How this environment group is helping struggling parents buy toys

Dubbo Environment Group's Margaret McDonald spends weeks every year scouring the kerbs during council cleanups in Dubbo and Wellington and "saving" items - mostly children's toys and furniture - destined for landfill.

She gives the items a clean and a polish, and sells them on Facebook Marketplace at affordable prices, giving them a new lease of life and making families around Dubbo very happy.

Ms McDonald said she couldn't sit back and watch good items going to landfill - particularly those made of foam which takes years to decompose.

She said many people throw out items that other families could use, like children's toys and furniture, prams and strollers, and nursery items.

She said it didn't have to be this way, though, and Dubbo Regional Council should rise to the occasion and do something more meaningful with the kerbside waste it collects.

"We hate the fact that there was so much waste in the pickup and there was no effort made at all to recycle them - they were simply being collected and thrown into the tip," Ms McDonald told the Daily Liberal.

At any one time, Ms McDonald might have 12 items stored in her garage ready to put onto online marketplaces. She sells them in her own time and rotates items around if they're not selling.

She said families doing it tough with the cost of living were thankful they could obtain items for their children at a very reasonable price.

"They're always appreciative to get them at a low cost. A lot of people on Facebook I have delivered items to, for people who couldn't come and collect them, and I have listed things and given them away for free as well," she said.

The money they make goes back into Dubbo Environment Group for their other initiatives.

The group is lobbying council to set-up a tip shop where items like this can be on-sold.

"We have spoken to council about the need for a recycling facility. For example we know that in Marrickville [in Sydney] they have a depot open every weekend for recycled goods, and they collect items from people themselves," Ms McDonald said.

"They go to their home and collect their items which would save a lot of good furniture, big, bulky furniture going into landfill."