When it comes to electronic waste (e-waste), Australia ranks among the world’s worst offenders in the disposal of e-waste, according to Planet Ark. This is a sponsored post. 

THIS National Recycling Week is urging people to look towards a future beyond the bin, with its theme “Recovery – A future beyond the bin”. 

The week-long campaign, which is running from November 9-15, was founded by Planet Ark about 25 years ago, and continues to educate households, schools and businesses to think “beyond the bin”, encouraging people to better value resources before they become waste.

This year Planet Ark is inviting people to value resources by giving them a second life through reusing and recycling items. 

When it comes to electronic waste (e-waste), Australia ranks among the world’s worst offenders in the disposal of e-waste, according to Planet Ark.

Each year, Australians dispose of 21.7kg of e-waste, which is why Planet Ark encourages consumers to pass on electronics rather than discard them. 

Planet Ark says food waste and textile waste are both issues, too, with food waste costing the average household $1026 every year, and about six tonnes of textile waste ending up in Australian landfills every 10 minutes. 

Rescuing quality furniture from landfill

FURNITURE discarded by government departments or private companies is often in great condition and doesn’t need to end up in landfill, say Ex-Government Furniture owners James Fullerton and Taylor Radnell. 

“It may no longer be wanted but we rescue it because one man’s trash is another’s treasure,” says James. 

“Buying from us means getting a long-lasting, quality piece, not a disposable item.”

James says Ex-Government Furniture offers a free removal service for offices that are upgrading, downsizing or moving, and in turn the shop gets quality furniture to sell on at budget prices.

“We clean, repair and restore all the furniture we get, and guarantee its quality, replacing any items that may prove faulty,” he says. 

“If we get anything that can’t be repaired we strip them down for parts.

“We do all we can to recycle any components we can’t use and repurpose items for another use. It helps to save the environment, too.”

Open six days a week, Ex-Government Furniture, which has been a family-run business for more than 20 years and was taken over by James and Taylor about five years ago, has a workshop and storage facility on-site. 

Ex-Government Furniture, 6 Yallourn Street, Fyshwick. Call 6280 6490, email sales@exgovfurniture.com or visit ex-governmentfurniture.com.au

Discovering treasure in the unwanted 

IT’s all about reuse at The Green Shed, which keeps 8000 tonnes of waste from reaching landfill each year, according to co-owner Sandie Parkes.

“Reuse is the most efficient way to deal with unwanted items”, says Sandie.

The Green Shed is a second-hand reseller running two shopfronts in Garema Place – The Green Shed Shop and The Green Shed Underground – which sells everything from electronics and clothes to kitchen wares.

The Green Shed has two collection centres as well, with one at the Mugga Lane Resource Management Centre in Symonston and the Flemington Road Resource Management Centre in Mitchell, where shoppers can find items such as furniture, building materials, outdoor items and toys. 

“You’d be surprised about what you’d find. You get anything you see in any shop in the world,” says Sandie. 

“In The Green Shed you find many things you’d never see again. “Everything in the malls are so generic [but] shops like ours are where you can buy those old treasures.”

And, with National Recycling Week coming up, Sandie hopes that the many Australians clearing out unwanted and unused items during the covid lockdowns will think of new uses for their unwanted items.  

“National Recycling Week makes people think about getting rid of things in a smart way,” Sandie says.

Unwanted or unused items, or items in need of minor repair, can be deposited at the shed’s collection centres in Symonston and Mitchell.

The Green Shed Shop, 148-180 City Walk, Civic. Visit thegreenshed.net.au or @thegreenshed.au via Facebook

Rob finds new homes for unwanted hardware

KINGSTON business Reuse-Recycle IT is rehoming or recycling Canberra’s unwanted computer hardware, with the aim to stop it from reaching landfill, says account executive Rob Carmody. 

“We work on the basis that there is no waste to landfill,” Rob says.

Reuse-Recycle IT acts as a broker between Australian, international buyers and government agencies and private companies looking to dispose of unwanted or end-of-life computer hardware, according to Rob.

Data centres, personal computers and laptops all pass through the doors at Reuse-Recycle IT, and if anything is not resold, it’s recycled to international standards, with any private data being safely destroyed, says Rob.

“Most agencies and customers have two considerations: one is security and privacy of information that might be retained on the device,” says Rob. 

“We have protocols that follow the government guidelines and we ensure our supply chain also adheres to those core principals.”

When it comes to recycling end-of-life IT equipment, Rob says there’s also an opportunity to get money back from the recycle, resale process. 

“We’d like [hardware resale] to be extremely common. At the moment, we are trying to get that word out there so [businesses] understand the end result of working with us is they get a financial return,” Rob says.

Reuse-RecycleIT, 50 Eastlake Parade, Kingston. Call 1300 136052, email RRIT@Reuse-RecycleIT.com.au or visit reuse-recycleit.com.au

Empowering businesses to better manage waste 

EDUCATING Canberra businesses about the benefits of recycling and better waste management has become essential for Cleanaway, says ACT branch manager Rob Hibbert.

From Coles to Parliament House, Cleanaway manages much of the territory’s waste, and hopes that through education more businesses will start to see the benefit of recycling and better waste management, says Rob.  

“A big part of what we do nowadays is enhancing people’s waste management,” says Rob.

Cleanaway runs a variety of educational programs for businesses, helping them to not just establish recycling programs such as separating waste into different bins or having the appropriate signage, but to empower businesses to make the most of recycling, says Rob. 

“We educate them on what actually happens to their waste so they have a level of confidence that what they’re doing is not in vain and they’re actually making a difference,” Rob says.

“It helps them understand their waste is a resource and not waste.”

Cleanaway says it’s also involved in “grassroots” sustainability movements, engaging with 220 communities around Australia to think positively about waste management and protect natural resources.

“People these days just want to do the right thing,” says Rob. 

Cleanaway Hume Solid Waste Services, 188 Sawmill Circuit, Hume. Call 13 13 39 or visit cleanaway.com.au

Finding unique ways to reuse waste

ACT Skip Hire is more than a skip bin service and is constantly finding unique ways to reuse waste, say co-owners Robyn Bombell-Barron and Tony Barron. 

ACT Skip Hire takes the extra step, not just leasing out skips for waste removal, but sorting through that waste and finding Australians across the country who can reuse it, says Robyn.

For example, Robyn says glass waste is finding a new life as insulation in Sydney and tyres go to Cootamundra, where someone collects and reuses them. 

“We have bays for glass, masonry, dirty fill, concrete, metals, green waste, cardboard, paper, e waste, and tyres that all are transported, direct to various recyclers in the ACT and NSW,” Robyn says.

According to Robyn, ACT Skip Hire rescue about 60-70 per cent of the waste that comes through their doors each month.

“A lot of things that would have ended up in landfill don’t anymore,” she says. 

Anything that can be resold is sent to the Let’s Recycle Canberra Shop, which is run by Robyn and Tony’s son Daniel.

Often, Robyn says, treasures such as jewellery, handicrafts and Pokemon cards end up at the shop. 

ACT Skip Hire and Let’s Recycle Canberra Shop, 11 John Cory Road, Hume. Call 6292 8187 or visit skipbins.com