The mantra “buy once, buy well” never feels more relevant than when you’re faced with mounting piles of household clutter. It’s hard to know what to do with things that might not be worth fixing (thanks to this era of built-in-obsolescence), can’t really be donated (remember the rule: if you wouldn’t give it to a friend, it shouldn’t go to charity) and don’t belong in household bins.
Decluttering can be even more difficult given that each state in Australia has different laws dictating what waste is allowed to go where. For example, electronic waste is banned from landfill in the Australian Capital Territory, South Australia and Victoria.
To help you figure out how to responsibly dispose of your household clutter, we’ve compiled advice from experts on the most pervasive categories.
For anything we haven’t covered, check out Planet Ark’s national database: Recycling Near You. It allows you to search how specific categories of waste are handled in your area.
Old sneakers
Whether they’re in a forgotten corner of your wardrobe or have been relegated to a garbage bag in your garage, old sneakers are a particularly ugly kind of household clutter. But there are a few satisfying ways of dealing with them.
If they are not completely worn out and you think there’s a chance you could wear them again if they looked a little brighter, it could be worth taking them to a sneaker spa to be cleaned, have any holes closed over and marks covered up or removed. A clean-only service starts at $60 but more complicated repairs can be costly.
If you’ll never wear them again and they are too worn to donate, Tread Lightly runs a nationwide collection program that mulches the sneakers into a crumb that can be used for shock pads, playgrounds and the underlay for sporting grounds. The list of shoes they collect includes thongs, football boots, hiking boots, gumboots and leather school shoes. To find your closest collection point visit the Tread Lightly website.
PSA: it also collects and recycles inflatable sports balls.
Rugs
If you have an old rug that is dirty or threadbare but it’s something you would like to keep, it might be possible to repair it, depending on the extent of the damage.
Look for a professional rug cleaning and repair service like the Carpet Repair Doctor in Sydney, that will come to your house. These can repair anything from fraying edges, to stains and lumpy or worn-out carpets, including water damage and burns.
If it’s simply an item you don’t want any more, a professional rubbish removal service, like Junk Moovaz in Melbourne, will come to you and assess the condition of the rug. If it’s in good enough condition to be donated to charity it will collect the item and drop it to a charity partner. If the item is not suitable for donation, it will organise for it to be commercially recycled. Its minimum call-out cost is $120.
Alternatively, check with the manufacturer, as some carpet and rug companies offer free take-back programs on old products.
Swag totes
While these can be handy there is a limit to how many cotton canvas bags we all need. But since they are in seemingly endless supply, it’s easy to relegate them to a drawer or cupboard when they’re starting to look a bit shabby and stained.
The chief executive of the reuse centre Reverse Garbage, Kirsten Junor, says this shouldn’t be their end point: “Wash them, patch them, turn two bags into one. Think about everything as much as you can and be resourceful.”
If you have an overwhelming number of tote bags in your house and donating them to charity seems more of a hindrance than a help, you can book a textile waste collection with Upparel, with costs starting at $35. They take all kinds of textile waste, shred it and turn it into fluff for insulation or boards.
Old couches
If your couch is worn or stained and in need of a repair there are a few things you can do. To find a local furniture repairer, check out the Lounge Repair Guys national database.
The Bower in Sydney’s inner west offers a repair service. Start by making an inquiry through its website and sharing some photos so it can provide a quote. If it’s worth going ahead, the centre will arrange a pickup to bring the couch into the studio.
Upholstery restoration can be very expensive, costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars depending on the complexity of the job, but the centre also offers workshops on upholstery and furniture cleaning, restoration and repair.
“We do our furniture repair and upholstery workshops to teach people how to do it, which is more affordable,” says The Bower’s chair, Michelle Sheather. “Then if they want to do it as a hobby, or another project, they can.”
If your old couch is in good condition but you just don’t want it any more you might be able to sell it or give it away through an online marketplace such as Gumtree, eBay or Facebook. If it’s an Ikea couch it might be eligible for the company’s buy-back program.
Alternatively, you can donate it. Some charities, including Lifeline and Salvos, offer a free pickup service that you can organise online. If your couch is in a state of such disrepair that nothing can be done, contact your local council to organise a collection.
Cables, chargers and computer detritus
Sometimes wrapping a electrical tape around a fraying cable, or cleaning out a USB plug with a can of compressed air is all it takes to restore a cable to working order.
If that fails, this kind of clutter is considered e-waste and there are several recycling schemes for disposing of it. The telecommunication industry’s recycling program MobileMuster collects phone accessories, as well as phones themselves, via collection points at Telstra, Optus and Vodafone stores, and a mail-in service. Officeworks stores also take cables, computer mice and chargers, along with printer ink and toner cartridges.
You can also find e-waste recycling schemes and drop-off points around the country through Planet Ark’s website.
Yellow bed pillows
If you’re waking up regularly with a sore neck, or finding yourself grossed out by the colour of your pillows, the options for responsible disposal are limited. For health reasons pillows can’t be donated to charity or even to animal shelters. Planet Ark says they should be put in your rubbish bin.
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The best option may be to follow the advice of the consumer platform Choice and “‘upcycle’ an old pillow at home yourself, by repurposing it for a pet or using the filling to top-up other cushions”.
Broken mugs
Whether or not a broken porcelain mug will be useful again depends on where it is cracked. If the handle has snapped off Junor suggests sanding what’s left of it back with sandpaper so you can keep using it. “Wear a mask and use fine grit or a porcelain sandpaper,” she says.
If the mug has cracked or broken through the centre you might not be able to drink out of it again, but she still recommends repairing it for reuse as a trinket cup or plant pot. “We run a kintsugi workshop here at Reverse Garbage and it teaches the beautiful Japanese tradition of mending things visibly,” she says. “I’m a great believer in visible mending for not only porcelain, but clothes, everything. It’s part of the story. Especially if something has sentimental value.”
Small appliances
If your kettle or toaster has stopped working, according to Sheather, the good news is “a lot of things can be fixed pretty quickly in 30 minutes”. She recommends booking an online appointment at The Bower’s electrical repair centre or with an electrical repairer in your local area. Quality Appliance Repair has a database of nationwide services on small to large appliances. If you would like to learn how to fix something yourself, there are repair cafes around Australia offering tools and free advice from volunteer menders.
“Sometimes it’s just the plug that needs replacing, or it’s a rewiring or cleaning issue,” Sheather says. “Sometimes it will take longer and we have to order parts.”
The bad news is that The Bower is finding more and more cheap electrical products are designed so they can’t be fixed. “The parts that you could normally unscrew to look at a motor in a blender, for example, are welded shut,” she says. “So, it’s impossible to fix.” Scanning for screws over welded plastic and brands that offer repairs is something to keep in mind the next time you’re shopping for a new electric product.
When something is beyond repair, you can recycle it as e-waste. Check with your local council to make sure they will accept the product you want to recycle before you drop it off. Some brands also have take-back schemes for their products, so it’s also worth checking with the manufacturer.
A note about vibrators: while technically e-waste, make sure you check in with your local council before dropping off a sex toy. According to Planet Ark, contact with body fluids might mean standard e-waste recyclers don’t accept them, since they could be considered a biohazard. The good news is, some companies offer specialised mail-in recycling programs to address this problem including Rosewell, Peachii (which only takes back its own products) and ilo Wellness (which accept all brands).
Mid-sized electric goods
As with small electric goods, mid-sized appliances including vacuum cleaners and fax machines can be taken to an electrical repair centre and are often easily repaired.
“Sometimes it’s the engines burnt out, sometimes it’s the wiring, sometimes it’s even an accumulation of dust,” Sheather says. “We recommend people keep those appliances clean and as dust-free as they can.”
Like small appliances, mid-sized appliances should be recycled as e-waste. Since they’re made with precious materials including gold and platinum it’s important to keep them in circulation. Check with your local council or the manufacturer to see if they have a take-back scheme.
Dull scissors
“Scissors ostensibly haven’t changed since they were invented,” Junor says. “You do not need a new pair every week. Make sure you look after them and value them.”
Dull scissors can be quickly resharpened by a professional sharpening service. These are usually also knife-sharpening services and many are mobile so, if you can’t make it to a store, you can arrange for them to come to your house. It is also worth asking your local butcher, as some offer knife-sharpening services at a low cost.
“If they’re not beautiful scissors or you’re just maintaining your kitchen scissors, you can cut into foil and that will sharpen them,” Junor says.
Beauty empties (and half empties)
Given how beautiful some serum and lipstick packaging is, it can be hard to bring yourself to throw them in the bin. Especially since they’re usually made of several different materials, so they don’t fit into a single recycling category. To help mitigate this issue, many beauty retailers work with TerraCycle, which has processing facilities in every state in Australia. Brands, manufacturers and retailers fund the collection of this kind of waste through drop-off points or via mail.
Some of Terracycle’s beauty and personal care partners only accept their own brands but some don’t discriminate. Partners that accept all brands include David Jones, Garnier, Gillette, Maybelline, Mecca, Schwarzkopf and Sephora. Before you haul all your bathroom clutter off to your closest shopping centre, make sure you check the type of waste each partner accepts and how, because it varies.
You don’t have to clean containers before you drop them off or post them in but, if it’s a product you haven’t finished, you should empty it into the bin, since beauty products can damage your pipes if you tip them down the sink.
“They do have to be as empty as possible so we really encourage people to squeeze every last scrap out of them,” says Jeanne-Vida Douglas, the marketing and communications manager of TerraCycle. “Then they get sorted and shredded and the debris ends up covered in this terrible grey goop from the leftover foundation and makeup. Then we wash it before it gets recycled.”
The categories that had me most excited include hairspray cans, razors, tubes for liquids, mascara, and foundation bottles. You can find more information on the TerraCycle website.