Repair, reuse, recycle

Repair Cafes

In partnership with Repair It Lake Mac, Council supports regular Repair Cafe events. These events help to divert waste from landfill, one item at a time.

At a Repair Cafe, residents bring in broken items that are 'too good to waste' for repair. Services are free to all and are powered entirely by volunteers.

Items such as clothes, hand tools, toys, small electrical items including mobile phones and small furniture can be brought to Repair Cafes and fixed, free of charge.  

Men's Sheds

Lake Macquarie is home to a number of Men's Sheds which all provide repair services by skilled members to the Lake Mac Community.

Repair services can include projects on metal work and welding, furniture restoration, leather work, woodwork and wood turning, lawnmower and line trimmer repairs. Men's Sheds also craft new items made from upcycled materials, such as native beehive hotels, picnic tables and raised garden beds.

Check in with your local Men's Shed to learn more:

Belmont

Cardiff Edgeworth

Redhead

Swansea

Toronto

Wangi

Windale

Upcycle Newcastle

Upcycle Newcastle is a community group focusing on saving waste from landfill through creative reuse and repair. Rather than seeing waste as an end product to be disposed of, they prefer to see it as a new beginning. 

Upcycle Newcastle sell products made from t-shirts, jeans and other donated clothing and textiles. This prevents them from going to landfill or being shipped overseas to countries being inundated with clothing waste.

Upcycle Newcastle also offer workshops and classes on learning the sewing skills to start repairing and altering your own clothes and textiles. 

Boomerang Bags

Boomerang Bags is a global, grassroots movement connecting and empowering local communities to tackle plastic pollution at its source.

Join a local group or donate spare fabric to help create bags from donated fabrics and prevent textiles going to landfill. 

Toronto group - Sew Sustainable, Lake Mac Libraries

Cardiff group - Boomerang Bags Lake Macquarie

Belmont group - Sew Sustainable, Lake Mac Libraries

Sell or gift online

Many people are familiar with online sales forums, such as Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace. But did you know that there are local networks that are focused on gifting and sharing items? 

Buy Nothing North Lake Macquarie Facebook group

Buy Nothing East Lake Macquarie, NSW Facebook group

If you are new to selling or gifting online, our how-to checklist is a great resource.

Donate

You can gift items to friends, family, charities, social enterprises or reuse centres.

Council is pleased to be involved in a regional collaboration being led by the Hunter Joint Organisation of Councils, to develop a dashboard of reuse, repair and donation locations.

Did you know that Council can help promote your garage sale?

Get three or more houses in your street to hold a garage sale on the same day, and we'll help get the word out and provide resources to plan your event.

Find out more about hosting a Super Street Sale with your neighbours. 

Embrace the sharing economy and reduce the need to buy so many new items. 

Food: Lake Mac Crop Swap

The monthly Crop Swap events are all about reducing food waste, building community and eating locally-grown produce for less. By participating, you can share your homegrown produce while also picking up delicious fruit and vegetables for yourself. Participating in Crop Swap is simple: bring whatever you have to share, place it on the communal tables, and then take what you would like from what others have brought.

Crop Swap welcomes homegrown or homemade produce such as fruit, vegetables, herbs, seeds, seedlings, honey, eggs, as well as other garden-related items like worm tea or shell grit.

Household items and tools: Share Shop

The Share Shop: Library of Things enables members to borrow things instead of buying them. Become a member and get access to a catalogue of items. Things to borrow include items that most people don’t use often, including a range of tools, camping equipment, kitchen and dining items and party supplies. The Share Shop helps its members to save space and spend less.

Borrowing instead of buying also offers the opportunity to undertake a project or test a new hobby or skill before investing in equipment.

Fashion: One Thread Road

One Thread Road is a platform for localised peer to peer wardrobe lending and renting. Clothes sharing creates a more sustainable way to get dressed, by circulating what we already own.

Vehicles: Uber Carshare

This carshare service offers different ways to move, with peer-to-peer car-sharing offering a comprehensive range of mobility options.

From classic rideshare to public transport and micro-mobility options like scooters, Uber Carshare (formerly Car Next Door) offers easy access to cars nearby when you want to drive yourself, without the obligations of owning a vehicle.

What is the lifecycle of what you buy?

Increasingly, customers and businesses are concerned with the downstream impact of their product purchases. More and more producers and retailers are committing to better manage the environmental and social impacts of their products through their entire life cycle.

By buying from sustainable and local sources you can make a difference and encourage on businesses to adopt sustainable practices.

Product Stewardship Gateway is a detailed directory of existing and emerging product stewardship initiatives, supported by the Australian Government. Visit the Gateway to learn about the environmental, social, and economic outcomes of your favourite products, materials or organisations. 

What's circular economy?

The circular economy is a system where materials never become waste and nature is regenerated. In a circular economy, products and materials are kept in circulation through processes like maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, recycling, and composting. The circular economy tackles climate change and other global challenges, like biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution, by decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources.

Council is advancing circular economy with several initiatives.

Grounds to Garden - upcycling coffee grounds

Council is supporting gardeners and cafes with its upcycling coffee grounds program. Businesses looking to join the program can register now.

Regional collaboration

The Hunter Joint Organisation is a collaborative body that brings together the ten councils in the region to provide a united voice for communities in the Hunter. Circular Economy is a key regional focus for the Hunter JO, with a number of Circular Economy projects identified in strategic documents. 

How can businesses transition?

Businesses can transition to a circular economy by designing products for longevity, repairability, and recyclability. 

Go Circular is a Newcastle-based advisory group dedicated to supporting organisations increase economic productivity and reduce environmental impact.