Officeworks is expanding its Bring it Back programme to give school stationery a second life, keeping quality supplies in circulation and helping students who need them most.
As part of this expansion, customers can now drop off pre-loved but still usable school supplies, like pens that work, unused notebooks, and other quality items, at any Officeworks store via the Bring it Back chutes.
Through new partnerships with Stationery Aid, Give Write and Green Collect, these items will be given a second life and passed on to students who need them, reducing waste and supporting a more circular, sustainable future for all. These items will be sorted, cleaned and repackaged by Officeworks’ community partners, and then transformed into school booklists for disadvantaged students. This new repurposing stream expands on the previous pen and marker only Officeworks recycling programme, shifting to more meaningful impact-driven reuse.
“By expanding the Bring it Back Program to add on stationery repurposing, we’re giving customers a powerful way to reduce waste and support students – all in one action,” said Alex White, Sustainability Manager at Officeworks.
The decision to expand follows a successful Stationery Aid and Give Write trial in Officeworks Queensland and Western Australia stores, where customers enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to give their school supplies a second life. These pilots showed that repurposing, rather than simply recycling, delivers clear environmental and community benefits, reinforcing the program’s potential to make a meaningful difference. In Queensland, the trial collected enough stationery supplies to support 253 disadvantaged students with complete school booklists.
“Our partnership with Officeworks helps us support the most vulnerable and disadvantaged students to start the school year and transition to new schools throughout the year,” explained Alison Schutt, co-founding director at Stationery Aid.
“We’ve seen how powerful local action can be and are excited to be scaling Queensland-wide to make an even bigger impact on the environment and students in need.”
In Western Australia, Give Write led a highly effective pilot in which enough products were collected to create more than 2,300 stationery packs, enabling the distribution of AU$102,000 ($65,661/ €57,936) worth of school supplies to more than 4,310 students. Many of the students who received the packs were living in regional and remote communities, including the southwest, Pilbara and Kimberley.
In Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and New South Wales, Officeworks is now partnering with Green Collect, a circular economy leader and social enterprise. Since the national rollout earlier this month, Green Collect have supported the program in these states, helping divert valuable goods from landfill while providing employment and training opportunities for people facing barriers to work.
While the focus of this programme is on reuse and repurposing, a small amount of recycling will occur for items that cannot be reused, ensuring all materials are handled responsibly and in line with circular economy principles.
Through this network of passionate and purpose-driven partners, Officeworks is ensuring that every dropped off pencil, notebook or pencil case is given a new life and placed directly into the hands of a child who needs it most.
This latest evolution of Bring it Back Programme is part of Officeworks’ broader People and Planet Positive strategy, which includes a goal to repair, repurpose or recycle 17,000 tonnes of unwanted products by 2025.
