HomeCycle

HomeCycle doorstep recycling – put more out, less often!

HomeCycle is a doorstep recycling service for hard-to-recycle items like soft plastics, textiles and e-waste. The service is available to all residents at no additional cost.

The service has a two-bag minimum for collections (compared to the previous two-bag maximum), allowing residents to divert more from landfill per pickup.

HomeCycle is a great solution for residents who can't access drop off points for hard-to-recycle items.

Book a collection or find out more

As more is collected, residents will have access to three bookings per year. This means:

• Reduced wait times for pickups
• More residents can access the service
• Less truck movements, more environmentally friendly 
• Residents can better plan their annual pickups

What items are accepted through HomeCycle?

• Soft plastics
• Clothing (wearable and unwearable)
• Shoes/sneakers (wearable and unwearable)
• E-waste (mobile phones, computers, ear/headphones, screens etc.)
• Blister packs (medicine packets)
• Bed linen
• Toys (usable toys only)
• Small household electronics (with plug or cord)
• Batteries
• X-rays (remove personal information first)
• Coffee pods
• Printer cartridges

How do I pack my bags/boxes for pickup?

HomeCycle accepts a wide range of hard-to-recycle items. When you book a pickup, please bag or box items using the four categories below:

1. Soft plastics (bagged)

Please tightly bag your soft plastics for pickup. Bookings require a minimum of two bags per booking. 

2. Clothing, manchester, shoes, fashion accessories and toys.

Please bag or box toys separately to manchester, textiles and shoes. Toys should be in a useable condition with batteries removed. HomeCycle do not accept underwear, socks, pillows, doonas or wet clothing.

3. Small household appliances and electronics

This includes small household appliances (with a plug or cord), laptops, screens/monitors, and household electronics. Please ensure all batteries are removed. 

4. Problem waste

This includes small household batteries, mobile phones, printer cartridges, coffee pods, blister packs and X-rays. Please bag coffee pods and batteries separately. They should be bagged in their own clear, sealed, soft plastic bags for safety and to prevent leaks. 

Availability and amount per pickup

Due to the popularity of the service, we’ve changed provider and removed maximum bag limits. We hope that collecting more means residents book less, allowing more residents to access doorstep recycling services.  

This service is funded by Council ratepayers and the number of pickups available per month is limited.  

Therefore, please consider residents in your community who can’t access convenient drop-off locations for soft plastics, textiles and batteries. 

• Minimum amount – ensure you have a minimum of two bags ready for pickup...the more the better!
• No maximum amount – as there is no maximum amount per pickup, please save up your items and present more items less frequently to share the available bookings without increasing costs.

Use other free local drop offs

Soft plastics recycling is returning to supermarkets and there are many recycling options in our community for clothing, shoes and linen. These are easy to use when you're shopping or taking a walk in the neighbourhood. Preloved reusable items can also be donated on social media platforms to ensure someone gets the use out of them.

Other recycling options are often funded through product stewardship. Product stewardship is when companies pay for the recycling of their own products.

By using other drop off, donation or product stewardship options where they are available instead of the HomeCycle, you free up the service for those who really need it the most (e.g. those with a physical restriction/impairment or without own transport) and save ratepayer funds that can be used on other resource recovery programs.

See what other options are available at our A-Z recycling guide.

Why can't these items go in my yellow lid recycling bin?

Recycling facilities are set up with technology and equipment to deal with specific types of materials and containers. Items like soft plastic and textiles get tangled in machinery, so can't be accepted. Local drop off points like supermarkets for soft plastic, clothing/textile bins and, doorstep recycling service providers like HomeCycle, offer dedicated sorting and recycling to maximise recycling and minimise waste to landfill. 

How are my items recycled and repurposed?

Soft plastics are shredded, chemically treated and processed into reusable oil and carbon ash by APR Plastics.

Electronics are sorted and broken down into various materials for recycling. Batteries can be recycled into new ones. Mobile phone components can be used to make new technology, reducing the need for the mining of raw materials.

Clothing and linen in good condition are donated to charity or reused in communities that need them.

Unwearable clothing is repurposed into rags in the industrial sector.

Coffee pods are separated for their resources. Coffee grounds are composted and the aluminium casings are recycled into new products.

X-rays have the silver removed and turned into new silver products, like jewellery, and the remaining film is added to road base bitumen.

Printer cartridge recycling recovers the plastics, metals, ink and toner where it is resold as raw materials for manufacturing.