Recycling Bin

Council’s recycling bin collection is fortnightly in urban and rural areas.

 

recycling bin with yellow lid

✅ What you CAN put in your recycling bin:

  • Aluminium foil (clean and scrunched) and trays
  • Clean paper, newspaper, and cardboard (break down boxes)
  • Glass bottles and jars (lids off)
  • Hard plastic containers
  • Long life cartons (milk, juice, stock)
  • Metal cans (food and drink)

❌ What to KEEP OUT of your recycling bin:

  • Batteries, light bulbs or other problem household waste
  • Clothing/fabric/shoes
  • Containers with food or liquid inside
  • Electronic items
  • Food or garden waste
  • Plastic bags or plastic food wrappers
  • Takeaway coffee cups

Bin services

Urban residents

Our standard 3 bin service applies to residential dwellings in urban areas.

  • Choice of 140 litre or 240 litre landfill bin (collected fortnightly)
  • Choice of 140, 240 or 360 litre recycling bin (collected fortnightly on alternating weeks to landfill)
  • Choice of 140 litre or 240 litre organics bin (collected weekly)

Fees are charged annually per service(PDF, 3MB)

Rural residents

Our standard 2 bin service applies to residential dwellings in rural areas.

  • Choice of 140 litre or 240 litre landfill bin (collected weekly)
  • Choice of 140, 240 or 360 litre recycling bin (collected fortnightly)

Fees are charged annually per service(PDF, 3MB)

Commercial

Commercial premises can access the below bin services by contacting Council directly on 6686 1287.

Options include:

  • Choice of 140 litre or 240 litre landfill bin (collected weekly)
  • Choice of 140, 240 or 360 litre recycling bin (collected fortnightly)
  • Choice of 140 litre or 240 litre organics bin (collected weekly)

Fees are charged annually per service(PDF, 3MB)

Download the Urban Commercial Bin Collection Calendar(PDF, 3MB)

Urban Commercial Bin Collection Days

Monday 

  • East Ballina

Tuesday

  • Lennox Head

Wednesday

  • Ballina - west of Moon Street
  • Ballina Industrial areas
  • West Ballina
  • Wardell

 Thursday

  • Alstonville 
  • Alstonville Industrial area
  • Wollongbar

Friday

  • Ballina - east of Moon Street 
  • Skennars Head

Any businesses outside these areas, please confirm collection day with Ballina Resource Recovery Centre, ph 6686 1287.

Rural Commercial Bin Collection

Recycling tips and where your waste goes

Tips to Recycle Right

Card Image
Keep it Simple

only recycle hard plastic bottles and containers, glass bottles and jars, steel and aluminium cans, paper and cardboard.
 

recycling_noplastics.png
Keep out soft plastics

including ALL plastic bags, even if they have a recycling, degradable or compostable symbol, and other soft plastics such as plastic film, chip packets, bread bags and biscuit trays.

Card Image
Keep out small items

nothing smaller than a credit card can go in the recycling bin. All lids must now be removed from bottles and those smaller than a credit card placed in the landfill bin.

Card Image
Keep it Safe

no strapping, hose, netting, wires, building materials, broken glass, chemicals and other hazardous materials that can harm the MRF workers or damage the machines.

Card Image
Keep it Clean

rinse or wipe any excess food and drink from all bottles, containers and tins before placing them in your recycling bin. Keep out food scraps, nappies and soiled paper.

Card Image
Keep it Loose

put each item into your yellow lidded recycling bin separately. Don't place recyclable items that are in a bag, box or container into your bin.

More Tips

  • Avoid plastic altogether by using your own reusable bottles, containers and bags.
  • Put items smaller than a credit card in your landfill bin.
  • Larger lids such as lids off yoghurt tubs or jam jars can go into your recycling bin on or off the container. Place aluminium bottle tops or can tabs into the can or bottle before putting them in the recycling bin.
  • Drop off small problem waste including household batteries, mobile phones & accessories, reading glasses, printer cartridges, smoke detectors and x-rays to our Community Recycling Stations at Council's customer service centre or local library.
  • You can also drop-off household problem waste such as car batteries, fire extinguishers, gas bottles, oil and paint free of charge at the Community Recycling Centre (CRC) located at the Resource Recovery Centre. There is a 20kg / 20-litre limit after which fees apply.
  • Large e-waste such as computers, laptops, TVs and electrical cords can also be dropped off at the Resource Recovery Centre free of charge.
  • Clean recycling means you don’t need to line your kitchen recycling bin and can just put all items in loose!

 

Where does my recycling waste go?

Currently all recycling items go to the Re.Cycle Material Recovery Facility at Chinderah for recycling.

  1. Pre-sort: Staff manually remove bagged plastic bags, polystyrene and contamination (waste). Help them out by recycling right!
  2. Star screen sorting: A series of large, star-shaped rotating discs propel bulky paper and cardboard forward while smaller items fall through to the next conveyor.
  3. Glass screen: Glass is separated, allowing it to fall through to the glass imploder, while other items continue along the conveyors.
  4. Newsprint screen: Smaller rotating discs separate newsprint while heavier items fall through to the conveyors.
  5. Mixed paper screen: Other paper is separated.
  6. Manual paper sort: Small paper items such as envelopes are removed.
  7. Magnets: A rotating magnet picks up steel.
  8. Manual plastic sort: Hard plastics are manually removed. 
  9. Eddy current: An electromagnetic field repels aluminium off the conveyor belt. 
  10. Any material still left on the conveyor falls into a waste bin which then goes through the process again to ensure all recoverable materials are removed. 

 

 

Related Pages

 

Quick Links

Have a tricky resource recovery question?

Ask a waste expert how to reduce, reuse, recycle.

Back to top