People accumulate junk in their homes and offices over time. Broken furniture and appliances, old clothes, worn carpet, and outdated household items fill garages and storage rooms. Kitchens and restaurants churn out food wastes, while branches, tree stumps, and pruning can turn into a heap of garden waste. Household and commercial renovations result in debris while car repairs and replacements leave behind dangerous chemicals.
While cleaning and decluttering can be easy, waste disposal can be a lot more challenging, especially when local waste disposal services have many exceptions. In truth, trash collection in Sydney and other parts of Australia is pretty strict regarding what they accept and collect. This can be challenging since you’ll either need a trailer ready to haul it to the dump or find other ways to dispose of waste that won’t harm the environment and endanger your handler’s health.
Waste Disposal Problems
Getting rid of rubbish can be tricky for several reasons. Here are some of the ways waste disposal can become challenging when you’re in Sydney:
1. It Won’t Fit in Your Garbage Bin
Garbage bins keep trash in place and ensure it stays there until it’s collected. These sturdy containers keep stray animals from raiding through trash in search of food. They also prevent the spread of diseases and help keep communities safe and clean.
Color-coded bins also make the collection more efficient since it requires less effort to segregate wastes. You just need to follow the schedule for your area’s garbage collection along with specific instructions on what you can and cannot put into your bins.
While garbage bins around the Sydney area are large enough to hold common household wastes, several things won’t fit into them. Bulky items, such as old furniture, mattresses, and broken appliances, won’t be collected unless you book them in advance. The same thing goes for white goods (fridges, ovens, dishwashers, washing machines, etc.) and e-waste such as computers, laptops, cellphones, and TVs.
You’ll need to schedule your decluttering project since it takes a week before they haul it away. Council cleanups may also take longer, as they are held twice a year. If you’re pressed for time, faster pickup is available via SameDayRubbishRemoval.com.au so that you don’t have to wait weeks or months to get rid of bulky items from your home or office.
2. They’re Not Collectibles
Besides bulky materials, there are also several objects and materials that the local dump won’t accept. According to the Sydney Waste and Recycling Services website, they don’t collect:
- Breakable items: mirrors, windows, glass, ceramics, and china
- Hard wastes: scrap metal, empty tins without lids, baths, hot water systems
- Building debris: doors, floor or roof tiles, bricks, timber, fencing, and wooden pallets, bathtubs, kitchen cupboards and sinks, pipes, and rubble
- Heavy items: tree stumps, logs, branches thicker than 10 cm, or any wood materials that are longer than 1.5 meters or weigh more than 100 kg
- Car parts: engine blocks, tyres, and batteries
It can be problematic to dispose of these materials since they could be hazardous to your health. Breakable items can cause injuries, while larger items cannot be accommodated by garbage trucks that have limited capacity.
3. Rubbish Requires Special Handling
There are also household wastes that require special handling because they contain toxic substances. Paint, oils, flammable liquids, pesticides, and household cleaners contain chemicals that can harm the environment. Improper handling can also cause injuries or skin diseases, so it’s best to leave household chemical waste disposal to professionals.
You might also find it hard to eliminate waste from your premises if you’re a business owner or a commercial establishment. If you’re in the food or manufacturing industry and produce cooking or motor oil as wastes, you’ll need to hire a contractor to handle waste collection. The same thing goes for construction debris and garden wastes.
Waste Disposal Solutions: 5R’s
There are several ways to address waste disposal issues. They are simple practices that can help you lessen waste and allow you to help save the environment.
These solutions are known as the 5R’s: rehome, reuse, return, recycle and rubbish disposal by professionals:
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Rehome
Before you toss out everything to the trash, try going over your belongings to see if you can still rehome them by either selling them online or giving them to others. You can post your used items and get a decent profit from appliances or other household items. If you’re generous, you can choose to donate them to charities or shelters instead.
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Reuse
Appliances and gadgets get old and broken, but that’s not enough reason to throw them away. You can still have them repaired or convert them into something else you can use around the house. There are many DIY videos online that teach you how to repurpose old furniture so you can save and spruce up your home at the same time.
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Return
Some companies offer buyback schemes for obsolete products. Old items such as furniture, computer, and mobile phones can be exchanged for vouchers, while unused medicines can be returned to local pharmacies. Check for available buyback schemes in your area so you can eliminate your wastes and enjoy rewards.
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Recycle
Recycling in Australia is now made easy with the help of recycling plants that convert organic waste and encourage plastic and e-waste recycling. You can participate in the quarterly activity called Recycle It Saturday, where you can take clothes, polystyrene, soft plastics, and e-wastes to a designated facility that turns them into useful products.
You just need to segregate your wastes so the recycling plants will accept them. Clothes are resold or sent to charities as donations, while plastics, computers, and mobile phone parts are remanufactured as spare parts.
If community events can’t handle your waste, you can send them to scrap yards and earn some cash for the effort. They’ll gladly accept car parts, power tools, and even home appliances. Or, you can find parts dealers to sell them to, as functional parts can still be worth a few dollars. Drink containers can also be worth a few cents and can make ideal fundraising events for your local charity, school, or community.
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Rubbish Disposal by Professionals
Wastes that aren’t recyclable can still be disposed of through professional junk hauling services. These professionals can handle toxic materials, building debris, and everything in between using safe environmental practices. They can take the rubbish and remove your worries in no time.
Conclusion
Waste removal can be tricky if they’re larger than your garbage bins and local collection services refuse them. The four R’s can provide effective waste removal solutions that are not both people and environment-friendly.