To limit the amount of reusable goods headed to landfill, Melton City Council in Victoria has completed a major upgrade of a busy recycling resale centre.
Residents can now pick up pre-loved goods both big and small following a major expansion of its Resale Centre at the Melton Recycling Facility in Melton South.
Melton City Council has given the Resale Centre a $500,000 facelift to cope with increasing demand from its growing population.
Before the renovation, floor space was running out and 9000 pre-loved items that would otherwise have ended up as landfill were being resold back into the community
each month.
The upgrade was made possible with $200,000 from the State Government’s Metropolitan Local Government Waste and Resource Recovery Fund, which Council matched and added another $100,000 to for an upgrade of the car park.
The Resale Centre includes an improved undercover zone for free drop-off of materials and goods, more outdoor space for timber, metal and plumbing supplies and increased indoor display and sales space. A new staff workbench has been installed to restore items and is already being used to repair bicycles for resale. The Centre’s bigger indoor area means that bulky furniture such as sofas can now be accommodated.
Partnerships are currently being negotiated with the local Men’s Shed to use reclaimed materials that come through the Centre to create sustainable infrastructure and with the Brotherhood of St Lawrence to give locals experiencing employment difficulties opportunities to gain skills and enter the workforce.
Melton City Council is committed to limiting the volume of resources added to landfill as part of its overall recycling and waste management approach and to making reusable goods and materials more available to the community.
To spread the word about the upgraded Resale Centre, Council will run a family day in June with activities for children, lucky dips, workshops and a sausage sizzle.
