Rubbish collection (red lid)

If you are doing as much as you can to avoid, reduce, re-use and recycle but still believe you require an additional domestic waste service, you must go through an application process with Council. This may include a waste audit of your current bin to determine your eligibility for an additional bin. If successful, the additional service will incur an annual charge of $761.50. Prior to making an application, consider the following:

• are you placing all food scraps into your green lid bin along with garden refuse for recycling?
• are you are recycling as much as possible in your yellow-lid recycling bin?
• do you need more recycling capacity - upgrade to a 240L recycling bin?
• consider alternatives to waste disposal like composting or worm farming which can reduce waste by 50%

Woollahra Municipal Council uses state of the art Mechanical and Biological Treatment (MBT) technology to ensure less waste goes to landfill and more waste is recycled.

The purpose built Veolia MBT facility will separate all the organic content from our waste (like food scraps), and turn it into a compost product. Metals will also be recovered as part of this process and recycled.

The quality of the compost is jeopardised when hazardous items are placed in your bin. Please do not place batteries, light globes, chemicals or oils into your red-lid garbage bin as they contain harmful and toxic substances that contaminate the compost. Hazardous waste can be taken to a chemical cleanout collection for responsible disposal.

On Friday 26 October 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revoked the exemption that allowed waste treatment companies to supply mixed waste organic material to be used to rejuvenate soil on agricultural land, in plantation forests and to rehabilitate mine sites.

There will be no change to current waste collection services. Under Council’s contract with Veolia, waste will continue to be received and processed into MWOO, however diversion of general household waste from landfill will not occur as removal of the exemption means MWOO can no longer be applied to land remediation.

Using the Veolia MBT facility, in addition to all the organics captured in our green-lid bins and recycling captured in our yellow-lid recycling bins means we are well on the way to achieving the 75% waste diversion target set by the NSW State Government under the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2001.

Sustainable waste management starts at home, so make sure to continue separating paper, plastic, glass, metal and aluminium into your yellow-lid bin and food/garden organics into your green lid bin.

Subsidised compost bins and worms farms can also be provided to our residents who would like to take sustainable waste management one step further and compost their own organics. Please visit Compost Revolution.

Find out more about the MBT process(PDF, 15MB)