Organics bin

About your organics bin

Residents in urban Bendigo, Marong, Heathcote, Elmore, Goornong and Axedale receive a fortnightly organics collection service for all food and garden waste.

The service diverts organic material from landfill, and instead turns it into a rich compost – a positive effect on our environment. Your organics bin assists in extending the life of local landfill and reduces current and future financial liabilities that must be paid to the State Government in the form of a levy on every tonne of waste that we put into our landfill.

Bendigo’s bin systems operates as follows:

• Fortnightly collection of your 240 litre lime green lid organics bin
• Fortnightly collection of your 240 litre/360 litre yellow or blue lid recycling bin
• Weekly collection of your red or dark green lid waste bin

The organics bins are collected by contractor Four Seasons Waste and the material collected is taken to Biomix in Stanhope to be processed into compost.

How do I know when my bins are collected?

Check online: To see your next bin collection days, start typing your street address below and wait for it to appear in the drop-down field.

Download a calendar: Download a collection calendar for your area, which will show organics and recycling alternating collections. If you don't know which collection calendar you are on (A or B), you can check online using the above search.

• Collection area A
• Collection area B

To find out what goes in the Organics Bin and what happens to our Organics, download the organics reference guide or see handy hints for your organic waste.

Putting out your bin

To ensure your bin is emptied on collection day:

• Place bins out by 6am in the morning
• Place the bin near the kerb with the handle facing your house
• Keep at least 50cm of space around bins
• Close the lid - as our trucks are side loading, this prevents contents falling out
• Ensure the weight of your bin is not exceeding of 60 kilos

In residential areas your bin should not be on the kerb, except for the 24 hours either side of your collection day.

Mobile bins are our property. Please do not take bins with you if you move.

Need additional caddy liners?

Each household is allocated 1 roll per year, which allows a large family to use 3 bags per week.
Liners should only need to be changed every 3-4 days.  

Additional compostable caddy liners can be obtained free of charge* by ordering online or by phoning Customer Support on 1300 002 642.

Alternatively you could try;

• Lining your organics bin with newspaper
• Using a paper towel to line the bottom of your liners to soak up any moisture that causes them to break down quickly
• Double wrap meat, bones and unwanted pet food (with newspaper or paper towel) before placing in your caddy
• Wrap fish and seafood waste (in newspaper or paper towel) and place in your freezer until your next collection is due

*Limits apply.

What if I live in a rural or small township area?

Heathcote, Elmore, Axedale and Goornong – Organics has arrived!

In January 2021 the City of Greater Bendigo introduced a compulsory, fortnightly kerbside organics waste collection for all household food and garden waste in the townships of Heathcote, Axedale, Goornong and Elmore.

The organics service (introduced to urban Bendigo and Marong in 2016) has been an outstanding success with over 43,000 tonnes of organics diverted from landfill from more than 39,000 households. Plus contamination in the organics bin is less than one per cent.

A good tip for remembering how to sort your organic waste is “if it grows – it goes into your organics bin”.  

All other rural areas 

Start your compost journey at home!

We understand the importance of composting and diverting food waste from landfill for a healthy and sustainable Greater Bendigo. For this reason, we are providing our rural community living outside the organics collection zone with one free home compost system under the Rural Compost Program.

Complete the application for compost bins in rural areas form or apply online.

In our rural areas and townships we have a two bin system.

Download the Rural - Put the right thing in the right bin booklet.