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What can and can't go in your kerbside bins

Council & rules · 6 minute read

Kerbside bin systems vary between councils, but the principles and the common mistakes are consistent across Australia.

The general system

Most households have a general waste bin, a mixed recycling bin, and increasingly a green organics bin that may also accept food scraps. Some councils have added a separate glass bin, which produces much higher quality glass recovery.

Your council's website has the authoritative list for your area. Where this guide and your council differ, your council is right.

Recycling: the reliable yes

Paper and cardboard, glass bottles and jars, steel and aluminium cans, and rigid plastic containers are accepted almost everywhere. Rinse them briefly, and leave lids off where your council asks.

Recycling: the things that ruin loads

• Soft plastics. Bags, wrappers and films tangle in sorting machinery. They don't belong in kerbside recycling anywhere in Australia.
• Bagged recycling. Recyclables inside a plastic bag are typically pulled out as contamination and landfilled, bag and all. Loose in the bin is correct.
• Nappies. The single most common serious contaminant.
• Textiles and clothing. They tangle in equipment.
• Food and liquid. Contaminates paper and cardboard, which then can't be recovered.
• Batteries and electronics. Fire risk — batteries have caused numerous truck and facility fires.
• Broken glass and ceramics. Window glass, mirrors, drinking glasses and crockery have different melting points from container glass.
• Garden hoses, cords and rope. The classic machinery-tangling items.

Why contamination matters more than people think

Sorting facilities assess incoming loads, and a load contaminated beyond a threshold can be rejected entirely and sent to landfill. One household's nappies can undo an entire street's careful sorting. This is also why councils increasingly inspect bins and leave notices.

Organics

Green bins take grass, leaves, prunings and weeds; many now also take food scraps, and some supply compostable liners. What consistently doesn't belong: plastic plant pots, soil and rocks, treated timber, and — importantly — plastic bags of any kind, including ones labelled biodegradable unless your council specifically approves them.

General waste

Everything not recoverable, plus nappies, soft plastics and broken ceramics. What must never go in it: batteries, gas bottles, chemicals, liquid paint, hot ashes, and medical sharps. Bin fires from batteries and hot barbecue ashes are a genuine and recurring problem.

When bins aren't enough

Kerbside bins are sized for ongoing household waste, not for clear-outs, renovations or moves. Overfilled bins with lids that won't close are frequently left uncollected, which leaves you worse off. For volume, the options are a booked hard waste collection, a transfer station trip, a skip, or a removal service.