Finding Treasure: The elephant-size reuse opportunity with Cathy Benwell, A Good Thing

In this practical and inspiring episode of Straight Talking Sustainability, host Emma Burlow sits down with Cathy Benwell, co-founder of A Good Thing, a Community Interest Company (CIC) that has created a matchmaking platform connecting 1,000 UK businesses donating surplus items with 3,500 charities and non-profits desperate for exactly those materials, from construction supplies and hotel bedding to branded merchandise and the occasional life-size inflatable elephant.

Starting in February 2020 with just 10 businesses and 15 charities, this volunteer-powered organisation (45 volunteers supporting one part-time paid operations manager) has grown explosively by solving a problem everyone recognises but few have systematically addressed: businesses drowning in perfectly good stuff they no longer need, charities surrounded by wealthy organisations yet struggling to access basic supplies, and the frustrating reality that what people do naturally at home through Freecycle or Facebook Marketplace somehow becomes impossible once they walk into their workplace.

Cathy's background spans publishing (graduate training scheme with a book company), government communications as a civil servant, then a transformative maternity leave involvement with HomeStart (UK-wide charity supporting families with young children) that ignited passion for charities whilst revealing the massive opportunity to connect them with businesses possessing surplus resources.

Cathy's HomeStart colleagues worked on laptops taking 10 minutes just to boot up (literally making tea whilst waiting), yet at Squared Up, software developers routinely received new laptops every three years with old ones accumulating in cupboards because nobody had time, knowledge, or job responsibility to handle disposal.

Cathy delivered Squared Up laptops to HomeStart within a week, creating transformative impact on colleagues' working days, but this only happened because she and Richard had that personal connection. They identified this as fundamentally wrong: opportunities should not depend on who you know or circumstantial connections, echoing wider societal movements towards evening playing fields and widening access.

This represented a revelation for Cathy, who initially expected branding to be a barrier, but typically it is bland (banks, insurance companies) and actually provides excellent publicity when food bank parcels get distributed in branded bags.

Regular items include massive furniture volumes, tech (laptops, tablets, printers, landline phones surprisingly popular), and stationery that took Cathy by surprise. Envelopes, boxes of biros, post-it notes, pads all get snapped up in seconds despite seeming relatively low value, because they accumulate in office cupboards (especially post-pandemic when people are not in offices as much) and charities genuinely need them.

Emma recalls encouraging "stationery amnesties" during waste audits where everyone empties drawers and pockets, revealing half a ton of squirrelled supplies that make new ordering unnecessary, but placing orders is faster than spending half an hour searching cupboards when budget exists.

Charities and non-profits (including CICs and community benefit societies, carefully vetted before joining) currently exclude schools, universities, NHS organisations, and local councils, though this remains under review based on business feedback.

Businesses appreciate knowing charities are carefully checked and verified, providing peace of mind that recipients are definitely good causes. Cathy acknowledges other platforms like WarpIt (Dan's work with universities and NHS) serve different pathways, preferring to create structures that work well rather than accommodating everyone in everything.

The Measurement Debate and Qualitative Magic:

Emma asks about volume and impact measurement, revealing Cathy's controversial but pragmatic position that generates daily inbox floods of gratitude. A Good Thing deliberately does not count or certify matches because as online-only matchmakers (no premises, warehouse, distribution, or storage), they cannot verify how many chairs actually got donated, what they weighed, or what they were worth (calculations being very complicated).

They know matches made (over 1,000 last year, each containing multitudes of items) and platform user numbers, but Cathy expresses frustration with business fixation on measurement: "I just want to say to them, honestly, you won't believe how powerful this is. Just do it and you'll see."

Daily qualitative feedback floods inboxes with businesses and charities reporting transformative experiences, creating nonstop positivity that Cathy's husband jokes about. However, translating this to businesses without sounding cheesy whilst conveying genuine impact proves challenging.

The fastest match happened in four minutes end-to-end: signup, account creation, listing, charity interest, match completion for items sitting in warehouses 18 months. Emma validates Cathy's frustration, arguing we are obsessed with measuring when solving problems requires action beyond metrics.

What businesses lack are goodwill, community sense, and positivity: "Do we need another number in a box, or do we need staff to come to work with spring in their step, really proud of their organisation?"

Emma shares her joyful Great Oaks Hospice training experience in the Forest of Dean, where carers, volunteers, trustees, CEO, and fundraisers demonstrated such strong community connection that it tested her assumptions about carbon auditing and waste documentation.

The magic cannot be counted, yet proves easier to access in SMEs better connected to local communities who genuinely need and rely on that goodwill. Emma notes she has not used the word sustainability and barely mentioned carbon throughout this conversation, demonstrating how relatable reuse framing becomes.

Barriers, Liability, and The "What Will Go Wrong?" Default:

When asked why more businesses do not participate if it is so obvious, Cathy identifies awareness (many people do not yet know about A Good Thing), time pressures (stuff must be gone by tomorrow when skips arrive, nobody thought about it until that moment because it was not anyone's job), and perceived barriers around complexity, expense, or liability.

Emma recognises liability concerns constantly arising with reusables and circularity, noting the default business position is "what's going to go wrong, what trouble am I going to get in?" whether regarding infection control in healthcare or PAT testing for electricals.

Cathy emphasises donations happen on a goodwill basis with clear user notes: donors believe items are safe and working order, recipients understand third-party checking has not occurred, but everyone seems happy with this because it is a self-selecting community of people wanting it to work.

Zero abuse has occurred, zero problems have arisen, though Cathy acknowledges this might change at tens of thousands of users. Emma challenges whether problems would actually emerge, arguing that whilst the "what will go wrong" mindset is understandable, it does not serve us well socially, financially (storing unused items improperly), or humanely, noting that much business operation fundamentally does not serve humans well.

Emma observes that people routinely use vintage marketplaces, Olio, Too Good To Go, and similar platforms, suggesting the leap to business usage is not far, though perhaps requiring evolution to increase business comfort and reduce concerns.

Branded merchandise companies emerge as the most frequent repeat users because they maintain steady surplus streams from slightly incorrect printing, complete client rebrands (2,000 high-quality stainless steel water bottles suddenly unwanted), with clients saying "just get rid of those" and considering it not their problem.

Twenty years ago these went to landfill; now branded merchandise manufacturers desperately search for alternatives, making them core platform users alongside bags (surprisingly popular despite everyone drowning in them) for charities supporting homelessness and numerous other applications.

In this corporate reuse and charity partnership episode, you'll discover:

1. How A Good Thing grew from 10 businesses and 15 charities to 1,000 businesses and 3,500 charities in five years
2. Why laptops taking 10 minutes to boot up at HomeStart sat in cupboards at Squared Up creating the genesis story
3. The surprising popularity of construction materials, hotel lost property, and branded merchandise nobody cares is branded
4. How stationery (envelopes, biros, post-it notes) flies off the platform despite seeming low-value
5. Why Cathy deliberately avoids counting and certification despite business demands for impact data
6. The four-minute match record from warehouse item listing to charity collection arrangement
7. How "what will go wrong?" default thinking prevents circular economy adoption across sectors
8. Why measurement fixation distracts from goodwill, community connection, and staff pride that cannot be quantified
9. The life-size inflatable elephant story demonstrating creative charity uses for surplus marketing materials
10. How A Good Thing is evolving into volunteering coordination and training session offerings beyond physical items

Key Corporate Reuse and Charity Matching Insights:

(04:36) The workplace mindset problem: "There's a kind of a group think that goes on in organisations. As soon as you walk into your workplace, you kind of think, well, that's not really my job... There's something strange that I think takes over people, even people who are quite good at doing it at home."

(09:19) Branded merchandise revelation: "Branded merchandise is huge... They don't care less that it's got branding on it. They're not interested. Not at all. That's been a real learning for me actually, because I definitely in the beginning thought that would be more of a barrier."

(11:07) Stationery surprise: "Things like envelopes, boxes of envelopes, boxes of biro, those go in seconds... That was a bit of a revelation for me that even something as relatively low value as that... are super, super popular."

(14:22) The measurement controversy: "I'm very frustrated by the fixation that some businesses have on that because to me, doing this is so powerful... They haven't used it yet. And I just want to say to them, honestly, you won't believe how powerful this is. Just do it and you'll see."

(18:33) Daily qualitative feedback: "Every day I open my inbox... I just sit at my desk and I honestly get just a flood of messages from both businesses and charities saying, this is amazing... It's just nonstop kind of positivity."

(19:57) The four-minute match: "The fastest match I've seen happen was four minutes end to end. So they signed up, they made their account. One minute later, they did their listing. One minute after that, they had a charity interested and one minute after that, they got matched."

(22:28) Emma's magic argument: "There's so many win-wins... There's almost more value in the stuff you can't count... Do we need another number in a box, or do we need staff to come to work with spring in their step, really proud of their organisation?"

(23:42) SME connection advantage: "I think a little bit easier in SMEs who tend to be a little bit better connected... They need the community, they rely on that in a good way. And goodwill goes a long way in a local community."

(24:12) The life-size elephant: "This company had listed a life size inflatable elephant. So this thing is the size of a house, like the size of an elephant... Not a cartoon elephant, it's got the skin of it. You know, the effect of the skin looks very realistic."

(30:16) Genesis story lesson: "That should be available to everybody. It shouldn't be just that if you know somebody... I feel, I hope that we're moving to try to even the playing field in so many contexts... where it doesn't have to be about who you know."

(34:37) Liability reality: "Everyone seems happy with that. And you know, it is a self-selecting community... These are all people who want it to work... There has been zero sort of abuse of the system. There have not been any problems at all."

(35:42) The "what will go wrong" problem: "I think one of the problems we have... the default position is what's going to go wrong? And what trouble am I going to get in?... Whilst I completely understand that, again, I come back to my point, it's not particularly serving us very well."

(38:48) Idealistic endpoint: "Ideally, I would love in the future to do myself out of a job... People shouldn't be over-manufacturing it. People shouldn't be changing their logos so frequently... But I think it's going to take a long time."

(40:18) Final encouragement: "You can donate literally anything and you might think, I don't have anything of value. You will have something within your workplace that somebody could make use of that you don't need any longer... Just give it a try with something small, something low value, something easy."

A Good Thing Platform Overview:

1. Currently 1,000 businesses and 3,500 charities using platform
2. Over 1,000 matches made in previous year
3. Almost 100% volunteer-powered
4. Online-only matchmaking (no premises, warehouse, distribution, or storage)
5. Carefully verifies all charities and non-profits before account creation
6. Expanding into volunteering coordination and training session offerings

Connect With Cathy

www.agoodthing.org.uk

www.facebook.com/agoodthing.org.uk

www.x.com/agoodthing_uk

www.linkedin.com/company/agoodthing-org-uk

www.instagram.com/agoodthing_uk

Connect With Emma

Website

Email

Emma Burlow - LinkedIn

Book an enquiry call with Emma

https://calendly.com/emma-lighthouse/20min