Disposing of your furniture when you no longer want or need it can be a burden. In the midst of moving house or restyling your home, working out the best way to dispose of your furniture may sink to the bottom of your long list of priorities.
We get it... and we've got you. Here are your options in one swoop.
Recycle it
Recycle it, yes of course, why didn't we think of that?! Oh, that's because the majority of household furniture items, unless they are made of pure metal, untreated pine or pure plastic, aren't recyclable.
Mattresses however are another (complicated) story.
Even though many types of spring, foam and ensemble mattresses can be recycled, according to PlanetArk, mattresses are one of the most common items sent to landfill.
The Australian Bedding Stewardship Council quotes that, in each year in Australia, around 1.8 million mattresses are sent to landfill. Gasp.
Mattress recyclers are located all around Australia. And surprise surprise to our regional and remote friends, most are in metro areas.
To those in the local Brisbane area, if you have access to a truck, ute or trailer or feel comfortable utilising a service like AirTasker, a drop off service is offered by CDS recycling at 913 Lyttton Road, Murrarie QLD between 9-4pm weekdays.
Mattresssrecyclers.com.au also operate within Brisbane and collect your mattress and recycle it if of quality for $60 (within their standard service area).
If you're upgrading your old mattress and are in the market to buy new, consider retailers that will collect and recycle your old mattress. Ecosa, a mattress brand, does exactly that.
According to the Ecosa website, donating or recycling a mattress in, say, Mitchelton, Brisbane, from out the front of your house, is $110 (the fee is slightly higher if assistance is required). In return, Ecosa rewards you with a $80 Ecosa voucher.
A few popular mattress brands, such as Koala and Snooze have partnered with Soft Landing Mattress Recycling, a social enterprise who offer mattress recycling services in Australia. Unfortunately, this enterprise does not yet operate in Queensland.
You may be thinking, does Brisbane City Council recycle mattresses? From our research, no.
Council does, however, recycle white goods (think fridges, freezers, dishwashers, dryers, air cons). These goods can be dropped off at any resource recovery centre for metal recycling. (Pssst! Do ensure you inform weigh bridge staff you have recycling otherwise it may end up in landfill).
Old fridges and freezers must be disposed of correctly so they can be degassed. Degassing is super important as the refrigerant in fridges and freezers is a very harmful greenhouse gas that is released into the atmosphere if left untouched.
White goods contain significant amounts of metal, plastic, insulating material, refrigerant (gases) and other non-renewable and valuable materials. Recycling keeps these materials in use and out of landfills. It also helps prevent toxic substances such as flame-retardants from entering the environment.
After the gases, chemicals or heavy metals are removed, the appliance is crushed or shredded for recycling. Steel, copper and plastics are recovered and reprocessed into new products.
Kerbside collection
For household items that you wouldn't give to a friend i.e. are not in working order and are not of quality, there are a few ways to dispose of them.
Brisbane City Council’s kerbside large item collection service helps residents dispose of a large household items that cannot be donated, sold, recycled or are too big to be disposed of in the household general waste or recycling bin.
The removal service occurs once a year, and the timing depends on where you live. Check your area here.
Junk removal services
Not all of us have access to a truck, ute or trailer. There are many rubbish removal services in Brisbane that can assist here.
Pro Rubbish Removal in Brisbane states that they recycle where possible, and are listed on Planet Ark’s website.
For single items, it may be more cost effective to try AirTasker. Simply post a task requesting pick up (and recycling) of your item with your budget, and a local member of the community with the ability to undertake the task, will bid their offer.
For items that are in working order and of quality (i.e. you would give it to a friend), here's what we suggest.
Donate direct to charity
There are a few ways to pass your unwanted furniture item to a charitable organisation.
There are some charities that accept furniture items, such as Salvation Army, Lifeline and Vinnies, and others that don't, such as Red Cross.
If you have access to a truck, ute or trailer for larger items, drop off locations include Lifeline's Brisbane Warehouse at 491 Bilsen Road in Geebung.
The good news for those of us who have a larger item / a number of items and do not have access to a truck, ute or trailer, Lifeline offers a free (FREE!) pick up service (see here).
If you have a decent stain free mattress and are only disposing because you're upgrading for instance, you may opt to donate it to one of a number of organisations and charities who accept mattresses. According to Sealy, these include:
- Beddown
- GIVIT (Brisbane City Council recommended)
- DonateDirect
- ReLove (Sydney only)
- FreeCycle
Lifeline in Queensland will also pick up good quality mattresses along with your quality furniture items.
Donate to Council's Treasure Trove
One way to dispose of your unwanted furniture is to take it to one of Council’s resource recovery centres (aka the tip or the dump).
Brisbane City Council operates two second hand shops, which they call Treasure Troves, one in the north side and one on the southside (saves crossing the river!)
These shops sells items donated by Brisbane residents via the resource recovery centres.
Council’s Treasure Troves (formerly known as Brisbane tip shops) are operated by the Endeavour Foundation, which is one of Australia’s largest non-government organisations supporting and providing opportunities for people with a disability.
There is no disposal fee (FREE!) for donated items, where you drop off items in a vehicle under 4.5 tonnes combined gross vehicle mass.
If you're in the northside, drop your items off at:
- Ferny Grove Resource Recovery Centre, 101 Upper Kedron Road, Ferny Grove
- Nudgee Resource Recovery Centre, 1372 Nudgee Road, Nudgee Beach
And for our southsiders: drop your items off at:
- Willawong Resource Recovery Centre, 360 Sherbrooke Road, Willawong
- Chandler Resource Recovery Centre, 728 Tilley Road, Chandler
A couple of hot tips if you decide this is the way to go for you:
- Ensure you advise staff at the weighbridge if your load includes items for donation.
- Donations are not accepted directly at the local Treasure Trove.
- Items must be clean and in working condition.
Acceptable donatable items include:
- artwork, antiques and sculptures
- books
- clothing - quality textiles and wearable resalable clothing
- compact discs (CDs), digital video discs (DVDs) and records
- furniture and other household items in good working order
- kitchen utensils
- luggage
- musical instruments
- shoes and bags
- sporting equipment, including bikes and exercise equipment
- toys suitable for ages 3 and up in good condition
Electronic or electrical items cannot be accepted.
Upcyclers
Maybe you've taken a second look at your unwanted furniture and you have decided that, with some lovin', it might actually be the perfect piece.
If you want to try your hand at upcycling, of course there are many tutorial style videos on YouTube you could sink your teeth into. Bunnings also has a few vids on their website, check an example here.
But, if you'd like some extra attention and some person to person interaction, Sharon from irestorestuff.com offers one on one sessions.
There are a few upcyclers advertising their wares on Facebook Marketplace, so another option may be to slide into their DM's and ask if they could upcycle your furniture for you.
IKEA second hand
All IKEA stores in Australia now offer a furniture buy-back and resell service.
Follow the steps in their online tool to obtain an estimate of your furniture’s buy back value.
Then, bring the furniture, together with your estimate, to your preferred store. Once a final agreed value is decided in person, this will be granted as a refund card. The preloved furniture will then be resold to a new home.
Facebook Marketplace / Gumtree / eBay
And of course you could sell your item on Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree and eBay.
Of the three, Facebook Marketplace seems to be the more popular platform but regardless, these are great places to sell your unwanted furniture. If you're in a hurry, price to sell and ensure you have great pictures and a detailed description to avoid unnecessary messages.
*Information sourced via Brisbane City Council website and recyclingnearyou.com.au (Planet Ark) in November 2023
At Lilo Living, we have sourced quality second hand furniture from reputable brands for you to grab at up to 90% off retail prices. Because we only carry items from top-rated brands, you can be confident that you’re getting quality furniture that will last. Inspired by trend and driven by quality, it's the confidence you need to transform your house into a home in a more sustainable way.
