For smaller lots of materials you can arrange drop off at our Marrickville premises. Call Reverse Garbage on (02) 9569 3132 and our staff will assess your materials' re-use potential over the phone, or arrange an inspection.
We offer a pick up service for bulk - at no charge for schools or not-for-profits. Commercial enterprises pay a small fee. We have two trucks and drivers that run scheduled pick-up routes and regular pick-ups can be arranged for suitable materials or alternatively, you can give us a call when sufficient volume has built up. For example in a workplace you might ask your colleagues to bring in old computers etc. so that you have sufficient quantity for us to do a pick up and you also help prevent valuable resources from going to landfill.
All items should be of a re-usable quality. Here are some examples of the types of things we pick up
Plastic and foam: Perspex, foam (not packaging), cut-outs, polypropylene, stencils, vinyl, O-rings, acetate, expanded polystyrene (sheets and blocks), containers, neoprene, eva skins, stickybacks, closed cell foam.
Paper and cardboard (new - suitable for craft purposes): good boxes (all sizes- depending what we have in stock already),coloured paper, white paper (rolls and sheets), cardboard sheets, gold and silver paper, cardboard cones, mount board, gift boxes.
Computer parts: Working or non-working - any make or model, Laptops, Circuit boards, keyboards, power supplies., TVs, monitors, printers, parts, cords, speakers, sound systems etc. (if in any doubt please ask us).
Each year Reverse Garbage collects over 10, 000 cubic metres (this amount is growing every year)of reusable off-cuts, over-runs and rejected material. This is from over 500 supporting small, medium and large businesses, manufacturers and government institutions throughout Sydney and further.
We bring these materials back to our Marrickville Re-use Centre to be sorted and made available to creative people.
Our customers include teachers and students (from primary and secondary schools, TAFEs and universities), artists, community groups, window dressers, small and home-based businesses, theatre groups, retirees and home renovators.
Reverse Garbage provides jobs for around 20 staff who coordinate, collect, sort, sell and advise customers on how to use materials in fun, imaginative and practical ways.
Why re-use?
Re-use is common sense. It saves the resources and energy needed to produce new materials, and involves none of the energy consumption or waste associated with recycling and reprocessing. Re-using materials the Reverse Garbage way is economically self-sustaining and unlike domestic recycling, requires little government or industry subsidy.
Who benefits?
Companies save money by reducing their waste disposal costs.
Employees feel good about their company when good materials are not thrown away, but are put back into their community.
The amount going into landfill is reduced, benefiting the environment and saving money for local authorities by extending the life of landfill sites.
A huge range of people are given access to affordable resources.
The community benefits as jobs are created from materials that would have been buried forever
Drop-Offs: To help facilitate donations, we encourage drop-offs to the center, preferably by appointment. All donations are assessed upon arrival.
Drop off times are:
Mon-Sat: 9am-4pm
Sun: 10am-3pm
Reverse Garbage is a not-for-profit community co-operative specialising in waste reduction through resource recovery for creative community re-use. We pick up clean industrial discards and sell them to the public at our warehouse in Marrickville.
We'll pick up items at no charge to you - get rid of left over stock, seconds, or by-products and other items that would normally cost you a small fortune to dispose of.
How to arrange a collection?
If you think you have some reusable material, call us. We'll ask you some questions about the kind of material, quantity, location and accessibility. Our staff will assess your materials' re-use potential over the phone, or arrange an inspection if we are not sure. If it is suitable, we'll collect from your premises or accept delivery to our Re-use Centre.
We have a truck and a ute that run scheduled pick-up routes. We normally collect materials when we have a truck in the area, though we can also pick-up by arrangement.
Regular pick-ups can be arranged for suitable materials or alternatively, you can give us a call when sufficient volume has built up. We can tailor arrangements to suit your special circumstances.
For examples of what we pick up please go to Materials We Pick Up. As a general guide to materials that we accept please remember the following points:
Separated - We can provide clearly marked containers of different sizes to separate materials as conveniently and practically as possible. This makes it easier for your staff to separate out materials for us to collect.
Reuseable - Off-cuts must be of reasonable size and regular in shape.
Clean and safe - The whole community including children will reuse the materials so they need to be clean. We need to ensure that all materials, containers, off-cuts, rolls, bins or bags collected are not hazardous. If we are in doubt we will ask for a materials safety data sheet (MSDS).
Quantity - We pick up larger amounts of materials on a regular basis or special one-off items such as displays or fittings. We cannot pick up small amounts of materials.
Location & accessibility - We pick up Sydney wide on a regular schedule, and can also arrange one off or 'special' pickups depending on suitability, quantity, warehouse space and truck availability.
To make it economical for us to pick up and safe for our drivers, materials must be easily accessible, preferably ground floor and there must be suitable parking close to the materials. If the materials are bulky and heavy we will require help in loading, or alternatively, we can provide 2 pairs of hands.
Look after your business by looking after the environment and cutting down on waste disposal costs. We resource lots of schools and charities with arts and crafts supplies so you’ll be helping the community too.
Our collection service operates 5 days a week.
Call us on 02 9569 3132 and ask for the Operations Manager
