It’s easy to separate recycling and keep it out of landfill when you know exactly what waste should go into each of your colour-coded bins.
All waste and recyclables must be placed in these colour-coded bins. Extra bagged or bundled waste, vegetation, recyclables or paper and cardboard left beside bins will not be collected.
Garbage
Red bin
For general household garbage we can’t recycle, including wax-coated cardboard or soiled paper, plastic bags, cling wrap, polystyrene and ceramics.
Tetra pak are deemed contaminates at paper mill or plastic bottle recyclers so should not be placed in yellow or blue bins. Council’s recycling partners are considering recycling trials in 2025 and Council will advise the community if tetra pak can be recycled at that time.
Bag lightweight waste like sawdust, dust or ash or seal it in a container so it can’t blow around.
No building materials, liquids or hazardous waste.
Mixed container recycling
Yellow bin
All containers (plastic, metal and carton), glass bottles and jars from the kitchen, bathroom and laundry, meat trays (no styrofoam), fruit punnets, even without recycling symbols. Lids can be recycled if they are plastic, steel or aluminium. Keep them screwed onto the top of the container so they don’t get lost in the recycling process.
Aerosol cans can be safely recycled if they are completely empty and intact. No need to remove the plastic spray nozzle. If not empty they can be disposed of at the next Chemical CleanOut.
For more room in your yellow bin, remove the lid from plastic liquid containers, squash the container then put the lid back so that the container remains squashed.
Aluminium foil can be added if rolled into a ball the size of a tennis ball to ensure it is recovered for recycling.
No plastic bags, cling wrap, polystyrene, ceramics, white glass (like Malibu bottles), flat glass, furniture or toys.
No soft scrunchable plastics such as bread, rice, pasta bags and cling wrap.
No small disposable gas canisters as they are in danger of explosion. These can be disposed at a Chemical CleanOut.
Clean paper and cardboard recycling
Blue bin
For clean paper and cardboard only, including glossy magazines and shredded paper. Please flatten boxes if you can.
Shredded paper should be contained in a box or a large paper bag. This will avoid spillage as the bin is emptied and will ensure the shredded paper is recycled and not lost during the recycling process.
Clean parts only of pizza boxes (some oil OK but no food) can be recycled. No wax-coated cardboard or soiled cardboard and paper. Put these in your red garbage bin. Staples can be left in your paper or cardboard boxes and the plastic window doesn't need to be removed from the window envelopes before adding to the blue bin. If you have a compost bin you can add small pieces and small amounts of food-soiled paper.
Vegetation
Lime green bin
For garden waste like leaves, branches less than 75mm thick, dead flowers, grass cuttings and other vegetation that can be mulched. No tree stumps, logs, trunks, soil, bricks, plant pots, tiles, stones or concrete. Christmas trees that have been chopped enough to be contained in the bin with the lid closed flat are accepted.