The BPMA & A Good Thing

The BPMA has teamed up with sustainability charity, A Good Thing, to help merchandise providers deal with unwanted goods responsibly

 

What is the mission of A Good Thing?

A Good Thing was set up to help businesses avoid landfill and do more for their local charities. The online platform allows businesses of any type to donate anything at all that they no longer need, to charities right across the UK.

 

How did you get involved with the BPMA?

When we first set up A Good Thing, we had some contact with a BPMA member via LinkedIn. He suggested that we contact CEO Carey Trevill, as he thought we would be a good fit with the BPMA’s ethos and its drive to reduce waste within the industry.

 

How can BPMA members get involved, and how does it benefit them?

It takes 30 seconds for a business to sign up for an account. A Good Thing is a not-for-profit and is almost entirely volunteer-run, aiming to promote as much reuse as possible. The platform is always free for charities to use, and it’s also free for businesses – for ad-hoc use and small offers. For regular use and large offers, there is a small fee for businesses, but we are currently offering BPMA members a reduced price (see below).

There are big benefits for BPMA members: businesses will often be saving on waste or disposal costs, as well as being able to build their sustainability credentials. They will be able to tell a powerful story about saving items from landfill, boosting their local community, and done something wonderful for the environment.

 

How does this link with the BPMA StepForward Pledge?

Businesses and consumers are paying greater attention than ever to their environmental impact. In 2022 56% of UK consumers ranked sustainability as a top-five value driver: Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) targets are crucial in delivering long-term benefits and business growth.

A Good Thing can help BPMA members fulfil the obligations of the StepForward Pledge

The Pledge is all about members taking proactive steps to improve their sustainability performance and using A Good Thing to give things away as opposed to sending them to landfill is a brilliant way for businesses to achieve this.

 

What’s the response been like from BPMA members?

It has been amazing. On the day of the BPMA Sustainability Conference in June, at which Richard from A Good Thing was invited to be a guest speaker, businesses were signing up for the platform while he was still on stage. More than 20 members have now signed up, and that number is growing.

The highest-ever-value offer was made over the summer by a BPMA member: £39,000 worth of PPE was donated and made its way to more than 50 different charities right across the UK.

One of our favourites has been the donation of 200 brightly-coloured stress-relief squeezy goldfish by a BPMA member. These almost caused the platform to crash, there was such a lot of interest from charities. But there have also been beautiful luxury umbrellas, Bluetooth speakers (another near-crash), cosy fleeces, water bottles, notebooks, hoodies, computer monitors and charging cables.

In total 660,196 items have been saved from landfill by BPMA members, worth £42,975 in charity spend that has been saved by the donated items. So far 65 charities across the country have benefited from donations.

We are delighted by the support we have received from the forward-thinking Carey Trevill and her team at the BPMA, as well as from all of those wonderful individual businesses right across the UK.

 

• You can sign up online at agoodthing.org.uk/signup. A Good Thing is currently offering BPMA members a reduced price of £49 per month, instead of the usual £99, or £490 for 12 months instead of £990.