ASPIRE - circular economy marketplace | Sunshine Coast Council

Don't waste it re-use it.

What is ASPIRE?

ASPIRE is an online matchmaking tool that allows businesses to connect and exchange unwanted material resources that would otherwise be discarded.

The platform features a reporting tool that provides real-time data such as weight diverted from landfill, carbon emissions saved, and savings made on waste disposal costs.

ASPIRE is available to any ABN holder.

Council has invested in an enterprise license that allows Sunshine Coast business and community organisations with less than 100 staff to gain FREE access to the circular economy platform. Register your business or community organisation in minutes to start exchanging waste today.

How it works

With B-corp certification and developed by CSIRO and data 61, ASPIRE creates matches between your organisation and another based on your waste profile. In practice, an organisation will list potential inputs they use (materials and/or items) alongside their outputs (unwanted waste streams). This develops a waste profile where the platform cleverly connects another organisation’s inputs with your outputs thus facilitating an opportunity of circular resource exchange.

You can exchange resources with organisations outside of the Sunshine Coast LGA including other councils and businesses in Queensland. This enables greater opportunity to exchange goods, divert resources from landfill, save on disposal costs and develop innovative solutions for troublesome materials.

Commodities traded on ASPIRE

icons showing types of re-usable items e.g. glass, paper, chemical

Benefits for your organisation

Leveraging a circular economy model for exchanging waste can:

save costs on waste disposal
earn revenue from waste
divert waste from landfill
generate data on your business' sustainability commitment
create new supply chains
connect businesses
create new ideas for re-use and recycling
exchange or sell items and resources
reduce emissions.

Using ASPIRE

Getting started is simple:

Using your web browser, go to the Aspire website
Register an account via the login button or click ‘start 7 day free trial’
Enter your details and based on your ABN a free account will be offered if eligible (Sunshine Coast based entity with under 100 employees)
Set up the material inputs of your organisation as ‘interests’
‘Add a resource’ by uploading a photo and basic info of your unwanted resource to the marketplace
Continue business as usual or explore the marketplace.

You will be notified when you have a match, or someone has expressed interest in your resource.

Case studies

Here are some of the successful ways businesses have used this program.

Timber and pallet recycling

Around 70% of timber waste ends up in landfill, this includes timber pallets. It’s a hassle for businesses to dispose of timber pallets because they are bulky. Local business COYO exchanges their timber pallets with Dolphin Plastics via Aspire to generate cost and carbon savings. In turn Dolphin Plastics uses the pallets for redistribution of their product. This creates a sustainable cycling loop.