In East Gippsland, over 21,000 tonnes of rubbish goes into landfill each year which wastes precious resources. To help reduce this, we can consider the following before buying items, or throwing them away:

• Refusing to purchase products with excessive packaging or materials, including single-use plastic shopping bags and straws.
• Reducing our overall volume of purchases to lessen our impact on the environment.
• Reusing items over and over, either in their current form, or for another purpose.  
• Recycling items at their end-of-life to keep them out of landfill, either through Council’s recycling or via other recycling programs and services.

When you’ve exhausted these options, items then go into your general rubbish (red lid) bin or general rubbish at one of our transfer stations. It is important to understand what items should never go into any of our kerbside bins. Batteries, asbestos, electronic waste and chemicals must never be disposed of in the kerbside general rubbish (red lid) bin.

See our A-Z of Waste Guide for detailed advice on where items should go.

The following items can go in your  mixed recycling (yellow lid) bin:  

• Paper and cardboard – Newspapers, envelopes, unsoiled pizza boxes, telephone books etc.
• Hard plastics – Empty containers such as milk and juice cartons or empty cleaning products. Any container numbered 1, 2 or 5
• Glass – Empty bottles and jars
• Steel cans – Empty food tins or pet food tins
• Aluminium – Aluminium drink cans and clean foil (this should be lightly scrunched into a ball, larger than tennis ball size)
• Place recycling items loose in the mixed recycling (yellow lid) bin as bagged items and soft plastic cannot be recycled.

Click here for more information on Recycling.

These items can also be recycled at our transfer stations.

See our A-Z of Waste Guide for detailed advice on where items should go.

The following can go in your garden organics (green lid) bin:

• Leaves
• Grass clippings
• Twigs and small sticks
• Common garden weeds*

* NOTE: Noxious environmental weeds (eg. agapanthus, bridal creeper, blackberry) must be bagged and disposed in the general waste (red lid) bin or disposed of in the general waste at your local transfer station.

Please place bagged pet poo in your general waste (red lid) bin.

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FREE Green Waste Disposal

• During November – to help residents prepare for the bushfire season
• Green Waste Voucher – ratepayers can dispose of 1.5 cubic metres of green waste for free each year using the voucher found with their annual rates notice. If you receive your rates via email, the voucher can be found on the Rates Noticed issued annually in August.

Click here for more information on food and green waste.

See our A-Z Waste – Where to Next? interactive online guide for detailed advice on where items should go.

Contamination occurs when items are placed in the wrong bin. Council works to prevent contamination in any of the kerbside bins (general waste – red lid, recycling – yellow lid or garden organics – green lid).  

Contamination can expose our waste workers to risks (such as asbestos) and causes environmental harm (battery fires). It also damages and devalues recyclable materials preventing them from being properly recycled (dirty  food containers or soiled cardboard ).  

When more items are recycled less waste and recyclable material goes to landfill,  less emissions are created from decomposing organic materials, the lifespan of a landfill cell is increased  and consequently, the costs to ratepayers and residents is reduced.

For more on what goes where, see our handy guide.

Please

✔️ Compost food waste (avoid putting it in the general waste recycling bin)

✔️ Put nappies in the general waste (red lid) bin – or try using cloth nappies instead.  

✔️ Keep your recycling and green waste loose – not in plastic bags.

✔️ Recycle batteries for FREE at one of the many drop off locations – but definitely not in any bin! Take it to a B-cycle Drop off point.‍

Please

❌ Don't put plastic bags in the mixed recycling (yellow lid) bin.

❌ Don't nappies, pet poo or plastic in the garden organics (green lid) bin.

❌ Don't put asbestos in ANY bin. It can only be disposed of at Bairnsdale Landfill, by appointment.

❌ Don't put batteries in ANY bin. Take it to a B-cycle Drop off point.‍

We provide a two-bin or three-bin collection service to urban communities. General waste is collected weekly, while green waste and recycling are collected every alternate week. To find out which day is your bin day, select your location from the dropdown menu below.

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Kerbside Bin Collection Calendars

Kerbside bin collection calendars for Area 1 and Area 2 are available. Residents are encouraged to check their calendar to stay up to date with their waste, recycling and garden organics collection schedule.

Hard copies can be collected from the Bairnsdale Corporate Centre, Bairnsdale Library, Council service centres and transfer stations.

Find your area and view or download your calendar online:

• Area 1: Bairnsdale (excluding Lucknow, Eastwood and East Bairnsdale), Eagle Point, Ensay, Lindenow, Lindenow South, Newlands Arm, Omeo, Paynesville, Raymond Island, Shannon Waters, Swifts Creek, Walpa and Wy Yung.
• Area 2: Bruthen, Cabbage Tree, Cann River, East Bairnsdale, Eastwood, Genoa, Johnsonville, Kalimna, Lake Bunga, Lake Tyers, Lakes Entrance, Lucknow, Mallacoota, Marlo, Metung, Newmerella, Nicholson, Nowa Nowa, Nungurner, Orbost, Sarsfield and Swan Reach.

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Correct Bin Placement

Putting your bin out the right way makes it easier for us to collect your waste. Please use the following guidelines to get the placement right.  

Collection of bins in courts and dead-end streets can make it difficult for the collection contractor. The less they need to reverse in streets, the safer it is for the driver and residents.

Please also remember:

• Put your bin out the night before.
• Place bins with opening to street.
• Leave bins one metre apart, and one metre from other objects.
• Remove bins within 24 hours after collection  
• Be a good sport – do not park in front of someone’s bins placed out for collection.
• Please place bins to allow for easy truck access. This may not be directly outside your house and could vary from street to street. Contact Council directly for clarification.

Please don’t overfill your bins – we don’t want litter flowing down the street.

Extra bags not in your bin will NOT be collected.  

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Windy and Extreme Weather  

Windy weather – To prevent littering, do not overfill your bins and please make sure your bin lids  close.  

Extreme weather – During bushfires, storms, flooding and extreme heat, waste services may be suspended or postponed (to ensure the safety of our staff and environment) and will resume as soon as it is safe. Notifications about closure of waste facilities or suspension of waste collection will be posted on our Facebook page and via our Emergency Dashboard.  

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Holiday Closures

Our waste sites are closed on Christmas Day and Good Friday.  

Missed Bins

Bins are collected around 6.00 am (or earlier), so please put your bin out the night before.

If collection of your bin is missed, please call us on (03) 5153 9500 and we may be able to arrange for an alternative solution. We will need to know your address and the type of bin that has been missed. Contractors will then check truck cameras to see why the bin was missed and we will then arrange collection.  

During extreme weather such as bushfires, storms, flooding and extreme heat, waste services may be suspended or postponed (to ensure the safety of our staff and environment) and will resume as soon as it is safe.

Notifications about closure of waste facilities or suspension of waste collection will be posted on our Facebook page and via our Emergency Dashboard.

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Replacing a Stolen or Lost Bin

Damaged bins – If your bin has been damaged, we e can repair damaged bins for you. Repairs will take up to 10 working days after request. We will remove, reuse or recycle any unwanted or damaged parts. If the bin is damaged beyond repair, a replacement fee may apply.

Lost or stolen bins – We can replace lost or stolen bins. A replacement fee may apply. Bin replacements can take up to two working days, or longer depending on the town.  

Requesting a bin replacement/repair

Please call us on (03) 5153 9500 and let us know:

• Your details:  Full name, address, phone number
• Bin type:  General waste (red lid), Mixed recycling (yellow lid), Garden organics (green lid)
• Service needed:  Repair or replacement?
• Issues:  Badly damage? Is it unusable?
• Reporting:  Lost or stolen bins.

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Starting a New Bin Service

New residents: Contact us directly to find out if you’re in an eligible area for a bin collection service. Applications for collection can be made via the Waste Service Request Form below. For those in non-eligible areas, please call us to discuss your options.  

New home builders: We review new properties in our waste collection areas quarterly. Waste services are automatically allocated to properties once an occupancy permit has been issued – you don’t need to submit a request form. If your property is complete and you want to begin waste services sooner, please submit the Waste Service Request Form or in person at one of our service centres.

• ‍A-Z Waste – Where to Next? ‍
• Waste Wise Guide
• Home Composting
• Safe Asbestos Disposal
• Sort and Save guide
• Safe Battery Disposal
• Landfill and Transfer station fees and locations guide‍