Glenorchy Recovery Tip Shop
‘We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious…’
And so says the Gollam in us all, at some time or another.
Bright and shiny stuff is the opiate of the masses.
Finding a replacement or even for a fix-it job, it’s often second nature
to just go buy something new.
In landfill across this great land, there’s already plenty of stuff
that’s looking for a loving home.
There were a few forerunners, small operations in Cygnet, Deloraine were around when Glenorchy opened their doors. Yorkies Knob in Cairns, Revolve in Canberra and Reverse Garage in Sydney, have all been around awhile too.
Glenorchy’s Recovery Tip Shop is the longest trading Tip Shop of its size, complexity and scale in Australia. After two years of planning, they opened in 1993 and have grown over the years to average around 500 customers each weekend and some are those are second generation shoppers.
Legend has it that the term Tip Shop was born in Tassie.
A dedicated crew of green hearts trawl the tip face each day for spurned
past loves, give them a polish, and sometimes an electrical overhaul, and file
them in one of the twenty or so departments that make up the shop.
This Girl has always enjoyed a little poke around a tip shop and
Glenorchy is my local.
A box full of preserving jars for 20 cents each, was my best score ever.
A concerned friend asked me whether I thought they were safe to use. Well I
sterilized them obviously, and I avoided those that contained turps residue.
In search of a cheap single bed for Christmas visitors, I scored an old
day bed for 10 bucks. I sanded and varnished it, threw an old mattress on it
and voila! I didn’t have to spend a lot of money, I got the bed I was after and
I had a part to play in its creation.
Books, Tupperware, furniture, building materials, light fittings are
some of the things that have found a new home at my house over the years.
Lowering the impact on the earth and saving money too.
Next time you need something, maybe you’ll find it at your local resource
shop. Give it a try. It’s addictive.
You can find Recovery Tip Shop on Jackson Street, at the entrance to
Glenorchy City Council’s landfill facility on the right hand side on your
approach to the tip. They’re open seven days, all year except Christmas Day and
Good Friday, 9 am to 4 pm, 9.30 am on Sundays.
Find out more about Glenorchy here and like them on Facebook here.
In greater Hobart, we have several shops with scavenging rights to the municipal garbage tip. There’s also a resource shop at South Hobart,
Mornington, and Margate.
