Collecting hard-to-recycle items from your doorstep

The carbon-neutral company provides a monthly service or on-demand pickups

Spotted: The Circle Economy Foundation’s 2024 report revealed a concerning gap between global aspirations to be more circular and actual consumption. While discussions about circularity tripled in the past five years, the share of circular materials consumed by the global economy decreased by 21 per cent between 2018 and 2023.  

In Australia, RecycleSmart is working to reverse that trend by making it easy for citizens to recycle almost everything. The company connects unwanted items with recyclers, making sure that waste streams end up in the correct facility. Households can book one-off collections, or a recurring monthly service, called Power Pickups.

The one-off pickups are on-demand and cost AU$15 (around €10.39) for two shopping bags full of what are typically hard-to-recycle items such as flexible plastics, textiles, e-waste, polystyrene, and more. The monthly service costs slightly less per pickup and can be stopped or paused at any time.   

People can also book occasional pickups for large items such as bulky cardboard and electronic devices and RecycleSmart provides full lists online of what the company does and doesn’t collect for recycling. There is also a business version of the Power Pickups for companies wanting to reduce their volume of waste. All pickups are done from the home or business, with consumers simply placing their bags full of recycling outside the door.  

Textiles that are usable are donated to local charities, while everything else is recycled. RecycleSmart currently operates across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and more, with all locations listed online. The company is itself carbon neutral and works with TRACE to offset emissions through certified tree planting programmes.  

Written By: Keely Khoury