Where Can I Recycle Or Dispose Of My Item?

Have you ever been in the dilemma of what to do with those ‘tricky items’ that can’t go into your curbside bin? When this happens, it can be hard to know what to do with them. I am sure this has happened to most of us, as it has sure happened to me! When this sort of thing happens, I try to search for what I should do, but sometimes I end up being even more confused than when I started. This is why I have consolidated this research, so you don’t have to! 

In this article, you will find a list of a few different services that you can use to recycle or dispose of those ‘tricky items’. 

Banish Recycling and Diversion Program (BRAD) 

The Banish Recycling and Diversion Program (BRAD) is a recycling program set up by Banish, a company that aims to reduce Australians’ waste and ecological footprint through responsibly produced products and education. Their BRAD program is heavily supported by volunteers who support, sort and recycle the items received. Then process household bottle caps and single-use soy sauce fish in-house and partner with Australian recyclers for the other items. 

The items that are accepted at BRAD: 

Beauty 

• Toothpaste tubes, floss containers and old plastic toothbrushes  

• Electric toothbrush heads  

• Medical ointment tubes 

• Hair gel tubes and caps  

• Hair paste plastic jars and caps 

• Lip balm tubes 

• Face soap dispensers and tubes 

• Lotion bottles, tubes, dispensers, and jars 

• Shaving foam tubes (no cans) 

• Lip gloss tubes  

• Mascara tubes 

• Eyeliner pencils and cases 

• Eyeshadow tubes 

• Concealer tubes and sticks 

• Medical blister packs 

• Webster Packs 

• Sunglasses/glasses 

Household 

• Sprays or pumps from cleaning products 

• Plastic beer clips 

• Plastic bottle top lids 

• Soy sauce fish 

• Single-use coffee cups and lids 

• Single-use cutlery and straws (plates, bowls, cups, etc) 

• Blister Packs 

• Webster Packs 

• Contact lens packaging (similar to blister packs) 

• Plastic bread tags  

• Writing pens, highlighters, biros and markers 

• Correction fluid pots and tape (empty only) 

City of Sydney 

If you are a resident of the City of Sydney, there are three ways for you to recycle or dispose of ‘tricky items’. You can walk or ride up to their Ultimo recycling pop-up which is open on Tuesdays from 2pm to 7pm, drop it off at the quarterly Recycle It Saturday event or go to a nearby recycling station. 

The items that are accepted at either the Ultimo recycling pop-up or the Recycle It Saturday event are: 

• Aluminium coffee pods  

• Clothes, linen and toys in great condition 

• Electronics and batteries 

• Empty blister packs – including empty pill packets made of plastic and foil or fully foil ones. If your blister pack came in a cardboard box, recycle the box separately in your yellow lid bin at home. 

• Household gas cylinders – including nitrogen, SodaStream and LPG bottles 

• Large cardboard 

• Light bulbs and fluorescent tubes 

• Paint (water and oil-based) 

• Polystyrene 

• Printer cartridges 

• Small metal items 

• X-rays and scans 

However, only mobile phones, small light bulbs, small electronics, and certain batteries are accepted at the recycling stations. 

NSW Environmental Protection Agency 

The NSW Environmental Protection Agency (NSW EPA) runs Community Recycling centres, which are permanent drop-off locations for common household ‘problem’ waste that can’t be collected via council curbside waste and recycling collection services. This service is free of charge for NSW householders.  

The accepted items are: 

• Paint 

• Gas bottles 

• Fire extinguishers 

• Motor oils 

• Other oils 

• Car batteries 

• Household batteries 

• Smoke detectors 

• Fluoro globes and tubes 

Please note that only household quantities of these materials are accepted, which means a maximum container of 20 liters or 20 kilograms for each waste type. Additionally, some centres may also accept other types of waste so contact your local centre to find out if other items are accepted and if any charges apply. 

The NSW EPA also runs Household Chemical CleanOut events for disposing of household chemicals. 

Recycle Smart 

Recycle Smart offers an on-demand or subscription recycling and reuse service for ‘tricky items’. It works by collecting your items in a shopping bag and organising a pick-up time with Recycle Smart where they will come and collect your items to take to get reused or recycled. 

The accepted items are: 

• Soft plastics 

• Clothes & textiles 

• E-waste 

• Misfits (household items that don’t fit into the other categories) 

Mobile Muster 

Mobile Muster runs drop-off locations at Optus, Telstra and Vodafone stores, as well as at other drop-off points that can be found on their website, where you can drop off e-waste to get recycled. Additionally, you are able to send your items to them in the mail for free. 

The accepted items are: 

• All brands of mobile phones, their chargers and accessories 

• Modems, home landline phones and TV streaming devices 

• Smart speakers and smart digital hubs (such as Apple, Amazon, Google products) 

• Smartwatches and tracking tags (such as Apple, Amazon, Google products) 

PharmaCycle 

PharmaCycle offers a recycling service for empty medicinal blister packs. You can either buy a satchel to put your blister packs in and mail it to them or you can find stores that offer collection.

Officeworks 

All Officeworks stores offer a Bring It Back and Trade-In program. This means that at every Officeworks store around the country, you are able to bring in items that are generally tricky to recycle or dispose of such as e-waste, ink and toner cartridges, and stationery so they can get repaired, reused or recycled. The Trade-In program also means that you could trade in your old phone, tablet, laptop or watch and receive credit to spend at Officeworks. 

The accepted items are: 

Audio & tech accessories 

• Cables & Power supplies 

• Chargers 

• Headphones 

• Mice & keyboards 

• Mobile wireless internet devices 

• Monitors 

• Motherboards 

• Printer circuit boards 

• Printers & scanners 

• Smart Home devices 

• Speakers 

Ink & toner cartridges 

• Ink cartridges 

• Laser toners 

• Printers (take to counter) 

Data & storage 

• CDs & DVDs and their cases 

• Disks 

• USBs and hard drives 

Pens & markers 

• Correction tape 

• Felt tip pens 

• Fountain pens and ink cartridges 

• Pens 

• Highlighters 

• Liquid paper 

• Markers 

• Mechanical pencils 

TerraCycle

TerraCycle works with businesses, government entities, and the general public to keep waste out of landfills. They have free public drop off sites and a free recycling program. They have a map on their website where you can find free drop off sites and filter by the product you want to recycle.

The free recycling programs include: 

• Gillette Razor
• GLAD
• Coffee pods from: L’OR, Moccona, illy, Campos and Jed’s
• Lavazza
• Maybelline
• MECCA
• NESCAFÉ and Dolce Gusto
• Royal Canin
• Schwarzkopf
• Sephora
• ACURE
• BIC’s
• Burt’s Bees
• Colgate
• David Jones
• Dish and Air
• Finish
• Garnier
• L’Occitane
• Latex & Foil Balloon
• Open Farm Pet Food
• Territory Pharmacy

You can click here to access the map.

Goods

There are many amazing organisations saving goods from being sent to landfill. It is always a good idea to pass on clothing and other goods that are in good conditions to organisations like these so they can be used for generations to come!

• ReverseGarbage
• Vinnies
• Salvos
• SaveTheChildren

Recycle Mate 

I hope that this article has cleared up your confusion but if you are ever unsure, Recycle Mate have developed a website that uses information from councils around Australia to catalogue the different curbside bin systems to provide tailored information about how to dispose of different items depending on your location. Their mobile app also combines artificial intelligence so that when you take a photo of an item, it is able to identify that item. 

There also could be other services not listed that may be offered by the local council or other companies. Please also note that you should check with the service provider about the exact details of their service and what fees may apply. 

Want more of Seabin Foundation? Check out our other blog posts.

Are you a coffee drinker? Check out ways to make your morning coffee more sustainable here and how to recycle your coffee cups here!

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