Going Green in Cranbourne

Some of our customers at Vinnies Cranbourne were a little puzzled when they saw our fabulous volunteers wearing green hats, green hijabs, green shirts, shoes, scarves and jumpers instead of being dressed in our much-loved Vinnies blue and yellow. However, they quickly found out that there was a unique and impactful reason for the colour change.

Our Cranbourne shop officially opened the first dedicated electronics section which is housed separately as part of a Vinnies Shop in Victoria. On offer is a large variety of electronic items: from cables to headphones, juicers to bar fridges, fans, light project, lamps, pie makers and vacuum cleaners – Vinnies Cranbourne has it all. Each item underwent rigorous testing and tagging, ensuring its safety as part of the Vinnies Victoria's “Green Sparks” program.

Green Sparks is a Victoria-wide Vinnies volunteer-run recycling program. Its purpose is to give quality electrical goods a second lease on life, reducing landfills and educating and engaging Vinnies’ customers and the general public to manage their eWaste better.

“Greens Sparks was introduced after a policy change from the Victorian government, aiming to take eWaste out of landfill,” explained Executive General Manager Commercial Services, Jeff Antcliff, during the opening ceremony.

“We worked closely with the Victorian government and Sustainability Victoria to receive a grant of just around $250,000. It enabled Vinnies Shops across the state to embark on the Green Sparks Program.”

That was back in 2022. Now, 12 months since its inception, the Vinnies Green Sparks program has achieved a lot. Over 200 volunteers were trained to become Green Sparks, meaning they are qualified to test and tag an electrical item, marking it safe to be sold. Jeff Antcliff: “We have been giving these volunteers extra skills, which have led to full-time employment opportunities for some of them in quite a few areas.”

“Also, in the past year alone, our volunteers diverted a staggering 120,000 electrical items from landfill, turning them into reusable items. That’s thousands of kilos of items saved from eWaste, making us the largest electrical appliance reuse organisation in Australia. I am very proud of that.” It has also generated $1.5+ million in revenue funding for the St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria’s programs and support for Victorians experiencing disadvantage across our state.

The response from the community to the Vinnies Green Spark program has been positive, heart-warming and encouraging. Through the new initiative, Vinnies Cranbourne has been transformed into a hub of sustainability and affordability.

AJ, a long-term Vinnies Cranbourne volunteer turned Assistant Manager, told attendees of the opening ceremony: “We see a lot of people struggling when coming into the shop.”

He envisaged that the affordability of these repurposed electrical items would bring much-needed relief to many individuals and families facing various challenges and feeling the pressure of the rising cost of living.

In a conversation with Neil Harvey, Head of Retail, AJ, who is also an area mentor for the Vinnies Green Sparks program, shared that since the electrical shop section’s soft launch in August, an incredible number of 1,400+ items had already been sold.

Daniel Benjamin, Ministerial Advisor to the Honourable Ingrid Stitt, Minister for the Environment, and Pauline Richards, the local MP, were impressed by the new addition to the Cranbourne shop and the positive impact of the Green Sparks program. Mentioning that Vinnies Victoria exceeded its annual target to save 100,000 items from landfill by 20,000, Ms Richards remarked: “That is a typically Vinnies statement of under-promising and over-delivering.”

She praised St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria and Vinnies Shops, its retail division, for its commitment to looking after people in need and “removing barriers to make sure that people they can have what is best for their families and themselves in a sustainable way.”

The transition from a storage room to an appealing shop section has been a collective effort. From the brilliant idea of the shop manager, Kim Ronaldson, to the support of Anne Pellicano, Area Manager, and Liz Randle, Head of Commercial Services, to the generosity of a local painter who donated the paint to all the volunteers who helped fit out the room - everyone involved played a crucial role bringing the project to life.

The Vinnies Green Sparks program has recently been recognised as an ABA100® Winner for Marketing Excellence [MXA] in The Australian Business Awards 2023. It’s another testimonial for the St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria’s commitment to sustainability and ensuring affordability and accessibility to essential items for everyone in our community.