Prevent waste
Preventing waste in the first place is the best environmental outcome. For helpful tips and information:
- follow Love Food Hate Waste on Facebook and Instagram
- visit the Love Food Hate Waste website.
What can I recycle?
In NSW, local councils run kerbside recycling collection services for households. The materials collected vary from council to council.
To find out what you can place in your kerbside recycling bin, and when it is collected, contact your local council.
Recycling for food and garden organics
The EPA’s $100 million organics program, funded through the waste levy, aims to get food and garden waste out of landfill and put to better use. The program includes support for councils to introduce or improve green lid bin services for their residents, so more people have access to opportunities for recycling.
Drop-off centres for common household problem wastes
Household problem wastes are potentially harmful household products. They include cleaning products, paints, pool chemicals, garden products and hobby chemicals.
Leftover or unwanted materials like these require special treatment and processing and cannot be placed in your bins.
The best way to dispose of old or unwanted problem wastes and chemicals is at a Chemical CleanOut event or Community Recycling Centre.
NSW householders can use these two convenient collection systems to safely dispose of household problem wastes, free of charge.
- Community Recycling Centres are permanent drop-off facilities, open year round. Use them to safely dispose of selected common household problem wastes such as paint, gas bottles, fire extinguishers, motor and cooking oils, car and household batteries, fluorescent tubes and globes, and smoke detectors.
- Household Chemical CleanOut events are for householders to safely dispose of a range of household chemical products, including household cleaners, pool and hobby chemicals and pesticides. These events are held at various locations in NSW on specified dates throughout the year.
Return old and unwanted medicines
- Return old and unwanted medicines to any pharmacy for free, safe disposal. For more information visit returnmed.com.au or call 1300 650 835.
- Blister pack recycling
Other recycling services
- Recycling Near You can help you find where to take recyclable items that aren’t collected by your local council kerbside collection service.
- TerraCycle supports community-run and retail-based recycling drop-off locations, as well as free mail-back programs for hard-to-recycle household waste such as cosmetics, beauty product containers, coffee capsules, oral care items, and pet food packaging. Search their website to find your local TerraCycle recycling drop off point, or mail back service.
