Sunshine Coast gears up for Garage Sale Trail

Australia’s largest and most successful real world community-based marketplace – the Garage Sale Trail - is coming to the Sunshine Coast on Saturday 5 May. If you haven’t registered, there’s still time!

Sunshine Coast Council Waste Innovation Engineer Graeme Emmerson said 78 garage sales had so far been registered locally.

"If you’re keen be a part of the Garage Sale Trail you can register right up until Friday of this week," he said.

"If ridding your house of junk, helping the environment and earning some extra dollars sounds appealing, then the Garage Sale Trail is for you.

"Even if you don’t wish to host your own garage sale you can get involved in Saturday’s event by getting out and about and turning someone else’s trash into your treasure.

"By participating you’ll be helping to reduce the amount of waste that ends up at the tip and in landfill, which is vitally important for the future health of our environment and our vision to be Australia’s most sustainable region – vibrant green and diverse."

Around 3000 garage sales are expected to be registered nationally by Saturday and shoppers will be able to browse items on sale around Australia via the world wide web. For more details on how to shop online or to register your garage sale visit www.garagesaletrail.com.au or www.facebook.com/GarageSaleTrail

Quick facts about the 2011 Garage Sale Trail:

• Encompassed 1,613 registered garage sales
• Involved 3,450 participating households
• 77,000 shoppers
• 72,586 items redistributed / saved from landfill
• An average of $331 pocket money made per participant
• Participants reported making an average of six new neighbourly connections.