Recycling
Regular Op Shops have become more selective in what they accept as they have limited storage space and look at the likelihood of reselling donations. Salvation Army stores will mostly accept electrical goods, others won’t. Ring beforehand to find out what they can accept.
Electric items, plus paints, batteries, x-rays, video tape, gas bottles, fluoro tubes, mobile phones can be taken to Community Recycling Centre Artarmon at 8 Waltham St, Artarmon https://northsydney.nsw.gov.au
Furniture and whitegoods: The Bower, Marrickville bower.org.au/collections Send photos via their website. If they are interested in your items, they will come with a truck to collect, free of charge. No mattresses. Or try posting it on Facebook MarketPlace for free.
Mattresses: no charity will accept mattresses. Soft Landing will recycle the different contents of mattresses. You need to pay for their collection. https://softlanding.com.au/book/
Books: LifeLine has a collection centre and has an annual bookfair. Books in good condition, puzzles, CDs, DVDs, games. No encyclopedias or books that have been annotated, have gone brown or are not in a good condition. https://lifelineh2h.org.au/book-fair-items/
Books unsuitable for re-homing: need to be pulled apart as the paper recycling machines can not process books. Organise a book shredding tea party with family and friends. If you have too much for your yellow bin, you can offload boxes or bags with paper in bins at the https://www.cleanaway.com.au/location/cleanaway-artarmon-resource-recovery-centre/ As you won’t have a commercial quantity of paper, it is free. Ring for instructions. It is an amazing experience as you will see how waste is collected and transported. This is a different location than the Community Recycling Centre Artarmon at 8 Waltham St, Artarmon
Fabric/textiles / batteries/ laptops
RecycleSmart: Ryde Council residents can participate in 2024 to trial recycling of soft plastics and some other items. Items will be picked up from your door for a fee. For information and to get the app go to https://www.recyclesmart.com/
Sewing and handicraft items, lengths of materials, knitting wool, unfinished embroideries, etc can be taken to The Sewing Basket: https://www.achieveaustralia.org.au/the-sewing-basket There are several shops in Sydney and the Central Coast where you can drop off items that are re-sold in the shops which employ people with disabilities.
Metal Recycling: Takes everything from pins and needles to metal coat hangers, heaters, irons, metal pipes – Circular Metals Gladesville – 52 Buffalo Rd Gladesville
Spectacles – take these to your local optometrist – most are part of a scheme to and send them to a welfare group in the Pacific for people on low incomes.
Old sports shoes – Tread Lightly will recycle. Drop off points include sports stores like Rebel. https://treadlightly.asga.com.au/about/
Upparel – textile recovery and recycling https://upparel.com.au/
Repair: You can bring your broken household/electrical items, torn clothing (buttons, zippers, holes, patches etc.), shoes, bags, umbrellas and tools needing resharpening to the Repair Café Sydney North. It is open the first two Sundays of the month from 2-4pm. Located t 180 Longueville Road, Lane Cove. For more information go to http://www.repaircafesydneynorth.net
For more information on recycling schemes Planet Ark https://planetark.org
Also check out your local council’s website on what can be recycled and where