Evaluating third sector reuse organisations in the UK: Case-studies and analysis of furniture reuse schemes

Waste Strategy 2007 recognises first, third sector (TS) organisations’ contribution to meeting raised targets for reuse, recycling and composting and secondly, the need to identify the full range of benefits they offer. In response, this paper presents a methodological analysis of how best to evaluate these organisations. The underlying premises, limitations and advantages of conventional evaluation methods are discussed with a view to adding to debates on appropriate methods for different circumstances. On the basis of this analysis, a model itemising the key social, environmental, economic and institutional elements for a TS scheme is then presented together with a discussion of each variable. This is intended to act as a basic list of questions TS waste organisations and funding bodies need to ask to ascertain value for money (VFM) for individual schemes, with due attention being paid to the specificities of location, ethos, aims and institutional context. In illustration, the model is then populated with data drawn from two empirical case-studies of furniture reuse schemes and available literature, which shows these schemes have a net monetised cost of between £35 and £154 per client. Both quantitative and qualitative data are used and the problems of different data sources and types analysed. The main policy finding is that TS organisational activities offer benefits across a range of disparate service areas (waste, housing, reskilling, welfare). Devolved public sector accounting and low-level performance indicators, however, impede the recognition of these broad benefits and thus their remuneration. Without more horizontal integration of local government, the full VFM offered by the TS is unlikely to be recognised to the detriment of long-term local strategic partnerships for waste management.