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Waste and Recycling

There are several waste and recycling options available for residents from North Sydney Council.

The Council organises weekly household garbage and recycling collections (Wednesday nights), alternating bulky household and green waste collections (Sunday nights), has a program with RecycleSmart for difficult waste items, and runs a walk/drive-in Community Recycling Centre at Artarmon run in partnership with neighbouring Councils for e-waste, chemicals, and other difficult items.

There are also alternative methods for disposal or donation of items.

Some important basics:

Before disposing of items, consider donating them to Vinnies (Crows Nest or North Sydney), Red Cross (Crows Nest) or LifeLine (Naremburn).
Consider returning eligible containers to via Return and Earn (walk-in shop at Crows Nest, or other drop off locations in North Sydney area) for 10¢ a container – you can even make tax-deductible donations to charities!
If there’s a bin for it, use it! Don’t place loose/bagged materials/items in the bin area or out for collection (bagged and loose items may be acceptable for fortnightly household waste collection).
Food-contaminated items should not be placed in the yellow-lidded bins.
Soft plastics should not be placed in the yellow-lidded bins.
Bulky non-perishable items should, where practicable, be disposed of via the fortnightly household waste collection.
Fortnightly green and household waste collections must be booked on the North Sydney Council website by 4pm the day before collection (Sunday).
Animal/pet waste should only be placed in the red-lidded household bins.
E-waste cannot be placed in any bins or booked for collection in the fortnightly household waste collection – contact Sean (Secretary) about donation to the Australian Computer Museum Society (they raise funds by selling e-waste), use the Community Recycling Centre at Artarmon, or find alternative disposal means.

A summary of the most common types of waste is below. Please refer to the links above for more comprehensive information (for example, RecycleSmart continues to expand the items it will collect).

Type of waste	Red Bin	Yellow Bin	Green Bin	Household waste	Community Recycling Centre	Garbage Tip	RecycleSmart	Chemists	Woolworths	Coles
Perishable waste	✔	✘	✘	✔	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘
Soft plastics	✔	✘	✘	✔	✘	✔	✔	✘	✔
Styrofoam	✔	✘	✘	✔	✘	✔	✔	✘	✘	✘
Building materials	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘
Furniture	✘	✘	✘	✔	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘
White goods	✘	✘	✘	✔	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘
E-waste	✘	✘	✘	✘	✔	✘	✔(small)	✘
Paper/cardboard	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
Glass	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
Crystal	✘	✘	✘	✔	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘
Ceramics	✔	✘	✘	✔	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘
Soil	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘
Plant matter	✘	✘	✔	✘	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘
Flowers	✘	✘	✔	✘	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘
Plant pots	✘	✘	✘	✔	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘
Paint	✘	✘	✘	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
Chemicals	✘	✘	✘	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
Batteries	✘	✘	✘	✘	✔	✘	✔	✘
Fluoro lights	✘	✘	✘	✘	✔	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘
Motor oil	✘	✘	✘	✘	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
Pet waste	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘
Medicine blister packs	✔	✘	✘	✘	✘	✘	✔	✔	✘	✘