Where To Donate Items You No Longer Need

I think the 5 R’s are a good model to follow when it comes to waste management. If you don’t know what they are, they are (in order):

Refuse is about saying no to unnecessary items – excess packaging, free items you really didn’t need, items you could get by repurposing something else. Reduce is about reducing what you consume, questioning whether you need multiples of a certain item and thinking carefully about what you buy, reducing where possible.

If you are in a situation where you are doing a household declutter, the refuse and reduce ship has sailed.

But next is reuse and only then recycle. And only after those options are exhausted is rot an option.

I quite like this model because recycling is not near the top of the list when it comes to waste management – I am aware of how resource-intensive recycling can be – however it is not last on the list either, as a reminder that recycling waste if a far more preferable when compared to throwing something into landfill. I visited our local tip once (yeah I’m weird like that) and seriously, the less we put in there the better!

If, after you have decluttered, you end up with a whole lot of waste that you need to deal with and you see no way of re-purposing the goods for something necessary or useful in your life, then you do need to get rid of it.

I have put together a list of places you can donate certain items for reuse or for recycling (when the item is not in the condition to be reused). I got most of my information from https://recyclingnearyou.com.au/ and the rest from Google. If you live in Australia and in particular, Sydney, you may find this reference guide useful. It sure has helped me out.

Main Category
Clothing and Linen	Clothes, shoes and accessories Dress for success Fitted for work Clothing exchange	Clothes,linen & shoes Zara/ H&M / Manrags	Bras Uplift	Linen & towels Pet stores Zara/ H&M / Manrags Sheridan Mechanics
Personal	Toiletries Every little bit helps	Medicines (inc expired medicines) Pharmarcy	X rays Siltech Ecocycle	Books & Magazines Local GP Local school	Stationary Got a pen
Electronics	Electronics (inc computers and TVs) Storage king Tech collect	Mobile phones Optus, Telstra, Vodafone stores Officeworks Mobile muster	DVDs/CDs Library	Printer cartridges Officeworks Australia Post Cartridge World Harvey Norman The Good Guys JB Hi-Fi Office National and Office Products Depot	Batteries Library Aldi (AA, AAA, C, D and 9V sized batteries (rechargeable and non- rechargeable))
Sporting/ Kids/ Pets	Sports equipment Fair Game	Bikes Cycle recycle club Western Sydney cycling network Bikes for life	Baby & Kids Items Mummies playing it forward	Toys Second chance toys	Pet related goods Rescue Resource
Large Items	Large furniture Reverse garbage The Bower	Mattresses Soft landing
Smaller Items	Food Ozharvest	Hangers Drycleaners	Soft plastics Coles Woolworths
Various	Problem Waste Mobile community recycling will deal with: Gas bottles & fire extinguishers Batteries Cooking Oil Motor oil Fluro globes and tubes Computers and TVs Paint Smoke detectors Mobile phones	General Items Freecycle Gumtree Charity shops Reverse garbage The Bower