The rise and fall and rise again of an environmental social enterprise. (With apologies to the makers of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, one of my favourite British comedy series)

Abstract

Ki te kahore, he whakakitenga, ka ngaro te iwi Without foresight or vision the people will be lost

In this paper I update earlier work on the case study in social enterprise in waste and recycling, using a community-development methodology. The case study follows, as the title might suggest, the rise of a thriving community enterprise, its demise and period in the wilderness, and its rise again. The study draws on personal experience as an activist insider and islander; the records of our social enterprise and the extensive public record in the community media; the tireless support of fellow directors in the new social enterprise Island Waste Collective, and of Denise Roche, former Green Party MP with responsibility for the waste portfolio and current member of the ministerial Waste Advisory Board.

Rachel Carson’s seminal work Silent Spring (1962) was a clarion call to environmental concern which drew a sharp focus to the poisoning of the planet. Today’s environmentalism poses a powerful critique and, in the contemporary lens of sustainable development, addresses social and economic as well as environmental concerns. The separation of people from planet as a locus of concern has not served either well. Nor are the realms mutually antagonistic or exclusive (Bradshaw & Winn, 2000). The bringing together of these two themes is evident from the time of the Brundtland Commission (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987) and after that through the major international governance conferences and resolutions such as Agenda 21 (United Nations Sustainable Development, 1992) and the Kyoto Protocol (UNFCCC, 1997). This case study describes how an enterprising community achieved social, economic and environmental goals, while building their community capacity and having much fun in the process. The crushing of the enterprise is briefly discussed, and tribute is paid to the spirit of the community which spawned the enterprise. The imminent rise, Phoenix-like, of a new community enterprise from the ashes of the old is predicted.