Sustainability Indicators and Social Enterprises
Lead Researchers: Lauren Darby, Heledd Jenkins, Frances Hines
Background
This project was developed after a local social enterprise; Newport Wastesavers identified the need to develop a set of sustainability indicators in order to help prove their contribution to sustainable development. Due to BRASS’ ongoing interest in the social enterprise business model, it was agreed that BRASS and Newport Wastesavers would work together to develop the indicators.
Wastesavers is a social enterprise that comprises of a charity (Newport Wastesavers Charitable Trust, est. 1995) and a not-for-profit business (Wastesavers Recycling, est. 1996). The enterprise started in 1986 as a small voluntary organisation whose main concern was raising awareness about material reuse and recycling. Since then it has been developed into one of the premier community recycling organisations in Wales.
As a social enterprise Wastesavers exists by covenanting all its profits directly to its charitable trust. Funding comes from the sale of materials for recycling and reuse, from its annual recycling contract with Newport City Council, and through grants from various sources. The enterprise also works in partnership with a number of organisations. The Welsh Assembly Government has awarded Wastesavers ‘exemplar status’ due to the success of its partnership with Newport City Council. This means that the enterprise receives additional funding to invest in recycling and re-use initiatives to reduce the amount of waste landfilled and increase Newport’s recycling rate from 17% to 50% by 2006.
This reliance on external sources of funding and close working partnerships with various organisations means that it’s important for the enterprise to demonstrate the diverse nature and value of its operations. Sustainability Indicators can help to show the ‘added value’ of an organisation by evaluating its ‘performance’ in social, environmental and economic spheres. Wastesavers decided to develop and use a set of Sustainability Indicators as a means of building a full and fair picture of the organisation to be used both internally by the enterprise and externally by partners, funders and customers.
