Booking a hard waste collection is an easy way to dispose of household items that have reached the end of their useful life.
Preparing your hard waste correctly helps keep the service safe and efficient while giving more materials the opportunity to be recycled.
While most collections across Bayside go smoothly, crews sometimes arrive to find oversized piles, renovation materials, unwrapped glass, hidden batteries or items that haven’t been prepared correctly.
These issues can create safety risks, delay collections and, in some cases, mean items can’t be collected.
Carla Olsson from our hard waste contractor, Total Waste Solutions, said a few simple steps before collection day can help protect collection crews and keep the service running efficiently.
“One of the biggest concerns is lithium batteries hidden inside old toys, mobile phones and small appliances,” Carla said.
“If batteries end up in collection trucks or processing facilities, they can cause fires.”
Safe recycling
You can ensure your collection goes smoothly by making it clear in your booking that the pile consists of electronic waste so it can be put on the truck safely.
Hard waste often has a life beyond the nature strip. Once collected, trained crews sort materials into different waste streams so scrap metal, mattresses, cardboard and green waste can be recovered for recycling where possible.
Many items still end up in landfill as some materials are not recyclable, so please consider whether your textiles, kids’ toys, sporting equipment or furniture can be re-used or repaired, to keep them out of landfill.
“The better prepared your hard waste, the greater the opportunity to recover valuable materials instead of sending them to landfill,” Carla said.
Before booking a collection, consider whether your unwanted items could be repaired at a Bayside Roving Repair Program event, donated or sold instead for a second life
Quick tips
- Keep your hard waste pile within the collection size limit of 2m x 2m x 1m
- Let us know if there are battery or electricity powered items included
- Wrap and label glass items
- Empty furniture drawers
- Box loose items – don’t bag them
- Don’t park in front of your hard waste
- When in doubt refer to the hard waste guidelines.
