Resurgence in co-operative movement benefits Brisbane stores and swaps
Recycling, swapping and co-operative stores in Brisbane are at the centre of a worldwide resurgence, an economics expert says.
The trend is being seen in the formation of both co-ops, where the business is owned and run by members who share in the profits, and in swap shops where goods can be exchanged rather than sold for profit.
At SWOP in Brisbane's West End excited teenagers crowd the aisles of this not-so-normal normal fashion house.
Even the obscure location of the boutique has not put off the fashionistas who are sorting through the racks of clothes.
Director Brigid Gordon said they provided an alternative for people looking for ethical fashion.
"Millions and millions of garments go into landfill every year and we don't want to contribute to that," she said.
"We want to kind of save you from throwing something out when you can receive something back. Clothing is a currency here."
Diverse economies expert Dr Amanda Cahill, director of the Centre for Social Change, said the co-op movement was experiencing a resurgence.
"They've got I think it's over a billion members worldwide now," she said.
"I think in Australia it might be a bit different to some other places in that people might be a member of a co-op and not even think about it or understand what that obligation is.
"But as things get economically tighter I think we're going to see a lot more people saying: 'Just a minute, I'm not just a consumer of this; I can actually drive this and I can actually make very different decisions about how the money is spent'."
Dr Cahill said it was not just clothes either - there were swap parties where people get together and everyone brings their old clothes that they do not need or their old books and can swap them for other things that people have there.
"Now that's become formalised into things like swap-meets or swap shops," Dr Cahill said.
"So it could be like at a market, people bring things. Or it can actually be a shop where people can swap things as well."
Emma-Kate Rose from Food Connect, a social enterprise that delivers food directly from farmers to Brisbane residents and co-operatives, said they had noticed the upsurge in co-ops just in the past year.
"We're seeing a little bit of a renaissance in the co-operative model," she said.
"We all know here in Australia back in the 90s a lot of the co-operatives, particularly the agricultural co-operatives, were pretty much wiped out through corporatisation and eventually being taken over by big multinational companies, particularly in the dairy industry we've seen that.
"I guess this is almost like a backflip back to the old days but doing business in a new and exciting way, using the technology resources that are out there now. So it's quite exciting."
Ms Rose said they serviced one or two co-ops in 2012 - but today that number had risen to 32 co-ops and buyers' groups.
"All these micro-enterprises at the grass roots level are actually contributing to the local economy in ways that we don't quite understand yet," she said.
