Problem waste

Community Recycling Stations

accept common household problem wastes that cannot go into kerbside bins, including household batteries, ink cartridges, mobile phones, eye glasses, smoke detectors and x-rays. These stations are located at:

• Council Customer Service Centre, 40 Cherry Street, Ballina
• Ballina Library, 6 River Street, Ballina
• Salvage Shed Tip Shop, 167 Southern Cross Drive, Ballina
• Lennox Head Cultural Centre, Mackney Lane, Lennox Head
• Alstonville Cultural Centre, 42-46 Commercial Road, Alstonville 

For further information download the Community Recycling Station brochure (pdf)

Mobile Phones and Accessories

can also be dropped off at:

• Ballina's Telstra Store
• Ballina's Optus World
• or find your nearest Mobile Muster drop off location

E-Waste

can be dropped off free at the Resource Recovery Centre. Accepted materials are:

• all electrical cords, cables, chargers
• all household appliances
• all televisions, such as CRTs, plasma, LCD and projection 
• laptops, notebooks, palmtops and tablets
• computer monitors
• parts for personal computers - eg internal hard drives, motherboards, cards, internal power supplies, CPUs, DVD and CD drives
• computer peripherals - eg mice, keyboards, joysticks, game pads, scanners and web cameras
• printers - eg home office ink-jet, dot matrix, laser printers and multi-functional devices

Return Unwanted Medicines

Stockpiling old medicines at home can be risky, not just for you but also for your family and pets. It is important to dispose of old and unwanted medicines safely. Do not place them in landfill bins or flush them down the toilet, as they may become accessible to the community and can harm plant, marine and animal life.

Unwanted medicines can be handed in to most pharmacies. Pharmacy staff put the medicines in special bins which are then transported to specialist incineration sites where they cannot harm fauna or waterways.

Empty medicine bottles (glass or plastic) can be recycled in the yellow recycling bin.

Empty blister packs are recycled by Pharmacycle. Our current drop off location is: 

• Blooms The Chemist, Ballina Fair, Ballina

Find out more by talking to your local pharmacy or visit returnmed.com.au

Community Sharps Collection Program

Council partners with 9 host pharmacies on the Community Sharps Collection Program. The program is of great benefit to the community, offering Ballina Shire residents and visitors a safe collection point to dispose of self-administered sharps waste in approved personal use sharps containers. Needles and sharps can be dropped off in approved containers for free at the following chemists (please note loose and business generated sharps are not accepted):

• Amcal Pharmacy, Links Ave, East Ballina
• Blooms The Chemist, Ballina Fair, Ballina
• Infinity Pharmacy, Ballina St, Lennox Head
• Main St Pharmacy, Main St, Alstonville
• Our Chemist, Ballina West Shopping Centre, West Ballina
• Priceline Pharmacy, Bangalow Rd, Ballina
• Terry White Chemmart, Alstonville Plaza, Alstonville
• Terry White Chemmart, River St, Ballina
• Wollongbar Pharmacy, Simpson Ave, Wollongbar

To find out more about safe sharps disposal and containers, head to Diabetes NSW.

Call the Needle Clean Up hotline to report dumped sharps anywhere in NSW, ph 1800 633 353.

Plastic Bags

and soft plastics should be avoided if possible as they take thousands of years to break down in landfill.

Soft plastics can be reduced by choosing loose produce and products with recyclable packaging, using reusable produce and shopping bags, and shopping at farmers markets and bulk food stores. The REDcycle soft plastics recycling supermarket program is currently on hold. This section will be updated when a new program is implemented.