This Saturday 19 November, Ballina shire joins the rest of the NSW North Coast community for the biggest garage sale day of the year - Second Hand Saturday!
From boats to brush-cutters, camping gear and pre-loved children's treasures, there is something for everyone with more than 400 garage sales registered across the North Coast region over the next two weekends.
Second Hand Saturday supports re-use over landfill and encourages the community to be proud of contributing positively towards the war on waste. Hosted in partnership with North East Waste, the free annual community event has continued to gather momentum over the years. It also encourages participation from people who've never held a garage sale before, with approximately 10% of participants each year being newcomers to the garage sale experience.
"This engages new sectors of the community in an activity which boosts the transition towards a circular economy and encourages reuse of pre-loved items over buying new," explained Samala Heart, Ballina Shire Council's Waste Education Officer.
If you're looking for something unique – like a pinball machine, or something practical like a bicycle or kayak, the next two Saturdays of garage sales are full of treasures, and handy for those shopping for sustainable Christmas presents.
Linda Tohver from North East Waste said, "Collectively, we can make such a big difference over a day of choosing to reuse. Since 2016, Second Hand Saturday has helped to exchange over 6,000 wheelie bins of items, around half of which would have been destined for landfill."
To see what sales are on and plan your shopping list:
- Visit the Second Hand Saturday website secondhandsaturday.com.au from Monday 23 September or
- Download the free Second Hand Saturday app from the Apple App Store or Google Play. Here you'll find a full garage sale list, interactive maps and route calculation and options to bookmark your favourite sales.
- Hardcopy sheets of local listings will be available from Council's customer service centre at 40 Cherry Street from Thursday 17 November.
Alternatively, check the Second Hand Saturday Facebook page @mysecondhandsaturday to stay in the loop with what's happening this Second Hand Saturday.
