A Good Thing is coming to Heston! We’re excited to have partnered with ReLondon and the London Borough of Hounslow Council as part of a brand-new circular economy project
A Good Thing is excited to be teaming up with ReLondon and the London Borough of Hounslow to deliver a first-of-its-kind project to create a circular, low-waste neighbourhood. We’re thrilled to join a group of specially-selected circular organisations that are all taking part in a pioneering circular economy neighbourhood project in Heston Village, in west London.
What is the project?
ReLondon, in partnership with the London Borough of Hounslow, is developing a circular economy neighbourhood demonstrator project in Heston Village – ‘Heston in the Loop‘ – in which multiple, assorted circular economy solutions will be introduced to a particular area. The aim is to empower local residents, schools and businesses to change their relationship with their ‘stuff’.
By introducing interventions that actively encourage the community to consume less and waste less by reusing, repairing, sharing and recycling, the project aims to:
Reduce waste and increase recycling rates, with a resulting reduction in consumption-based carbon usage.
Increase awareness of circularity and the environment among residents, businesses, and schools.
Improve community cohesion, centred around circular principles that help combat climate change.
Promote a green economic recovery from the impacts of both the pandemic and the current cost-of-living crisis.
Give the community increased access to sustainable consumption choices, and help to reduce waste and to increase the rates of recycling, reuse, repair and sharing.
How can businesses get involved?
A Good Thing is offering the chance for businesses of all sizes in Heston Village to get involved by sending less to landfill and more to a good cause. Our online platform is built to make it really easy for businesses to donate things they no longer need to local charities, saving them from the bin!
It takes 30 seconds for a business to create a free account, and they can then create an offer immediately. A business can list anything they no longer need — and we mean anything! We’ve seen plastic bags, candles, stationery, gardening equipment, end-of-line clothing, packaging, crafting materials and half-used tins of paint successfully donated to local charities via our app… alongside the more traditional items like furniture and IT equipment.
We are challenging all Heston-based businesses to give it a go: have a rummage in your cupboards and donate even just one no-longer-loved item on the platform!
How can charities get involved?
We make it really easy for businesses to donate things to local charities. Using A Good Thing allows you to receive free items donated by local businesses to help make your ideas happen: it takes 30 seconds to register your charity for a free account, and then you can begin to request any items that are on offer nearby.
We also ask all new charities about the items they require to support their ongoing projects. We collate these lists of items, and share them online on the first Monday of every month: our ever-popular #CharityNeed day. We look forward to welcoming Heston-based charities to A Good Thing, and to learning more about your amazing work.
How can local residents get involved?
We’re passionate about the power of local – we know that those connections within communities are often the most powerful ones. We need your help!
We would love to get eco champions on board across Heston – volunteers whose mission it will be to spread the word about A Good Thing within the community.
You’ll chat to their neighbours, friends, colleagues, families, school-gate parents and dog-walking buddies, and let them know that A Good Thing is there for them when they need it. They might do this through door-knocking (popping into shops and local businesses in person) or through brilliant online networking (using social media platforms, for example).
More about A Good Thing
The idea was simple: businesses are generating too much waste, while many charities are in need of more resources. What if we could connect the two? That’s why we created A Good Thing.
We launched our pilot in 2021 in the Thames Valley area with some fantastic results, and we’re now excited to be scaling the idea to charities and businesses right across the UK. We’re currently working with over 200 businesses and nearly 1,000 charities all across the country, and welcome new members every day.
We’re super excited to be working on a focused project with Heston-based businesses and charities. We can’t wait to see what can be saved from landfill — and instead make a difference to the local community through the wonderful work of Heston’s amazing charities.
