Since August 2022, Lane Cove Council residents have been able to conveniently recycle more household items without leaving home. In partnership with RecycleSmart, Lane Cove Council residents can now have items such as textiles, batteries, and e-waste collected directly from their front door and recycled locally for free.
If you live in the Lane Cove North area, located in the Willoughby City Council LGA, you can also use RecycleSmart. Willoughby City Council is not accepting soft plastics at this stage via recycelsmart.
Powered by a user-friendly smartphone app, RecycleSmart is a convenient solution to a challenging issue. Until now, many household items could not be recycled in the yellow bins for kerbside collection.
The RecycleSmart program complements the existing kerbside collection in Lane Cove by managing four major categories of household waste:
- Soft Plastics
- E-waste (electronics, mobile devices)
- Textiles (clothing, fabrics)
- Small household items (batteries, light globes, coffee pods and many more)
Recently, Recyclesmart announced that they will now take soft plastic and shoes.
On 26 April 2023, they announced they will take items like Saucepans.
Soft Plastic
From Wednesday 22 February 2023, you’ll be able to book a free Power Pickup for your soft plastics. RecycleSmart will collect it from your doorstep and transport it to the APR Plastics facility in Victoria. The plastics will be shredded, turned into oil and then refined into resin to be used as flexible plastic again. To find out more about this process visit RecycleSmart’s website or download the FAQ information.
Shoes
RecycleSmart has partnered with Upcycle 4 Better, an international textile end-of-use organisation, to collect ALL kinds of shoes to be re-worn, recycled, repaired or reprocessed.
This means in your next Power Pickup you can put all kinds of shoes in your bags!
- Sneakers that can’t go the extra mile
- Leather boots that can’t be shined
- High heels that are too tight
- Sandals that you realise now aren’t very fashionable…
RecycleSmart are still collecting shoes that are in sellable condition to be donated to local Op Shops.
Backpacks
RecycleSmart has partnered with Upcycle 4 Better, to collect backpacks.
Yes, this includes school backpacks!
They can be made of any type of material. 1 backpack counts as 1 x bag for your Power Pickup, except if it is small enough to fit in your usual bag together with other items.
Accepted Waste
- E-waste: Small electronics, appliances, batteries and mobile phones
- Textiles in good condition including clothing, shoes, bags, towels, bed linen
- Textiles in non-reusable condition: clothes and bed linen that cannot be reused (separate and clearly label your wearable and non-wearable textiles)
- Sneakers and other sports shoes (separate and clearly label your wearable and non-wearable shoes)
- Shoes
- Takeaway coffee cups and lids emptied, rinsed and separated
- Books, toys and CDs/DVDs in good condition
- Aluminium coffee pods in a sealed plastic bag
- Empty cosmetics and skincare or haircare packaging
- Lightbulbs, paint (sealed), gas bottles, fire extinguishers, x-ray films, printer cartridges and all other items usually accepted by our Community Recycling Centre.
- And more, find the full list on the Recycle Smart website here.
Previously, to properly recycle these items, residents were required to take separate recyclables to various locations, including retail stores or recycling centres. Without a home collection service, many of these recyclable items ended up in the red general rubbish bin for kerbside collection, destined for landfill. Up to 20 per cent of the average red bin contains items that could be recycled.
ITC is so pleased to see RecycleSmart in the Lane Cove Area. We first approached RecycleSmart in 2013 and asked them to approach the Lane Cove Council. Since that time we have asked several different councillors to put RecycleSmart on the Sustainability Committee agenda. ITC has been using the service every month since it began. The service is free but last month we paid $15.00 for another three bags packed full of sheets and doona covers (many of them single bed that we have not used for years).
How Does It Work?
Residents can book their Power Pickup in three steps.
- Download the RecycleSmart app (or visit the website)
- Gather the recyclable items and leave up to two bags of recyclables at their door
- Book their collection with three quick clicks on the app (or website).
A local, friendly driver will come and collect them, ensuring every item is properly recycled.
RecycleSmart has diverted in the last 3 years over 278,300 kilos of recyclable materials from landfill, collecting over 153,000 bags.
“We are here to change the way people feel about recycling, so they recycle more things, more often. We achieve that by making recycling digital, fun and easy. We believe recycling should be something you look forward to doing.” says Giorgio Baracchi, CEO and co-founder of RecycleSmart.
One-Off Power Pick Up When You Have Done a Big Clean Out
Lane Cove Residents in Lane Cove LGA
Lane Cove Council Residents can book an on-demand pickup for $5 per bag.
Lane Cove North and Willoughby City Council residents can book an on-demand pickup for $5 a bag.
Download the RecycleSmart app wherever you get your apps or visit: https://www.recyclesmart.com/
Get your Bottles and Can (and a refund) Without Leaving Home with Lane Cove Earn and Return
You can also recycle bottles and cans and get a refund without leaving home – Lane Cove Return and Earn has an easy to use system that means you don’t have to feed a machine. More Details here.
Help Support Local and Independent News
You can support us in three ways:
- Become an ITC reader sponsor – Feel free to be a reader sponsor if you have enjoyed our local news coverage and would like to be an ITC reader sponsor. You can sponsor us with a monthly sponsorship fee. We have reader sponsors who sponsor us for $5.00 a month and some who sponsor us for $100 a year – no amount is too small or too big. Thank you so much to the people who have already supported us via our press Patreon account. Help Us Here.
- Buy the ITC team a coffee – We now have a team, and they need to be paid – buy the ITC team a coffee (or two) and that will help us pay their wages and shout then a coffee Buy a Coffee here.
- Do you own a Lane Cove Business or a Lane Cove resident who owns a business, you can advertise with ITC – our packages start from $30 monthly fee (for a 12-month commitment). Email us here for our rates card.
