Since launching in 2019, RecycleSmart has saved over 570 tonnes of waste from landfill. And now, after garnering 50,000-plus users across Sydney and Melbourne, the waste-management initiative has expanded to Brisbane to start collecting household recyclables that can’t be placed in the yellow council bins.
This includes everything from soft plastics like bread and produce bags to coffee pods, toys, batteries, blister packs, old electronics and clothes.
How RecycleSmart works
RecycleSmart offers its service on a subscription basis, so for just $10 a month, you can get two bags full of recyclables collected from your house. You don’t even need to be home either — just leave the bags on your doorstep and RecycleSmart’s drivers will take care of the rest. You can add on extra bags for $5 per bag, too, in case you’ve finally cleaned out your house and ended up with the mother load of recyclables to part ways with.
The subscription can also be paused, skipped or cancelled at any time, so if for some reason you haven’t accumulated enough for a pick-up, you can push the fee until the following month when you have two full bags for collection.
Plus-size items that won’t fit in a bag, such as large electronics and clunky cardboard, can be collected for an extra $5 per item or box.
“Through our partners we are able to shred soft plastics and convert them into feedstock oil,” says RecycleSmart’s co-founder and CEO Giorgio Barrachi. “We donate clothes and textiles in sellable condition to the Australian Red Cross or other charities, and repurpose and recycle if they’re not. Valuable materials are extracted from e-waste. Polystyrene is granulated and pelletised to be transformed into raw material which can be used to make park benches, skirting boards and even bee hives. We make sure every item has a second life.”
For more information about RecycleSmart, head to their website.