You’ve finished the move. The house is unpacked and there’s a wall of flattened cardboard in the garage where the car should be.
Almost everyone gets stuck at this point, and it’s for a simple reason: a fortnightly recycling bin can’t absorb a house move. Thirty flattened tea chests will fill a 240-litre bin several times over, and the next collection is two weeks away.
Here are your four options, honestly, including the ones that don’t involve me.
Option 1 — The yellow-lid recycling bin
Fine for a handful of boxes. Clean cardboard is accepted, and it needs to go in loose, not bagged.
The catch is capacity. Gold Coast recycling bins are collected once a fortnight, on the same day as your general waste. If you’ve just moved a two or three bedroom house, you’ll be feeding boxes into that bin a few at a time until Christmas.
Good for: under about ten boxes, and you’re not in a hurry.
Option 2 — Give them away
Someone within a few kilometres of you is moving next week and is about to pay for boxes. Free listings on Facebook Marketplace, local buy-nothing groups and community pages clear a garage fast, usually within a day or two.
You’ll need to be home for the pickup, and you’ll get messages from people who never turn up — that’s the trade-off for it costing nothing and taking no fuel.
Worth knowing: the Gold Coast does not run a bulky kerbside collection service, so don’t leave boxes on the verge waiting for one.
Good for: people with time and patience who’d rather the boxes got used again than earn from them.
Option 3 — The tip
You can load it in the car and drive it to a waste and recycling centre. Since 1 July 2026 there’s a $5 gate fee on the Gold Coast — but it only applies to landfill, construction and demolition waste. Clean cardboard is recycling, so as a separate load it’s still free.
Two things to watch. If there’s any household rubbish, soft plastic or bubble wrap in the same load, the whole trip costs $5. And you’re still spending an hour of your Saturday and a tank of fuel to get rid of something that has value in it.
Gold Coast tip fees, opening hours and what’s free
Good for: boxes that are wet, mouldy or wrecked — the ones nobody can reuse.
Option 4 — Sell your used boxes to me, $1 a tea chest
If the boxes are dry and still in one piece, don’t recycle them and don’t tip them.
For 20 or more I’ll come to you and take the lot away, free. You don’t load a car, drive anywhere or queue at the tip — the garage is clear in ten minutes and I do the lifting. For most people that’s the whole point; the money is a bonus on top.
And there is money: $1 per tea chest, cash or PayID, on the spot.
The $1 is specifically for 105L tea chest boxes — the big square ones. That’s the size I resell most of, so it’s the one I can pay a flat rate on. I’ll usually take medium size book/wine boxes, portarobes and other moving boxes as well, but the price on those depends on condition and how many you have, so give me a call and we’ll agree it before you drive over.
Thirty tea chests is $30 back in your pocket, and the cardboard gets used again instead of pulped.
How the buyback works
- Finish your move. Unpack in your own time, there’s no deadline.
- Flatten the boxes. Fold them flat and stack them. Don’t slice the tape off with a knife — that’s how boxes get cut and become worthless.
- Call or text me on 0434 827 956 with roughly how many you have and your suburb.
- Drop them off, or I’ll collect. For 20 or more I’ll come to you, anywhere on the Gold Coast, free. Smaller lots come to me at Parkwood — I’m central, right by the Gold Coast University Hospital, so most people are driving past on the way into town anyway. Ring first so I know you’re coming.
- Get paid on the spot — cash or PayID, your choice.
What I’ll take
Yes:
- Tea chest boxes, flattened, structurally sound
- Boxes with tape still on them — that’s normal, tape is fine
- Boxes with writing or marker on them
- Slightly scuffed or dusty boxes
- Medium size book/wine boxes, portarobes and other moving boxes — call me first, I’ll usually take those too but they’re priced separately, not at the $1 tea chest rate
No:
- Wet, damp or mouldy boxes
- Boxes with cut or torn walls
- Crushed corners where the box won’t hold its shape
- Boxes that have held food waste, chemicals, or anything that smells
If you’re unsure, send me a photo. Takes ten seconds and saves you a trip.
You don’t have to have bought them from me
Got tea chests from a removalist, a storage yard, or the last person who moved out? I’ll buy those too, at the same price. Paid $6 for them at a storage chain? I’ll still give you $1 back — which is $1 more than they’ll give you.
Why I do this
Two reasons, and neither of them is charity.
New boxes are never the problem — those come direct from the manufacturer in Brisbane and I can order more whenever I need them. Used ones are a different story. Good second-hand tea chests are genuinely hard to come by, and buying them back from people who’ve just finished a move is the most reliable way I get them. You get paid for something you were about to throw out, and I get stock worth reselling.
The second reason is that it keeps good cardboard out of landfill. A tea chest can handle three or four moves before it’s finished. Most of them only ever do one.
Buying boxes as well as selling them back
If you’re reading this before your next move rather than after your last one: I sell new 105L tea chests for $4 each, and I buy them back for $1. That makes your real cost $3 a box. Nobody else on the Gold Coast sells a new double-wall tea chest under $4.90, and none of them take it back afterwards.
New tea chest boxes — $4 each · How many boxes will I need?
Bulk buyback for removalists and agents
If you’re a removalist, real estate agent, storage facility or relocation service and you end up with pallets of used boxes, call me. I’ll take the lot and I’ll come to you. Standing arrangements welcome.
Questions about selling your boxes
Who buys used cardboard boxes on the Gold Coast?
I do. Cash or PayID, on the spot, seven days a week including weekends. $1 for every 105L tea chest in resalable condition, and other moving box types by arrangement. There’s no shop counter and no minimum spend — call or text 0434 827 956 and tell me roughly what you’ve got.
Where can I sell used boxes near me?
Parkwood, right by the Gold Coast University Hospital, which is about as central as the Coast gets. Most people are driving past on the way into town anyway. If you have 20 or more, don’t drive at all — I’ll come to you, anywhere on the Gold Coast, free, and do the lifting myself.
Do you buy used cardboard boxes that aren’t moving boxes?
Sometimes. Clean, dry, single-use retail and shipping cartons in usable sizes are worth a conversation — send me a photo of the stack. What I can’t use is anything wet, crushed, cut, or that’s held food waste or chemicals. Cardboard that’s been in a shed or a container over summer usually comes out damp and it’s finished.
How much are used moving boxes worth?
$1 a tea chest is the flat rate, so thirty boxes is $30. Book/wine boxes, portarobes and picture boxes are priced on condition and quantity — ring first and we’ll agree it before you go to any trouble. Nobody else on the Gold Coast pays anything for them at all, so the realistic alternative is $0 and a trip to the tip.
Get in touch
Call or text Alex on 0434 827 956. Open 7 days including weekends. Parkwood, near the Gold Coast University Hospital.
Still organising the move?
Need a removalist too? Tell me what you’re shifting and I’ll point you at two or three Gold Coast removalists I’d use myself. They pay me a small referral fee if a job goes ahead — you pay exactly what you’d pay ringing them directly. Find a removalist on the Gold Coast.