Wouldn’t it be handy if you could quickly find out how best to dispose of household items that you might be unsure about? Well look no further, now you can!
Sustain Me – Recycling App
A couple of clever local entrepreneurs have worked hard to develop a recycling app called ‘Sustain Me’ that Melbourne users can search by item to find out if it can be recycled or not. The app was released on 29th July and is available to download either on Google Play (android devices) or the App Store (for Apple devices).
I have downloaded it both on my iPhone and iPad and overall think it is a great recycling app and very user friendly. It works first by asking you to fill in your address and choose your council (my council being Glen Eira). You then have to choose to either search by typing in an item name or you can select to see all items. Because there can be variations as to what is acceptable in the recycling bins across councils this is an important selection to make.
For each item it tells you which bin you should dispose of your waste into. Here are a few screen shots:
It was good to see that they have also gone the extra mile and added in additional information to assist the user on less straight forward items such as paint tins. Here a link to the detox your home website has been added to advise users that tins with paint still in them are best disposed of through this scheme.
Similarly items such as batteries or mobile phones lets the user know they can drop off at their local transfer station with a link to the website. This link was important to have however I felt additional information for alternative disposal of these items could be added – such as the battery recycling schemes available at Aldi supermarkets or Office Works and the Mobile Muster programme for phones.
I did notice some bugs in the system with a few duplicate items and some links not working correctly, overall links to outside websites seems to work better on the iPad than iPhone but being a brand new app I’m sure over time these things will be ironed out. The item list is quite extensive and will grow over time, at the moment Sustain Me is working with Terracycle and will soon incorporate cigarette butts and dental hygiene products to the app.
Council & Me page
Sustain Me relies on the support of the councils in order to provide comprehensive and accurate lists. Councils such as Moonee Valley, Mornington and Moreland have all come onboard and consequently have the largest lists. As time progresses, the ‘Council & Me’ page will be filled with sustainability and recycling events and information.
At this stage users are encouraged to send an email to ones yet to join Sustain Me via the “support us” button, which asks them to get on board and verify the larger list and display their services through the app. I submitted my email to the Glen Eira Council via this page, and it was a quick, easy process. If your council is not yet on board it would be great to do this also.
On the whole I was very impressed by the recycling app and know it will come in very handy in many households as a quick and easy reference guide to recycling. I’d highly recommend downloading it onto your smart device today!
For further information on the background of Sustain Me go to http://www.sustainme.com.au/