My waste-free stack

100% waste-free is a stretch, but wherever possible I try to minimise the stuff that goes into landfill by finding organisations that can rehome, repurpose, restore or recycle old stuff I don’t need anymore.

We’re in the middle of a big cleanup. It’s the type that in years gone by, I admit would have gone out for kerbside collection.

It’s more effort for sure, but that’s a cost I’ve come to accept over time.

While businesses, governments etc slowwwlllly start to build smarter processes around waste management, if I don’t want stuff going to landfill, it’s on me to figure out where else it can go…

…and on clever entrepreneurs, non-profits and even tech companies to provide those options.

Some of those orgs are listed below. Many are national or multi-location, and others are local to where I live, so I’m hoping you can find similar orgs in your area:

• Old mattresses go to 👉 Soft Landing – book a collection via their website, and they’ll expertly deconstruct your mattress and send the steel, foam and wood to various recyclers where there’s real demand for those materials.
• Soft plastics now go to 👉 Recycle Smart or HomeCycle – both operate a collect-from-your-door service. You can give them small amounts of soft plastic, e-waste, and dozens of other types of tricky waste, which they’ll sort and recycle appropriately.
• Furniture goes to 👉 ReLove – they’ll take items in good condition like sofas, beds, and TVs, plus smaller household items like lamps, and use them to help furnish homes for people impacted by domestic violence, experiencing homelessness, coming out of incarceration or seeking asylum.
• Textiles go to 👉 Upparel – they can take old clothes, socks, fabrics, linen, swimwear and either rehome the good stuff to charity partners, or repurpose it into things like cushion fillers or insulation.
• Bits of wood find their way to 👉 WasteWood – I say “find their way to” because these guys salvage wood from our local area in Sydney, remove nails, clean it up, smooth it out, and make it available to buy in their shop for very reasonable prices. You can also rent a workbench to turn it into something new. Their Instagram features them completely dorking out over different wood species, it’s awesome.
• Tech & Gadgets go to 👉 WeBuy, Reebelo, or OzMobiles – They buy and sell used phones, laptops, gaming consoles and other tech. Sometimes you can buy them with better-than-new warranties (2 years or more).

The idea of carting a bunch of stuff around the city, or booking pickups probably feels like a huge hassle. I know for certain that in the past, I would not have bothered especially knowing that the big truck comes every few months and just carts it away, out of sight and out of mind.

I took half the day today driving around to ReLove and other places dropping things off. What I enjoyed most were the quick chats with workers and business owners who, as they pointed to their warehouses full of donated stuff, all said some version of “otherwise, this would all end up in landfill”.

ReLove had a warehouse full of beds, TVs, tables, sofas… FULL. And said within a week or two, it’ll all be gone (rehomed for people who have little to nothing of their own), and the warehouse will fill right back up again.

Framed like that, I can totally stomach a few hours in the car over putting it out on the kerb.

Hope that’s plugged in a few ideas for you, and maybe helps you re-think what gets chucked out when the big truck comes to visit.

To rehoming ✌️