Residents living in single-unit dwellings and rural areas are provided with a 140-litre garbage bin (red lid), a 240-litre commingled recycling bin (yellow lid), and a 240-litre food organics and garden organics (FOGO) bin (green lid).
Council's Waste and Recycling Service
Place ONLY the following items in your red-lid garbage bin:
- Broken glass and crockery
- Foam
- General rubbish
- Nappies and sanitary items
- Plastic bags and soft plastics
- Tissues and paper towels
DO NOT place the following items into your red-lid garbage waste-bin:
- Building materials (Dispose of at your local resource recovery facility. Fees may apply)
- Car batteries (Drop off at Council's Community Recycling Centre (CRC) located at 99 Rose Street, Liverpool or at the next Chemical Clean-Out event)
- Garden waste and food waste (place in your green-lidded food organics and garden organics (FOGO) bin)
- Gas bottles (Drop off at Council's Community Recycling Centre (CRC) located at 99 Rose Street, Liverpool or at the next Chemical Clean-Out event)
- Motor oils and fuels (Drop off oil at Council's Community Recycling Centre (CRC) located at 99 Rose Street, Liverpool. Drop fuels off at the next Chemical Clean-Out event).
- Paint and chemicals (Drop off oil, paint and more at Council's Community Recycling Centre (CRC) located at 99 Rose Street, Liverpool. Drop hazardous chemicals off at the next Chemical Clean-Out event).
- Recyclable materials (Place in your yellow-lid recycling bin)
- Syringes and medical waste (Dispose of sharps responsibly. Click here for information about Council's Be Sharp Safe Program)
Your commingled yellow-lid recycling bin allows you to place all your recyclable materials into the one bin.
Note: Do NOT place your recyclables in plastic bags before putting them in your recycling bin.
Place ONLY the following items in your recycling bin:
- Aluminium and steel cans and trays (e.g., drink cans, food tins, empty aerosol cans with lids and buttons removed)
- Glass bottles and jars (remove lids where possible)
- Paper, cardboard, and magazines (including newspapers, office paper, junk mail, cereal boxes, and egg cartons -cardboard only)
- Plastic bottles and containers (e.g., milk bottles, detergent bottles, shampoo bottles - must be empty)
DO NOT place the following items into your yellow-lid recycling bin:
- Garden waste (place in your green-lid place in your green-lid food organics and garden organics (FOGO) bin. Did you know that Council offers residents a $50 rebate on the purchase of a compost bin or worm farm? Learn more about composting and worm-farming your organic waste.
- Nappies (place in your red-lid garbage bin)
- Household rubbish (place in your red-lid garbage bin)
- Light bulbs and broken glass (wrap and place in your red-lid garbage bin)
- Foam including meat trays (place in your red-lid garbage bin)
- Plastic bags and wrapping (check with your closest supermarket if they participate in a plastic bag recycling program)
- Paint and Chemicals (Drop off oil, paint and more at Council's Community Recycling Centre (CRC) located at 99 Rose Street, Liverpool. Drop hazardous chemicals off at the next Chemical Clean-Out event).
- Crockery and ceramics (donate to charity or wrap and place in red-lid garbage bin)
- Syringes and medical waste (Dispose of sharps responsibly. Click here for information about Council's Be Sharp Safe Program)
Single unit dwellings (houses, villas and townhouses) are provided with a 240 litre yellow-lid bin collected fortnightly.
Multi-unit dwellings (units and flats) are provided with a 240 litre yellow-lid bin shared between two units and collected weekly.
If you are unsure about which week your recycling is collected follow the simple steps below or contact Council's Customer Service Centre on 1300 36 2170.
Once collected your recyclable materials will be taken to VISY's Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) located at Smithfield. Recyclable materials collected are broken down and the materials are used to make something new, rather than extracting new resources and materials from our environment. The sorting process is done by both people and mechanised 'positive' sorting.
Click here to visit the Visy Recycling website and find out what happens to your recycling once your yellow-lid recycling bin is emptied into the recycling collection vehicle.
Place ONLY the following items in your FOGO bin:
- Bread, pasta, rice, cereal and legumes
- Cheese and dairy products
- Coffee grounds and loose tea leaves (No tea bags)
- Eggs and eggshells
- Expired food or leftovers (unpackaged)
- Fruit and veggie scraps
- Grass clippings, leaves, twigs/small branches, flowers, weeds, prunings
- Meat scraps and small bones
For more information visit: www.liverpool.nsw.gov.au/FOGO
DO NOT place the following items into your green-lid garden waste bin:
- Soil and dirt
- Building materials
- Garden hoses, gardening tools and pots.
- Food containers and wooden cutlery (including bamboo)
- Pet waste
- Paint and Chemicals (Drop off oil, paint and more at Council's Community Recycling Centre (CRC) located at 99 Rose Street, Liverpool
- Drop hazardous chemicals off at the next Chemical Clean-Out event)
- Crockery and ceramics (donate to charity or wrap and place in red-lid garbage bin).
- Plastic bags and wrapping (check with your closest supermarket if they participate in a plastic bag recycling program)
- Recyclable materials (place in your yellow-lid recycling bin)
- Household rubbish (place in your red-lid garbage bin)
- Nappies (place in your red-lid garbage bin)
Single-unit dwellings (houses, villas and townhouses) and Rural properties are provided with a 240-litre green-lid bin collected fortnightly.
Multi-unit dwellings (units and flats) may receive a garden waste bin upon request. Please contact Council's Customer Service Centre on 1300 36 2170 for more information.
Your FOGO bin is collected from the kerbside and taken to Australian Native Landscapes where it is turned into nutrient rich compost. It is important that you place ONLY the correct items in your FOGO bin. If your FOGO bin is contaminated with incorrect materials it can not be recovered and returned to the environment as valuable compost.
Some residents may already be managing their food and garden waste on their own property by composting or mulching, which means you are already achieving great outcomes in waste avoidance and resource recovery. Council encourages you to continue home composting as you are contributing to achieving excellent sustainability outcomes!
Did you know that a $50 composting and worm-farming rebate is available for eligible residents? Click here for more information on Compost and Worm-Farming rebate.
Council's Policy on Domestic Waste, adopted 19 December 2011, effectively outlines what the terms and conditions are for the domestic waste and recycling service provided to Council ratepayers paying an annual Domestic Waste Charge.
The policy provides information and guidelines relating to:
- The number and type of waste and recycling bins provided to each domestic residential property;
- The presentation for collection and storage of mobile bins;
- Charges for waste services;
- The contamination of mobile bins;
- The replacement of mobile bins;
- Additional mobile bins;
- The composting and worm-farming rebate; and
- The collection of hazardous waste.
Click here to view Council's Domestic Waste Policy.
Complete the Online Form or call Council on 1300 36 2170 immediately to advise them of the missed bin collection.
Council's Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery (WARR) Strategy adopted in 2005, identified that Liverpool could improve its environmental performance by providing an enhanced kerbside recycling service involving mobile bins of increased capacity and introducing regular fortnightly collections of garden organics. The WARR Strategy also identified that residual waste could be processed into valuable resources using Advanced Waste Treatment (AWT).
Click here to view the WARR Strategy.
Council must levy a separate charge for domestic waste management services. The costs of these services cannot be financed from ordinary rates and the charge must be sufficient to recover the reasonable costs of providing the services. With the State Government landfill levy and landfill operating charges, landfill disposal costs have increased and will continue to increase each year. Our domestic waste charge is set annually based on the Domestic Waste Management Collection Service cost to Council.
Domestic waste management charges include garbage, clean-up and recycling services. For the majority of residents this consists of a three-bin system: 240L commingled recycling bin, 240L food organics and garden organics (FOGO) bin and a 140L general waste bin.
Click here to view the current year's Domestic Waste Management Charges.
Domestic waste management charges are exempt from Goods and Services Tax (GST), under Division 81, determination entitled a New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) (Exempt Taxes, Fees and Charges) Determination 2001.
The residential waste bins allocated to your property are owned by Council's collection contractor, JJ Richards. The bins are NOT to be removed from the property if you move home.
If you are renting and there are no bins at your new address, you should contact your real estate agent and they will arrange delivery of a set of bins for you.
Residents in single-unit dwellings (houses) in urban areas and rural areas are provided with a standard service:
- One 240 litre yellow-lid recycling bin collected fortnightly
- One 240 litre green-lid FOGO bin collected weekly
- One 140 litre red-lid garbage bin collected weekly
Residents in townhouses and villas with their own individual set of bins will be provided with:
- One 140-litre red-lid garbage bin (collected weekly)
- One 240-litre yellow-lid recycling bin (collected fortnightly)
- One 240-litre green-lid FOGO bin (Food Organics and Garden Organics) (collected weekly)
Residents in townhouses and villas using shared bins (no individual set of bins) will receive:
- Shared 140-litre red-lid garbage bin(s) (collected weekly)
- Shared 240-litre yellow-lid recycling bin(s) (collected fortnightly)
- Shared 240-litre green-lid garden waste bin(s) (collected fortnightly)
Residents in multi-unit dwellings (flats and units) are provided with:
- One 240 litre red-lid garbage bin shared between two units, collected weekly
- One 240 litre yellow-lid recycling bin shared between two units, collected weekly
Multi-unit dwellings that have limited space for bin storage receive more frequent services during the week to accommodate this limitation.
Click here to download the Fact Sheet for Waste Management Services for Residential Flat Buildings and Multi Dwelling Houses.
The contents of your yellow-lid recycling bin (paper, cardboard, plastics, glass containers, metal containers) are taken to the VISY Recycling Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) located at Smithfield for recycling.
The contents of your green-lid garden waste bin (twigs, flowers, lawn clippings and leaves) and FOGO bin (Food Organics and Garden Organics) are composted by Australian Native Landscapes (ANL) located at Kemps Creek.
The contents of your red-lid garbage bin (food scraps and other domestic waste) are landfilled at Cleanaway Lucas Heights Resource Recovery Park.
Placing the incorrect items in your yellow-lid recycling bin results in contamination of a whole truckload of recycling. Don't put your recycling efforts and your community's recycling efforts to waste by placing incorrect materials in your recycling bin.
Click here to download the Waste Services Guide to find out which household items you can and can't recycle.
If you would like help with your bins and what items belong in each bin, contact Council's Customer Service Centre on 1300 36 2170. Council can also provide you or your block of units with educational material that includes multi-lingual brochures, stickers and signage for bin bay areas.
When food and organic waste go to landfill, they create methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Using the FOGO (Food Organics and Garden Organics) bin helps cut these emissions by turning food and garden waste into high-quality compost.
Liverpool City Council also supports home composting with a $50 rebate on worm farms and compost bins, giving residents more ways to keep food waste out of landfill and help the environment.
If your bin goes missing or is stolen you must contact Council's Customer Service Centre on 1300 36 2170 so we can conduct an investigation of your lost bin. If your bin is unable to be found it will be replaced at no cost.
If your bin is damaged you must contact Council's Customer Service Centre on 1300 36 2170. The bin will be inspected to determine whether it can be repaired. If your bin is beyond repair due to damage as a result of normal wear and tear or by the collection crew, a replacement bin will be provided free of charge.
Council is committed to sustainable waste management which promotes avoiding the generation of waste where possible and maximising recovery of recyclable material. If you are doing as much as you can to avoid, reduce, reuse 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.
Prior to making an application, consider the following:
- Are you recycling as much as possible?
- Do you generate more recycling or green waste rather than garbage?
- Alternatives to waste disposal like composting or worm farming which can reduce waste by 50% (Did you know that Council offers a $50 rebate to eligible residents who purchase a compost bin or worm farm?
The current system was selected as the most suitable system to collect domestic waste in the Liverpool area that would meet residential waste service needs, cost, convenience and to maximise resource recovery. By receiving the third garden waste bin, your actual bin capacity provided has increased from 420 litres per week (standard service option) to 620 litres per week.
On average, more than 50 per cent of household generated waste is food and garden waste. The introduction of the FOGO bin allows food waste and garden waste to be placed in this bin instead of your garbage bin, where it will be composted and mulched.
A larger bin may be obtained if your household meets set requirements as determined by Council. To find out if you are eligible for a larger bin contact Council's Customer Service Centre on 1300 36 2170.
How to apply for a larger red-lid waste bin or for an additional waste, recycling or garden/FOGO waste service:
- Complete the Application for Upgrade and Additional Bin(s) (Garbage/ Garden Waste/ Recycling)
- Contact Council's Customer Service Centre on 1300 36 2170 to have the form mailed out to you.
- If you are renting the property, you must get the owner's written consent to the additional service by signing the application form.
- Submit the completed application form to Council.
Once your application has been thoroughly assessed, you will be informed as to whether or not you have been successful in your request for an additional waste/recycling service or larger red bin.
Please note: Owner consent is required as the owner is responsible for the payment of the charge in conjunction with payment of rates.
Times allowed
Garbage collection is considered an 'essential' service and as such is not subject to any specific legislated time restrictions.
Why early mornings?
Garbage collection is usually scheduled when street traffic is low because this enables work to be completed safely, efficiently and with the least disruption to traffic. Garbage trucks stopping frequently on roads with high traffic volumes can cause danger to both motorists and the garbage collectors. Early morning collection times are used because traffic flows and ambient temperatures are relatively low.
Beeping from trucks
Reverse beeping or an equivalent warning system is compulsory under Occupational Health and Safety Regulations.
