Waste-Wise Renting in Tasmania
What to do when moving into a new home:
Check that your kerbside bins are present and in good order. Talk to your Local Council if you need to arrange a replacement or talk to your landlord if you need to organise a different sized bin (where this service exists).
Contact your local Council to get a copy of the kerbside bin collection calendar.
If you are outside of a kerbside collection area, contact your local Council and/or landlord to find out what vouchers, tip tickets or other waste drop-off services are available to you.
Find out what special waste collection services exist in your local area, such as annual hard waste collections or green waste collections.
Select your local Council from this list to find out more:
Visit your local Waste Transfer Station or Resource Recovery Centre to see what free recycling and waste services are on offer. These may include household batteries, light globes, paint, oil, mobile phones and other electronic waste such as TVs, computers and cables.
Find out what other non-kerbside recycling services exist near you, there may be collection points for all kinds of things including toothbrushes, eye-glasses, old mobile phones and unused paint. Check out this handy guide for Tasmania:
Visit your nearest Tip Shop and second hand stores for any household items that you may need before buying new. Consider borrowing or hiring equipment if only needed for a short time.
Visit your nearest Coles or Woolworths supermarket to locate the RedCycle soft plastics recycling bin. It’s free to drop off a wide range of household soft plastics including bread bags, chip packets, biscuit packs and shopping bags. Here are two examples of the soft plastics collection bins to look out for:
Are your bins often full before collection day?
Take a look at what makes up the biggest volume of your bin contents. Is there a different product you could choose with less packaging waste or a different way of getting the same goods (e.g. soda stream instead of single use soft drink bottles or cans)?
See if you can follow the waste hierarchy by changing what you buy and where you shop to avoid packaging. Choose re-usable items instead of single-use items. Before discarding anything, can it be reused, sold or given away? Try and make recycling and landfill the last resort. Find out more about the waste hierarchy here.
Take excess waste to your Waste Transfer Station (note – it is usually free to drop off excess recycling).
Talk to your neighbour to see if they have spare bin space and could help you out by taking your extra waste, until you get sorted.
Talk to your Local Council to identify other forms of assistance, including if you can upgrade your bin size, for a fee (if this service exists in your area and is authorised by your landlord).
Rethink Waste aims to improve our efforts at reducing, reusing and