Yan Yean Rd: Popular Plenty recycling shop to reopen

Community members in Plenty were ‘devastated’ when a beloved recycling service shut last year. But the council revealed it could only be a matter of time before the popular site is reopened.

Diana Dwyer, Maxine Holmes, Ethan Holmes, Robert Cox, Liz Ash and Ian Dwyer outside the former reuse shop. Picture: Ellen Smith

A reuse shop in Plenty which sparred used items going to landfill will reopen after nearby roadworks forced the popular community service to shut last year.

The Recycling and Recovery Centre closed in August after Major Roads Projects Victoria (MRPV) required the land for the duplication of Yan Yean Rd.

But Nillumbik Council mayor Karen Egan said the council was working with MRPV and the Green Wedge Christian Community to reopen the site at 290 Yan Yean Rd “later this year”.

Green Wedge Christian Community managed the shop before it closed and pastor Peter Ness said members of the public continued to ask him every week when it would reopen.

“It just goes to show how popular it was,” he said.

The shop was open four days a week and would sell used items ranging from furniture and building materials to car parts, clothes, computers and even mobile phones.

Greensborough resident Ian Dwyer used the service for 15 years and said he was devastated when it was forced to shut.

MORE:

Nillumbik Council euthanising injured kangaroos at ‘scary’ rate

Leader Local Grants: Wahroonga Preschool needs cash to buy pole pads

Drivers demand permanent fix to notorious pothole on Yan Yean Rd

“It was used by so many people — every time I went there for all those years there would be huge crowds dropping items off, rummaging around and buying things,” he said.

“It was a real asset to the community, so it would be great if it were to reopen later this year.”

Greensborough’s Maxine Holmes said the reopening of the reuse shop would relieve op shops across Nillumbik.

“They’re just too small and don’t have the capacity to store a lot of the items which would normally go to the reuse shop,” she said.

“The other great thing about the reuse shop was that it would accept a lot of items which were slightly damaged — it saved so much stuff from going to landfill, so without it leaves a gap in the sustainability chain.”

The $131.2 million duplication of Yan Yean Rd is set to be completed by mid-2019.

[e-mail]