In this episode, Philippa Hann talks to Kate and Emma about what it takes to spot something that feels wrong inside your own industry and actually do something about it, why a clearance solution turned out to be a community story, and what other sectors can learn from how PropUp Project has reframed waste as a resource.

Kate Allan and Emma Chaplin are TV producers turned co-founders of PropUp Project, a non-profit social enterprise that rehomes, resells and recycles leftover sets, props and costumes from the TV and film industry. After years of watching the same waste cycle on every job, they used the pause of COVID to test an idea, and PropUp Project has been running ever since.

In just over four years, PropUp has redistributed more than 31,000 items to over 200 schools, charities, community groups and reuse projects nationwide, works with major broadcasters including ITV, and was recently recognised with Gold for Start-up Enterprise of the Year at the Global Good Awards.

In this conversation, you'll hear about:

• Why the freelance structure of TV and film, where one person is left to handle clearance with little time or budget, has made waste the default for decades, and how the streaming explosion has made the volume dramatically worse
• What it takes to make the right thing also the easy thing for producers: a one-stop service that handles the recce, inventory, redistribution, logistics and impact report so teams do not have to think about it
• Why local-first redistribution works: the proof-of-concept storage unit in Somers Town that was full of items needed by community groups within a one-mile radius, and why this shaped the whole model
• The stories that come out of clearance jobs, from prison-set mattresses going to early years nursery soft play, to branded hi-vis jackets becoming upcycled laptop bags, to a giant Last Supper painting taking pride of place in a local church at Easter
• Why behavioural change in any industry needs three things together: people who care setting an example, top-down policies that make the wrong thing more expensive, and awards that celebrate the good stories
• How running PropUp has changed the way Kate and Emma shop, parent and see the people around them, and why the team's deepest message is that this work is not about stuff, it is about community
• The two-step advice they give anyone who keeps having the same conversation about something wrong in their industry: trust that if you have seen it, others have too, and find one person to start with before doubt sets in
• Why the impact reports matter as much as the clearance itself, and what it means when items become a lifeline rather than a donation for families in furniture poverty

Key takeaway

PropUp Project shows how the right business model can turn a structural waste problem into a community one. The challenge was that the freelance pace, shrinking budgets and habit of putting a line in the budget for a skip made the right thing harder than the easy thing. Kate and Emma's argument, shaped by years inside the industry rather than outside it, is that change happens when you take the friction away, redistribute locally, and show people where their stuff ended up. The schools, theatres, refugee charities and community groups receiving these items are not waiting for the industry to be perfect. 

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