Find out what goes in your organics bin.
We collect food and garden waste to divert it from landfill and compost it.
We supply a kitchen caddy and liners to make this easy and mess-free. Use only the liners we give you and change them every two to three days. Remove any food wrappers and put your bin out for collection even if it’s not full.
Your household organics bin (lime green lid) is collected weekly.
Order extra caddy liners
Your household is given one roll of compostable caddy liners each year. This equals three liners per week. You should only need to change liners every two to three days.
What goes in the bin
Almost any food and garden material can go into your organics bin – all of your raw and cooked food, small garden waste, paper towel etc.
- Fruit and vegetable scraps
- Cooked and uncooked food
- Meat, poultry and bones
- Bread, rice pasta and cereal
- Eggs and egg shells
- Fish and other seafood
- Food wrapped in newspaper
- Tea leaves, tea bags and coffee grounds
- Dairy products including cheese, yoghurt and cream
- Dog poo, bagged in the green compostable liners
- Wooden skewers and toothpicks
- Timber (natural: untreated, unpainted, unstained)
- Shredded paper, soiled paper and raw cardboard (pizza boxes, fish and chip wrapping)
- Bark, prunings and small branches (no bigger than 100mm diameter and no longer than your bin)
- Weeds, lawn clippings, leaves and small plants
- Hair and animal fur
- Paper towel and tissues
Organics bin exemption
If you already manage food and garden material on your property, you can apply for an exemption from our organics collection.
Don't put in the bin
Avoid putting anything with any plastic in it (food wrapping, wipes, nappies) as well as shiny paper, large garden waste, and wood that has been painted or treated.
- Food packaging
- Fruit stickers
- Nappies, incontinence products and aids
- Biodegradable bags
- Plastic bags, cling film and other soft plastics
- Treated or painted timber, laminates and MDF
- Magazines and catalogues
- Kitty litter and animal droppings
- Branches larger than 100mm diameter or longer than the bin
- Baby wipes and makeup removal wipes
- Diseased plants
- Plant pots
- Liquids e.g. cooking oil
- Dead animals
- Garden tools
- Large logs or stumps
- Garden hose
Putting the wrong things in the organics bin could contaminate the whole load.
Remember: "if it grows - it goes into your organics bin"
Understand how organics are processed
The composting process takes around 16 weeks:
- Moved to the Eaglehawk Landfill site
- Pre-sorted
- Trucked to Stanhope
- Decontaminated manually at Biomix
- Loaded into a slow speed shredder
- Shredded organics is then loaded into vessels
- Heated for 10 days to remove pathogens
- Matured in compost piles - monitored and turned (10 to 12 weeks)
- Separated - oversized pieces are reprocessed
- Sold - rich, dark earth ready for the garden