 1999, as cited in Hick, 2012). A number of personal, social, environmental or political factors can affect the conversion of resources into functionings, which can in turn shape the opportunities that people have access to in order to live a life of value, purpose and contribution.
A circular economy is a framework of having a closed loop economy in which we recycle and repurpose resources to reduce waste and manufacturing needs. Hobson (2020) recognises the need to create links with businesses to form a circular economy, whereby surplus goods are then redirected to new homes. By incorporating a social lens to the framework, the circular economy is further beneficial by factoring in the social and environmental impacts, whereby a circular economy uses surplus goods either by recycling or redistributing the goods to people who need these resources the most (Zavos et al., 2024).
References
Clark, D. (2009). Adaptation, Poverty and Well-Being: Some Issues and Observations with Special Reference to the Capability Approach and Development Studies. Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 10(1), 21–42. Available from https://doi.org/10.1080/14649880802675051
Hick, R. (2012). The Capability Approach: Insights for a New Poverty Focus. Journal of Social Policy, 41(2), 291-308. Available from https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279411000845
Hobson, K. (2020). ‘Small stories of closing loops’: social circularity and the everyday circular economy. Climate Change, 163, 99–116. Available from https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-019-02480-z
Zavos, S., Lehtokunnas, T. & Pyyhtinen O. (2024). The (missing) social aspect of the circular economy: a review of social scientific articles. Sustainable Earth Reviews, 7(11), 1-17. Available from https://doi.org/10.1186/s42055-024-00083-w
