Reuse organisations as infrastructure for inclusive circular cities: conceptualising the contributions and agency of community and charitable reuse organisations

Community and charitable reuse organisations provide significant social infrastructure that facilitates the redistribution of discarded items to new owners, but are often overlooked in circular cities initiatives. Drawing on a survey of 34 reuse organisations from across Australia and recorded interviews and site visits to 10 of these between 2021 and 2023, we characterise the processes, practices and types of organisations across the sector. We then examine three spatially distinct domains of social interaction involved, and show how diverse economies of materials reuse are enacted through various forms of labour, and relationships between workers, donors and recipients of goods, that are meaningful in different ways to those involved. This relational analysis provides a conceptual framework for understanding how environmental, social and economic aspects of the diverse economy of reuse are entwined. The reuse sector constitutes a postcapitalist infrastructure insofar as it involves non-capitalist organisations, non-market exchange and a mix of paid and unpaid labour that serves to recirculate used goods. Sector organisations operate in a ‘grey zone’ of infrastructure politics, where they can both influence and be influenced by the governments or businesses that they interact with, and rely on increasing production and consumption of goods, even as their activities extend product use life. City governments should recognise the role of reuse organisations in aligning circular city agendas with broader goals of community development and social inclusion.