From 1 July 2022, local residents from the City of West Torrens will be able to order an on-demand pick up from their home for recyclable items.
The Council has partnered with Sydney-based startup RecycleSmart, to offer a free recycling home collection service to local residents – the first time a service of its kind has been offered in South Australia and outside of New South Wales.
The service, known as a ‘Power Pickup’, offers residents in West Torrens an on-demand collection of tricky-to-recycle items: items that are recyclable, but cannot be recycled through the yellow bin (i.e. soft plastics, e-waste, clothing and ‘misfits’ such as batteries and light bulbs).
RecycleSmart has partnered with 12 councils in New South Wales and is rapidly growing. The partnership with our Council marks the business’s expansion interstate.
City of West Torrens Mayor, Michael Coxon, says the agreement to trial ReycleSmart for a 6 month period will enable Council to assess the value of such a service in the local area and further support its commitment to a cleaner and greener environment.
“We’re excited to be the first council in South Australia to trial this new recycling concept and we hope that our residents will embrace it,” says Mayor Coxon.
“There are many items that can be a bit ‘tricky’ when it comes to disposal and rather than just having them end up in landfill, we want to see them recycled properly.
“We’re currently in the process of developing a long-term waste disposal and recycling strategy for West Torrens and it’s clear that our community is passionate about caring for the environment and correct disposal of waste and recyclable material.
“Our initial consultation phase, which closed at the end of May, saw more than 1,000 people respond to our waste survey; that shows that our local community considers waste a very important issue,” added Mayor Coxon.
How does RecycleSmart work?
RecycleSmart offers a convenient, user-friendly approach to recycling. Residents can book a Power Pickup in just 3 clicks from the app or website, leave their bag of recyclables at their door and then a local driver will come and make sure every item is properly recycled.
Thanks to Council sponsorship, residents can subscribe to a monthly Power Pickup for FREE (up to two bags per month) or book an on-demand pickup for $2 per bag.
The problem this partnership aims to address
For years Australia has had a large landfill problem and it’s not going away. Did you know that only 18% of single-use plastics are recovered from recycling? Another 11% leak directly into the environment, mostly ending up in oceans. When it comes to residential waste, a whopping 20% of what goes into a red bin can actually be recycled.
The change is up to us. RecycleSmart creates a fun, fresh and tech-driven experience that draws people in and makes it easy to learn to embrace recycling as a habit.
“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.
Find out how you can book your collection.
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