Disposing of your household waste correctly isn’t always easy. In Canberra, we have three different coloured bins that all have a specific purpose. Items meeting only that specific requirement can be disposed of within a specific bin.
But what goes into each bin, and what is the purpose of each bin?
What are the three types of bins?
Canberrans get three types of bins for each household. These are the red, yellow and green bin. These bins are collected Monday-Friday. The collection day is dependent on the suburb you live in.
The red bin gets collected weekly. The collection day can be found on the Bin Collection Calendar on ACT Government City Services website. The yellow and green bins are collected fortnightly on opposing weeks.
What goes in each coloured bin?
Red Bin = Landfill Bin
Your red bin is the landfill bin which is the one bin that gets used the most out of the three bins. Your red bin is used for household items that cannot be recycled, reused or composted.
These items include food scraps, food waste, coffee grounds, meat, paper towels, mixed plastics, tea bags, tissues, broken glass, chip packets, polystyrene, sanitary items and other general waste items.
Yellow Bin = Recycling Bin
The yellow wheelie bin is your recycling bin. Recycling bins are used for flattened cardboard, paper, cans and aluminium, glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles and plastic containers. You cannot put soft plastics or plastic bags in your yellow recycling bin.
Green Lid Bin = Green Waste Bin
Your green bin is used for organic garden waste such as grass clippings, flowers, leaves, weeds, pruning’s and small branches. This is not a compost bin though and items such as soil, logs, stumps, branches with fruit or timber cannot be placed in this bin.
Common questions about what goes in each bin
Which bin does timber/wood go in?
Timber/wood is building waste and is not permitted in any household bins in Canberra. If it is reusable, it can be dropped off for free of charge to the Green Shed at either Mugga Lane or Mitchell Resource Management Centre.
If it cannot be reused or recycled, it can be dropped off at your local Resource Management Centre for a fee.
What if my household waste doesn’t fit in the bin?
If you have a week when you find your household waste won’t fit in the bin, you aren’t left with many options. Depending on the type of waste you have you may be able to order a trash pak or you could talk to a Canberra skip bin hire company, of which there are many (Tiger Waste, Cut Price Skips and Angel Waste are some of the ACT skip hire places that come to mind).
Which bin do batteries go in?
Batteries are a form of e-waste and contain recoverable materials that can be retrieved through a specialist battery recycling program. These programs for household batteries are through Aldi, Woolworths, Officeworks, Bunnings and IKEA.
Car batteries and larger batteries or larger quantities of batteries can be dropped off at Battery World to be sent to a materials recovery facility.
Which bin do glass bottles go in?
Glass bottles can be recycled in the yellow coloured bin. Though only if they are not broken. If glass is broken, it then needs to be put to landfill in the red bin.
Which bin do clothes go in?
Clothing cannot be placed in your household recycling bin or green bin. However, you can sell online or give the clothes to a friend, donate the clothes to a charity or drop off your clothes (in any condition) to a garment recycling collection box within a store.
Which bin do coffee cups go in?
In the ACT, disposable coffee cups can be recycled and placed in your recycle bin. Though the disposable coffee cups lid must go into the general waste bin. These are made of non-expanded polystyrene or plastic code 6 and cannot be recycled in Canberra.