How Knocknock Turns the Tide

Here are the blunt numbers: 4 million tonnes of household goods with resale or reuse value are land-filled around Australia every year. That’s roughly 150 kg per person or the weight of two fully-grown kangaroos, per Aussie, every single year. Households generate 12.4 million tonnes of waste annually and make up 16% of the national waste stream. Council “bulky-waste” audits across various suburbs show that the equivalent of 58% of kerb-side hard-waste piles (furniture, appliances, tools, toys) could be recycled or reused instead of dumped. Meanwhile, Australian charities report A$4.5 billion worth of brand-new unsold goods discarded each year, from homewares to hygiene products.

Let’s delve deeper into the broader impact here. Every tonne of reusable timber furniture or metal appliance sent to landfill squanders the embodied energy and water that went into making it, then creates methane and other gases as it breaks down. And what about the household wallet burn? According to Gumtree’s Circular Economy Report who estimate that the gear sitting idle in Aussie homes is worth A$6,964 per household (equivalent to AUD$62 billion nationally). Cash literally gathering dust. Then there is the Lost community value. Once that kayak or cordless nail-gun is buried, nobody else can borrow it, earn from it, or learn with it. There is a better way for us all to behave inside the circular economy. Researchers in collaborative-consumption (Botsman & Rogers 2010; Belk 2014) argue that swapping ownership for access slashes material without cramping lifestyles.

This is where Knocknock puts that theory in your pocket:

Knocknock Feature
 
Landfill-Busting Impact
 
Peer-to-peer borrowing
 
Extends product life cycles: defers new purchases
 
Digital transactions
 
Builds trust so owners feel safe sharing pricier items
 
Usage and Emissions tracker (coming soon)
 
Shows borrowers the CO₂ they didn’t generate by renting instead of buying
 
Community Request Board
 
Matches “I need this” posts with neighbours’ under-used gear before anyone hits the shops

 

From theory to kerb-side reality. Imagine if the 58% of reusable bulky waste were intercepted before they landed in landfill: Diverting that share would free up 2.3 million tonnes of landfill space each year. At current disposal fees (AUD$120 tonnes in Queensland), councils and rate-payers could save the equivalent of AUD$280 million annually. The embodied-carbon cuts are equivalent to taking 900 000 passenger cars off the road for a year (using conservative life-cycle factors).

We all need to do out part. So here is what you can do this weekend:

  • List one idle item on Knocknock (it takes under 1 minute).
  • Borrow, don’t buy for your next DIY, camping trip, or kids’ birthday bash.
  • Tag @knocknock.au with your #ReuseWin.

Tiny actions, compounded across 27 million neighbours, turn 150 kg of personal landfill into a circular win-win: lighter bins, heavier wallets, and an Australia that paddles, drills, and parties without drowning in waste.

References:

National Waste Report 2020
Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Australian Government
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/protection/waste/publications/national-waste-report-2020

Gumtree Second Hand Economy / Circular Economy Reports
2020 & earlier editions
https://www.gumtree.com.au/blog/circular-economy-report

Charitable Reuse Australia
Formerly NACRO (National Association of Charitable Recycling Organisations)
https://www.charitablereuseaustralia.org.au

Hard Waste Kerbside Audits
Example: Sustainability Victoria – “Hard Waste Services Review”
https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au

Australian landfill disposal fees
Queensland Government estimate:
https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/pollution/management/waste/recovery/disposal-levy

Carbon equivalency of car emissions
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator
https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator

Botsman, R. & Rogers, R. (2010). What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption. HarperBusiness.
Belk, R. (2014). You are what you can access: Sharing and collaborative consumption online. Journal of Business Research, 67(8), 1595–1600