General Waste, Recycling and Organics

We are working hard to reduce waste by making it easier for you to recycle, prevent organic and green waste going into the bin, and diverting e-waste, hard rubbish and chemicals from the landfill.

Residents can get rid of other waste at our landfills (tips) and recycling centres and participate in programs that dispose of e-waste and hard rubbish and household chemicals safely.

Our organics service aims to divert organic waste from our local landfill sites to reduce the associated costs, avoid the production of methane gases and odours, and produce compost.

The Resource Recovery & Education Code of Practice as referred to in Community Local Law 2.1 requires that residents use the council-provided bins for collection correctly. This includes separating recycling and omitting hazardous waste (syringes, hot ash, liquid waste etc.), or leaving bins in the street other than on collection day.  Bins in commercial zones must not be outside the property boundary between 10.00am and 5.30pm on any day. 

Hard and soft plastics guide for recycling

Download a guide on how you can recycle hard and soft plastics the right way.  Detailed information about what you can put in each bin and what you can take to a drop off location.

Hard and soft plastics guide for recycling

Kerbside bin auditing program 

To make sorting household waste easier, and improve our City’s waste management, Council delivers helpful information that’s tailored to each household. 

Bin audits assist the City to better support residents and provide individual feedback to households. This all helps to improve our recycling and organics collections and ensures that less materials are sent to landfill.

Bin Tags Explained

Finding a tag on your household’s bin can be surprising but don’t be alarmed. It is not a fine.

Look at the information on the tag, it will indicate the items that have been placed in the incorrect bin. If your bin has been tagged and not collected, please remove these materials and if possible, sort the incorrect waste into the correct bins. If the materials don’t belong in any bin, for example scrap metal or e-waste, please keep the material aside to be taken to one of the City’s transfer stations, you can then contact council to advise your bin is ready to be collected.

If your bin has been tagged and left behind, a letter will be sent.

Please take a moment to read the letter, which explains what has happened and why.

Undertaking kerbside bin audits like these, helps educate the community.

The types of non-recyclable items most often put in recycling bins are:

• Bagged items. Remember to put recyclables in the bin loose, not in bags
• Hard rubbish. e.g. toys, carpet, household and garden appliances and tools
• Unaccepted plastics. e.g. Low quality plastic takeaway containers and soft plastics
• Non-recyclable paper and cardboard. e.g. long-life cartons, heavily soiled paper and cardboard, takeaway coffee cups

Does everyone in your household know what goes in each bin? 

Why the City undertakes bin audits

Bin audits are just one of the ways that the City manages the recycling, organics and general waste service, it also helps to educate the community at a household level.

When incorrect items are put into the Recycle and Organics bins, they make it more difficult to sort at the facilities. They can contaminate and damage the materials they are mixed with, which can result in the whole truck load going to landfill. Sending valuable materials that can be recycled, recovered or composted to landfill is a waste of resources, it creates harmful, long-lasting greenhouse gases, and costs Council and ratepayers unnecessarily.

Sorting materials is a simple task and if there is ever any confusion you can contact us via [email protected], call on 1300 002 642 or consult our online A-Z guide. Every household’s efforts contribute to the community’s success.

Tips on reducing your waste and waste collection charges on your rates
 

Please read our handy tips on avoiding incorrect items found in your audit and ways to reduce your waste that keep your collection charges on your Rates low.