Do you REALLY want to dump that?

One of the best things you can do for the environment is to reduce the amount of material you send to landfill. Recycling of normal household waste has become fairly standard but what about those larger items that most of us have sitting around the house? There are options other than dumping or selling that you might like to investigate.

E-Cycle Recovery is an Adelaide-based company that offers recycling of electronic items such as televisions, computers and telephones (anything with a cord or battery is the claim). The company de-manufactures items in an environmentally responsible way and has locations at Glen Osmond, Netley and Holden Hill.

E-Cycled (although the name is similar it’s a completely different organisation) is a relatively new website that allows you to list items that you’re prepared to give away. It’s primarily intended for those items that you can’t sell but may have some value to someone else. Could your broken appliance be mended by an expert or used for parts for example? The site doesn’t have a lot of listings yet but it has the potential to be quite a valuable hub for this kind of activity.

Freecycle (Adelaide) has a similar premise in that it allows you to advertise things you’re prepared to give away. It is set up as a Yahoo Group and can be a little bit cumbersome to navigate as it uses older technology than the simple listings that E-Cycled allows but the Adelaide site is part of a worldwide movement and has been around a lot longer than E-Cycled so has a lot more listings and more users which means it can allow quicker resolution of your give away.

Hard Rubbish is collected from kerbsides around the Council, this year starting August 6 and running through to early September. Click on the link to for pick-up dates in your area and for details of exactly what is (and isn’t) collected by Council as part of the hard rubbish collection.

Recycling Near You is a website that provides links to recycling services in your area. This particular link takes you to a listing for services provided in or to the Council area for the recycling of all sorts of items including printer cartridges, mobile phones, medicines, used oil and just about anything else you can think of.

Are there other services or ideas you have for dealing with waste items?

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