The Bower is the 2009 WINNER of Marrickville Councils Leadership in Sustainability Award
Aim
To operate a re-use center which collects, resells and sometimes repairs goods diverted from the
municipal waste stream and educate the community about waste reduction.
Objectives
To reduce the amount of hard waste going to landfill
To raise awareness of the value of waste reduction
To provide affordable goods to low-income earners and other disadvantaged groups within the
community
To generate employment opportunities and skills training in the community
To encourage community awareness of environmentally responsible design and manufacture
To advocate for long-life design, repairable products and the use of sustainable, recyclable
materials for appliances and furnishings
To provide benefits to the community via these objectives
To involve the community in the development and achievement of these objectives
What we do
collect re-usable items from the streets by visiting council cleanup areas, or people can book us to
collect direct from their home. This differs from a lot of other re-use centres that operate as "tip
shops" and scavenge the local dump, but it's really only an adaptation to inner city life where few
people take a load to the dump.
sell through our re-use centre.
make minor repairs to furniture, if possible.
test electrical appliances for safety.
sell things made from re-used items. These are usually craft or art type pieces, but also unique
We have an Eco-Library which houses a diverse collection of over 500 books and magazines and other
media for all ages, focusing on conservation, the environment, recycling, sustainability, self-
sufficiency, do-it-yourself crafts, gardening and renovating. All of the building materials used for the
library were either recovered or reused.
offer a Referral Service if we are unable to accept donations for various reasons. The Referral
Service is supported by 11 councils (Ashfield, Canterbury, Canada Bay, Sydney, Hurstville, Leichhardt,
Marrickville, Randwick, Rockdale, Ryde Waverely, Woollahra) and refers to over 1000 organisations
including charities, secondhand shops, community and recycling services.
present educational EcoSnapShots (student-actioned audits) for primary and secondary schools on
the benefits of re-use.
operating our centre with sustainable options, such as strawbale insulated walls with salvaged
doors, windows and trusses; rainwater collection tanks and reused computers, printers, faxes,
phones, shelving, fittings, etc.