What |
Where you can take these |
What they do with them |
|
Art / craft materials – clean items for use in school art projects |
Reverse Art Truck (formerly Reverse Garbage Truck) Donations are by appointment only. |
Collect rejects, seconds and factory offcuts for distribution to schools, early learning centres and the community. |
|
Baby things |
St Kilda Mums – 14 Winterton Rd, Clayton. See ‘Donate things‘. Book a time to drop off donations. Op shops Friends of Refugees (Springvale) |
St Kilda Mums receives requests from Maternal Health Nurses and local social service agencies on behalf of families in need. Then try to meet or exceed each request with quality pre-loved donations. Check their website for what they can and can’t accept. |
|
Batteries |
Aldi, Coles, Woolworths and other supermarkets as well as Bunnings and Officeworks have collection bins at the front of all stores for AA, AAA, C, D & 9V batteries. Battery World collects all types of batteries. Libraries in Glen Eira & Stonnington also have collection boxes for batteries. |
Recycle |
|
Bicycles |
Adult size bikes, BMX bikes and children’s bikes 24″ or larger can be taken any Bicycle Super Store (eg 1030 Dandenong Rd, Carnegie) who pass them on to Bicycles for Humanity (though not bikes that are covered in rust). Alternatively volunteers listed on the Bicycles for Humanity website can arrange for collection of bikes. See also: |
Send to Africa as sustainable transport to help break the poverty cycle. Bikes can travel twice as fast and carry 4 times the load as people on foot. Shipping containers in which they are sent become bike workshops, providing employment, skills, training and much more for communities. Wecycle & Back2Bikes rehome unwanted bikes with people who need them Dr Cranky’s works on getting kids riding bikes Brainwave Bikes donate, recycle and reuse bikes – while providing employment and traineeships for people with a disability, and raising money for Brainwave Australia. |
|
Books |
Children’s books Fiction & non-fiction books other than history books, published after 2005: Australian Books for Children of Africa – see www.abca.org.au to organise a dropoff in Caulfield 123Read2Me – They have bin locations for book dropoffs in various sites around Melbourne. See their website https://123read2me.org.au/ for locations. Other books: I Love Books 12 Arcade Rd, Mont Albert North Your local street library – boxes people set up outside their homes for people to leave and take books. |
ABCA provides second-hand books and writing materials for underprivileged schools in rural Africa. 123Read2Me gives books to Aussie kids who need them. I Love Books buys current-edition school textbooks for the Australian and Victorian Curriculum years 7-VCE including study guides, and also some University books in resalable condition. See the registration page on their website. |
|
Bras, new or preloved in good condition |
Support the Girls – dropoff location at Illusions Lingerie, 22 Puckle St, Moonee Ponds (Mon-Sat 9am-4pm). Mailing options also available. |
‘Empowering vulnerable, disadvantaged and isolated women and girls with access to professionally fitted bras, essential products and the support needed to lead healthy, fulfilling lives.’ |
|
Bread tags (plastic) |
Aussie Bread Tags for Wheelchairs |
The tags have a good recycling value. 250kg of the tags bring in enough money to buy an entry level wheelchair for a needy person in South Africa. |
|
Cameras |
Camera Recycle (Brisbane) Libraries in Glen Eira have collection boxes for small electronics |
Ted’s Cameras supports a number of organisations around the world who are in desperate need of electrical equipment such as cameras. Broken cameras are dismantled and parts are used to repair cameras when new replacement parts aren’t available |
|
Cars & other vehicles |
Kids Under Cover |
They collect your car (minus the number plates as you need to cancel your registration first), pass it on to auctioneers who sell it. The proceeds go to Kids Under Cover who use it in their work to combat youth homelessness. Your donation is even tax deductible! |
|
Clean clothing in good condition (not underwear unless new with tags) |
Avalon Centre |
Avalon goes out on a regular basis distributing clothes, bedding and warmth through work and interaction with the homeless. |
|
Clothing not in good condition |
Brotherhood of St Laurence and other charity op shops Make a Wish Foundation has bins in many Westfield malls. SCR Group Clothing dropoff – has bins next to several railway stations. H&M clothing stores accept clothing in any condition. Zara stores accept any kind of clothing or fabrics that you wish to recycle, as well as footwear, accessories and even jewelry. UPparel – charge $35/10kg |
Op shops pass them on to Melbourne Cleaning Cloths. Make A Wish Foundation passes them on to King Cotton Australia H&M passes them on to their business partner I:CO who use them for rewear (as second-hand clothes), reuse (for other products such as cleaning cloths) or recycling (as textile fibres for things like insulation Zara – 100% cotton, wool or polyester garments are recycled into new fabrics. Other clothing is turned into materials for the construction and automotive sectors. Garments that cannot be reused or recycled for reasons of hygiene, health and safety, or quality of the materials undergo a rigorous waste management procedure. ‘The aim of all these processes is to provide direct social support or to finance social projects that are developed or run by the non-profit organisations we work with.’ |
|
Clothing suitable for job interviews |
Ready Set (not men’s suits) |
Pass them on to people who are unemployed and going for job interviews, or starting work in a new job and can’t yet afford to buy appropriate clothes |
|
Computers & IT equipment |
Nucleus Computer Donations B2C Community IT Recyclers Officeworks also has a free nationwide recycling service for TVs, computers, printers and computer peripherals. |
Nucleus Computer Donations sends donations of computers, laser printers and mobile phones to needy international communities to support their schools, education and vocations at no charge for the equipment or freight. B2C accepts computers, laptops, tablets, phones, IT equipment, TVs and monitors BUT NOT PRINTERS. They re-use as much as possible, integrating PC components into refurbished computers. What can’t be re-used is dismantled into its constituent parts & sent for processing to responsible waste partners. ERNi supports people with disabilities. |
| Corks |
Reverse Art Truck (Ringwood & Narre Warren) Donations by appointment only. |
The corks are sold for a low price at the their scrap-store, to resource and inspire arts and crafts projects. All income goes back into their programs, supporting creative and playful education, environmental sustainability and the development of this iconic, low-cost arts and educational resource. |
|
Cosmetics packaging |
Terracycle recycling program – drop off at David Jones Reverse Art Truck (Ringwood & Narre Warren) Donations by appointment only. |
Terracycle accepts empty plastic bottles & pumps from skincare & hair care, empty foundation bottles, compacts, lipsticks & gloss, eyeshadow palettes, mascara, eye & brow liners, caps & tubes in regular, travel & sample sizes. Reverse Art Truck accepts empty containers and boxes of all shapes and sizes, particularly pumps, bottles, caps and tubes. |
|
DVDs, CDs, VHS, cassette tapes & cases, floppy disks |
Any library in Stonnington or Glen Eira Officeworks Stonnington Waste Transfer Station Monash Recycling & Waste Centre |
Recycle |
|
Electrical items |
Brotherhood of St Laurence Also Eastern Emergency Relief Network and West Welcome Wagon (see next entry below) |
Electrical items are safety-tested before being passed on to needy clients or sold. |
|
Furniture (in good condition) & whitegoods (in good working order) + lots more |
Eastern Emergency Relief Network EERN (Mitcham) – 9am to 1pm, Mon-Fri Western Emergency Relief Network – WERN (Ravenhall) Friends of Refugees (Springvale) |
Donate Direct links to a charity of community service provider that needs your stuff for a disadvantaged individual they are assisting. EERN & WERN provide emergency aid to those in need. West Welcome Wagon supports people seeking asylum. Friends of Refugees collects all kinds of household furniture to assist people seeking asylum. |
|
Glasses (sight & reading) |
Lions Recycle 4 Sight – approach your local Lions Club or – mail to: |
Cleans, grades and labels used spectacles for distribution in third world countries. |
|
Hearing aids |
Recycled Sound – c/- Rotary Club of Toorak, PO Box 42 Toorak 3142 SoundFair – 1 Hamilton Place Mt Waverley Tel. 9510 1577 Lions Recycling for Sight Australia (see Glasses entry above – they also collect hearing aids) |
Provide recycled hearing aids to disadvantaged people – single income families, working poor, unemployed, refugees and people seeking asylum. |
|
Household goods in working order |
See also Furniture entry above and ‘Something else to give away‘ below |
Matches items being given away – televisions, computers, bedding, mobile phones, kitchen appliances and white goods – with charities and Community Service Providers who pass them on at no charge to disadvantaged people who need them. |
|
Light globes – incandescent, compact fluorescent, downlight & fluorescent tubes |
Libraries in Glen Eira have collection boxes for fluorescent light globes and tubes. Stonnington Waste Transfer Station Monash Recycling & Waste Centre City of Whitehorse – see their website for dropoff points |
Recycled through CMA Ecocycle or similar organisations. Note: Handle fluorescent globes with great care – they contain mercury which can be very harmful to health. |
|
Makeup, toiletries, dinner sets, cutlery, pots & pans, toasters, kettles – all new and unused |
Impact for Women Avalon Centre – 1936 Malvern Rd, Malvern East |
Impact for Women puts them into ‘bags of love’ to give to women escaping violent family situations. The Avalon Centre distributes makeup and toiletries to people who are homeless. |
|
Material/fabric (including sheets, doona covers, pillowslips, etc) |
Boomerang Bags Reverse Art Truck (Ringwood & Narre Warren) Donations by appointment only. |
Boomerang Bags upcycles the material by sewing it to make reusable shopping bags Reverse Art Truck sells clean material & fabric for a low price at their scrap-store, to resource and inspire arts and crafts projects. All income goes back into Their programs, supporting creative and playful education, environmental sustainability and the development of this iconic, low-cost arts and educational resource |
|
Mattresses |
Drop off at the Port Phillip Resource Recovery Centre, |
Break them down & use fabric to make carpet underlay & weed mats, timber frames for kindling and send springs to metal recyclers |
|
Mobile phones (and landline phones) |
Aussie Recycling Program (ARP) |
ARP recycles useable phones and on-sells them cheaply to third world countries, thus enabling people to afford a phone. Those that can’t be reused are dismantled and disposed of responsibly. Through Mobilemuster over 95% of the materials in a mobile phone are recovered. |
|
Musical instruments |
Guitars Gathering Dust (Altona, Preston, Footscray) |
Guitars Gathering Dust takes guitars in any condition, restores them and works with trusted music education providers that support children from disadvantaged backgrounds. |
|
Paint |
Paintback – see paintback.com.au for closest location (eg Monash Recycling & Waste Centre) |
They separate packaging and waste liquid, then recycle containers and treat waste paint for energy recovery for solvent and liquid/solid separation for water-based paint. |
|
Pens and markers, highlighters, correction tape & liquid paper |
Recycling |
|
|
Plastic wrap |
As at October 2023, and following the collapse of RedCycle, soft plastics can only be recycled in a few Council areas eg Monash Council has a collection site at the Monash Recycling & Waste Centre at 380 Ferntree Gully Road, Notting Hill. Hopefully more councils will join this scheme in the near future. |
Use to make recycled plastic items such as park benches and furniture for schools and kindergartens. |
|
Polystyrene |
Monash Recycling & Waste Centre |
Recycle it |
|
Printer cartridges & toner bottles |
Recycling boxes at Officeworks and participating Australia Post, Cartridge World, Harvey Norman, JB HiFi, The Good Guys, Office National stores and Office Products Depot outlets. Businesses or departments using more than 3 cartridges per month can register online for their FREE collection service. |
They are recycled through Close the Loop, who have invented several technologies to safely shred & recycle ink & toner cartridges, toner bottles & other print consumables including in the manufacture of asphalt. |
|
Sports equipment in reusable condition |
Tennis balls & racquets: Sports shoes: Boots for All / Sport for all (Briar Hill) Op shops |
KTA provides racquets and tennis balls for disadvantaged children throughout Australia. Shoes for Planet Earth provides sports shoes to those in need in Australia and overseas countries. Boots for All/Sport for All distributes quality, new and near-new sporting equipment to vulnerable Australians to enable sport participation. |
|
Toiletries (unopened, eg from hotels, airlines) |
Avalon Centre – 1936 Malvern Rd, Malvern East |
West Welcome Wagon provides for people seeking asylum The Avalon Centre distributes them to people who are homeless. |
|
Towels, blankets, flat sheets, pillowcases, face washers |
If towels, blankets, sheets etc are in excellent condition, try West Welcome Wagon, Eastern Emergency Relief Network , The Avalon Centre, Donate Direct, or op shops Otherwise: |
RSPCA uses these for bedding and other requirements for animals in their care. |
|
Uniforms |
Arranges for uniforms to be securely shredded and the material re-used where possible |
|
|
Used stamps (from envelopes) |
Australian Chapter of Lions International Stamp Club (LISC) |
Trim and sort stamps, then send to Sydney auctions. Every cent raised is donated to the Australian Lions Children’s Mobility Foundation to purchase walking frames for children born with cerebral palsy. |
|
Xrays |
Stonnington & Glen Eira Councils collect these at libraries. Monash Recycling & Waste Centre also accepts them. |
X-ray recycling mainly aims to recover silver from both films and chemicals. The silver is then sold into the precious metals market. Residual chemicals are handled according to EPA requirements. Where possible they are recycled, or neutralised and disposed of as trade waste. |
Something else to give away?
Advertise your second-hand freebies on one of the following websites with a photo.
Could be just what someone wants:
au.ziilch.com (note ii)
Facebook: free stuff Melbourne
Facebook marketplace
www.ozrecycle.com (website undergoing maintenance Sept. 2023)
If you find any issues with any of these, or have any more to add, please email your suggestions using our Contact form.
See also: Sustainability Victoria’s website for links to your local council’s waste and recycling services, and TerraCycle or Space&Time for recycling of various other products.
| The amount of electricity saved by recycling a single aluminium can is enough to run the average television set for three hours. |
| – Clean Up Australia |