Question 1

Are Rekindle Me's services really free?

Accepted Answer

Rekindle Me recycling services are 100% free. Whether you are dropping off to me or are a business that has enough for me to come and pick it up.

Question 2

What does Rekindle Me do with items?

Accepted Answer

I give old electronics that were destined for landfill a second chance to be rekindled. Any usable/working items are passed on to new homes if possible and any vintage electronics are passed onto collectors/enthusiasts. If an item is unusable/broken it is taken apart and broken down into its raw components like metals, circuit boards, glass, textiles etc. These are sent off to then be recycled properly. An example of this, is the circuit boards I break down are then sent to precious metal recovery for metals like gold, silver, platinum etc.

Rekindle Me has had a short documentary done by Business Insider on how I recycle everyone's electrical waste that is dropped off to me and the bigger impacts of e-waste around the word here!(www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGlC0KZr8rY)

Question 3

What Rekindle Me does and does not accept

Accepted Answer

Rekindle Me only accepts small to medium sized electrical items that are able to be moved by one person. This incudes items like:
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TVs, monitors, any electrical cable, microwaves, electric motors, computers, servers, power tools, vacuums, phones, DVD and CD players, blenders, printers, game consoles, POS systems, air fryers, tablets, small instantaneous hot water systems, fans, mixers, coffee machines, kettles, medical equipment, irons, telecommunication equipment, induction cooktops, calculators, radios, steam mops, sewing machines and much more!
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We also accept:

Vintage Electronics and Accessories: Any small to medium sized electronics we receive we try to pass onto enthusiasts.

Video games and Vintage Software: Any games whether they be for modern consoles, PC or older retro systems. Also any vintage software like operating systems like Windows 98 and old programs for them.
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Blank Media: Any blank and brand new CDs, cassette tapes, VHSs tapes, floppy disks, photo film etc

Air Conditioners: These have to contain no refrigerant and be degaussed professionally for Rekindle Me to take them.

Batteries: Any lead acid batteries or batteries that come with items being dropped off. Like power tool, camera, laptop batteries. We don’t accept miscellaneous house hold batteries like AAA, AA, button batteries etc
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Non-Ferrous Metals: Any small non-ferrous metals (non-magnetic) that will fit in our van and can be moved by one person.

Examples of metals and items that contain these metals:

Aluminium: Pots and pans, car rims (no tyres), foil,  fly screens etc.

Copper: Pipes, radiators, electrical wire, small instantaneous hot water units, electric motors etc.

Brass: Tap fittings, radiators, keys, padlocks etc.

Non/very low magnetic stainless steel: Sinks, tap fittings, tool boxes, bowls etc.

We don’t accept any magnetic metals/steel!

What is not accepted:
I am unable to take carrying boxes ( plastic tubs, suitcases etc) items are in. Cardboard boxes are fine.

Large white goods such as fridges, washing machines, dryers, ovens etc. Small ones like microwaves, bench top stoves/induction cook tops are accepted. The exception to this is air conditioners. But they still have to be degaussed professionally with no refrigerant for Rekindle Me to take them.
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Large items such as, treadmills, organs/pianos, exercise bikes, white goods, hot water tanks, petrol lawn equipment etc.

Scrap steel. Though we do accept non-ferrous metals (non-magnetic metals). We recycle all the steel off items we pull apart it's just I don't have the space for large volumes of just scrap steel being dropped off as it is low value.
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 Large timber hifi speaker, tall up standing home sound system and large PA speakers. Small sized speakers are fine. This is only due to there being very little in large speakers. They are mostly made of just timber and plastic with only a small metal speaker inside. Not accepting these larger speakers gives me more time to work on items that really need to be recycled.
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Electric recliners, beds and other furniture. But we can take the control boards, wires and electric motors out of them.

Items containing refrigerant.
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Large solar panels. Small ones that come with small devices are fine
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Smoke detectors. These contain radioactive materials and can be taken to the council recycling centres.

Gas bottles/fire extinguishers.
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CDs, DVDs, VHS, Cassettes etc. Unless the are blank and brand new or are video games/vintage software
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Items that have been in contact with hazardous materials/substances
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Miscellaneous batteries​. Such as AA, AAA button batteries etc. We will take any lead acid batteries and batteries that come with items you have dropped off such as power tool, camera, laptop batteries.

Question 4

Is data destroyed on devices you receive?

Accepted Answer

Rekindle Me takes data security seriously. Our premises are under 24/7 video surveillance where items are stored. Clients can choose from the following data destruction options:

1. Having devices wiped and given new homes saving the most from landfill. All hard drives in devices are wiped to a Department of Defence (DoD) standard of erase procedure by our trusted partner we work extremely close with. Here is the erase procedure:

Stage One: Media Testing
Hardware is visually inspected then extended S.M.A.R.T. tested to ensure that there are no hardware defects. If any errors are detected, media is physically damaged or pre-failure alerts detected the hardware is physically destroyed.

Stage Two: Secure Erase:
A three stage erase procedure is performed on the entire media involving two steps of filling the media with 0 and 1 data bits, followed by a final stage where random data is programmed on the entire media.

Stage Three: Verification
The entire media is again surface tested and read to ensure that the media has been sanitised and no residual data is left and that the media passes all media
tests.

For tablets and phones, they are fully factory reset. To ensure this can be achieved you will have to sign out of iCloud and other services. As if not, they will only be use for parts. Sim cards are also removed and are destroyed for precious metal recovery.

2. If the device is faulty, not suitable for resale or ordered to be destroyed it will be taken apart and have its components and materials recycled. The data will be destroyed in this process as well.
Data on the hard drives/storage destroyed in the devices. This is done by first taking them out of the device. Then the circuit board on the drive is taken off for precious metal recovery. As a part of this process the Mint Innovation (facility processing the circuit boards in Sydney) will shred them to a Defence Force standard ready to be processed in Australia for the precious metals contained in the circuit boards.

Then the hard drive itself gets several large holes drilled into it via our industrial drill press. This renders the drive unusable and destroys data on a physical level. SSD drives will be shredded lithe the other circuit boards. The drives are then taken to metal recycling where they are crushed and refined.
Devices that contain personal information such as phones, tablets, modems, switches, GPS, servers, trackers etc along with our other circuit boards are taken apart and the circuit boards are removed. As a part of this process the Mint Innovation (facility processing the circuit boards in Sydney) will shred them to a Defence Force standard ready to be processed in Australia for the precious metals contained in the circuit boards.

If you want your device to be destroyed regardless if it is working or not it must be made clear while booking that you want this done. As after items are collected, they are sorted and it will be too late by then.

For businesses, schools and organisations there is legal paper work for you to sign and decide which of the two options of reuse or recycling you want to select. The paper work was written up by Access Law Group (www.alg.com.au)of which I highly recommend!

Question 5

Do you fix items?

Accepted Answer

Rekindle Me unfortunately does not fix/repair items.

Question 6

Do you recover data?

Accepted Answer

At the moment I don’t. I only destroy the data on devices.

Question 7

Do you sell items direct to the public at your warehouse?

Accepted Answer

At this stage I do not resell direct to the public. All items are distributed though our trusted partners.

Question 8

Do you do residential  collections?

Accepted Answer

At the moment I don’t go to residential addresses. As although I used to, 1 person can only spread themselves so far. So that is why I have started the community collections to help with that. You can also drop it in directly to me at my Port Kembla warehouse via appointment. I will go to a business, schools etc if they have enough to fill my van.

Frequently Asked Questions