Melbourne households have embraced recycling but not so much is known about how we tackle the arguably more important area of reuse. What do we do with items we no longer need or cannot store? Scouring hard-rubbish bins has become a suburban ritual in those areas that still have regular collections; Lane says many respondents did not realise that if their contribution was not taken by neighbours it would end up in landfill. She believes there is a latent community willingness to dispose of items more responsibly but that many do not know how to do this.

The survey asked: how did you dispose of used household goods in the past two years? Ninety-five per cent reported reusing materials such as plastic bags in the home; 82% used hard-rubbish collections; 74% gave items to friends and relatives; 73% gave to op shops; 57% used charity bins; 46% used door-knock appeals. The remainder took items to the tip, hired skips or used the internet site Freecycle which encourages people to give goods away as a means of helping others and building community (the Melbourne Freecycle website is the second most active outside North America where the concept began; only the London site is bigger).

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