Meet the Member: Darebin duo putting reuse at the heart of community
- Party Kit Network
- 3 hours ago
- 6 min read
Jo and Jackie are the co-founders behind Darebin Party Kits in Melbourne, Australia. Their story starts not with party plates, but with a Facebook group and a shared conviction that perfectly usable things shouldn’t end up in landfill.
Built on community, driven by reuse
In 2020, Jo reached out on her local Good Karma Network Facebook group looking for someone to help set up a group to rehome unwanted items for free. Jackie answered the call. Together, they founded the Darebin Hard Rubbish Heroes (DHRH), a peer-to-peer, free rehoming network that has since grown into something far bigger than either imagined.
“The aim of the group is to encourage and enable ongoing use of material goods - to keep them out of landfill, and to reduce the need to buy new.”
For Jo, this ethos runs deep. Growing up, her parents, shaped by the shortages of the post-war era, treated waste as simply unthinkable.
“Material goods were made to last, and were looked after to help them last as long as possible. Everything was used for as long as it could be. Repaired when needed, maybe many times. Reused in ways that maybe they weren’t originally intended.”
Buying something new only to use it once? Completely unheard of. It’s a mindset that still drives everything she and Jackie do today.
Since 2021, the DHRH volunteer team has run second-hand markets, upcycling events, make-and-mend workshops, and two pop-up shops that intercepted items destined for landfill during council hard rubbish collections. In Australia, councils periodically collect large unwanted household items - furniture, appliances, and the like - left out on residents’ nature strips. It’s a well-intentioned service, but perfectly usable items often end up crushed and wasted alongside things that genuinely can’t be saved. DHRH’s pop-ups offered a different fate: locals donated items, which were then sold for very low prices or given away for free.
Their first pop-up was a two-month pilot to test the feasibility of an ongoing repair, reuse, recycle and upcycle space. It helped rehome 4,000 items, diverting over 3 tonnes of waste from landfill. The second pop-up ran for four months and diverted an impressive 13 tonnes.
The party kits grew naturally from this focus on reuse.
“We were aware that other community members had created party kits themselves and were lending them from their own homes, so we thought, why not create a number of kits that could be hosted by neighbourhood houses and businesses across suburbs in our municipality of Darebin? We knew this could be a win-win for borrowers wanting flexibility in when they could collect and return the kits, as well as providing great exposure for some of our great local services and businesses.”
How the Darebuin party kits work
The Darebin Hard Rubbish Heroes now has 10 party kits suitable for kids parties, assembled from good-condition, preloved, reusable items. Each kit contains between 15 and 20 place settings - a plate, bowl, cup, fork and spoon per person. “Full kits” include extras like tablecloths, platters, serving bowls, utensils and bunting; “mini kits” contain just the basics and are a lighter, more portable option.
The kits are hosted at four locations: two community houses and two small businesses within the Darebin local government area, including a bulk food store where customers bring their own containers to buy food and liquids packaging-free.
“We got to know the community houses through hiring their venue spaces and collaborating with them in the early days of Darebin Hard Rubbish Heroes. It was a logical collaboration to have them host some of our kits.”
The kits are free to borrow and each location has similar kits available. Jo and Jackie liaise with the borrower and the pick-up location, the borrower collects their kit on the agreed day, enjoys a low-waste celebration, and then returns it to the same location - clean and ready for the next party.
Most borrowers find the kits through word-of-mouth, and each kit carries a label with a QR code linking to booking information. Simple - and it works. They have plenty of repeat borrowers who use the kits for all of their events. “We receive regular positive feedback along the lines of ‘it’s a simple idea which works so well’; we regard the repeat borrowers as a great sign of success!”
That success is reflected in the numbers too: in 2025, their kits were borrowed 240 times - a remarkably high usage rate for a volunteer-run operation.
Evolving and improving the party kits
Like any well-run operation, Darebin Party Kits have refined how they work over time. One game-changing improvement was switching from large plastic tubs to rolling suitcases.
“The large plastic tubs we originally used were heavy and cumbersome. And they got damaged from time-to-time and needed replacing. Rolling suitcases have been a game changer.”
They’ve also shifted from annual to six-monthly kit checks - cleaning items, replacing anything no longer in good condition, and updating their laminated checklists. One hard-won lesson now features prominently in their information sheets: “Tablecloths can grow mould if packed when damp!”
For larger requests (35+ people), they now ask for more details upfront, which helps both parties: it ensures borrowers understand that the kits are plastic and designed primarily for children’s use, and helps Jo and Jackie manage the additional logistics responsibly.
A note on materials
One question that comes up increasingly often in the reusable party supplies world is: what’s the “right” material for party kits? It’s worth addressing honestly, because the answer is - there isn’t a perfect one yet.
Darebin’s kits use preloved plastic. Secondhand is a great way of keeping items in use for longer, while also offering a safe, durable and lightweight reuse option. Right now, there aren’t many genuinely green alternatives when it comes to party tableware that needs to be safe for children, highly durable, and light enough to transport. The environmental benefit comes from the reuse itself - using the same items again and again, avoiding the emissions associated with producing and transporting new ones. That said, plastic is still derived from fossil fuels, and more people are rightly becoming cautious about using plastic items in contact with food.
The alternatives, unfortunately, each come with their own complications. Many bioplastic and composite products have faced increasing scrutiny - the UK Food Standards Agency has raised concerns about certain materials marketed as natural alternatives and banned the sale of some items. Disposable paper plates and cups, meanwhile, are frequently lined with plastic and many contain PFAS, so-called “forever chemicals” that are harmful to human health and the environment.
Until genuinely safe, durable and portable reusable alternatives become mainstream, well-maintained preloved plastic, used again and again, remains one of the more defensible choices. A reused plate beats a single-use one in almost every environmental calculation, whatever it’s made of.
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Looking ahead and recognised for impact
Darebin Party Kits were one of the first members to join the Party Kit Network outside the UK, coming on board not long after the Australian network launched in 2020 in partnership with Erin Rhoads. It’s fitting, then, that they’ve since been recognised as two-time recipients of the Party Kit Network Super Star Award - given in both 2024 and 2025 to members in the top 20 for helping avoid the most single-use items across the entire network.
Despite the material questions and the hard work of running a free volunteer service, Jo and Jackie’s outlook is resolutely hopeful.
“Whatever the material, I have faith that awareness of the futility of single-use items will grow. Governments around the world are rolling out bans on various single-use items. Consumers are consuming less, and caring more. And with that, I believe, comes a move away from buying new and a move towards sharing.”
For anyone thinking about starting their own kit, their advice is simply:
“Keep it simple! If you’re starting out, pick the size that is most manageable for you and potential borrowers. Also think about where your kits are going to be borrowed and how much storage space they’re able to allow.”
And the best part of running a kit?
“One of the best parts is just knowing we’re helping reduce the amount of single-use and disposable party items being used and going to landfill!”
Darebin Party Kits have been members of the Party Kit Network since February 2021. They have kit pick-up locations in Preston, Thornbury, Northcote and Fairfield.
You can find and book their kits here:
Find your nearest party kit, or start one in your community
Ready to make your next party more sustainable? Use the map on our website to find a kit near you. Each kit is run a little differently: some are free to borrow, some ask for a small donation, and some charge a hire fee, but all of them mean less waste and more reuse. If there isn’t one in your area yet and you’d like to start one, download our free guide to get started. It covers everything you need, step by step.
