Waste guide for new tenants and residents

Overview

Illustration of a person on Main Beach with the Pass in the background saying the words Welcome to the Byron Shire

Welcome to the Byron Shire!

Please take a few minutes to learn how to dispose of and sort your waste correctly in Byron Shire. 

We’re working ‘Towards Zero’ - a landfill-free, zero net emissions shire. 

Resource recovery is about finding another use for items and reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill. 

When does my bin get collected?

Illustration of the three bin types with labels. Green organics bin gets picked up weekly, the yellow recycling, fortnightly, red landfill is fortnightly.

There are three types of bins in Byron Shire.

  • Yellow lid – Recycling – collected on alternating fortnight (Urban and Rural residents)
  • Red lid – Landfill – collected on alternating fortnight (Urban and Rural residents)
  • Green lid – organics (food and garden waste) – collected weekly (Urban residents only).

Use the Recycle Coach App to search your address and find out your bin collection days.

Download our bin calendars to find out when your bin collection date is.

Visit Bin Collection Schedules

Bins should be put out the night before, with lids fully closed. Bins must be taken in by the evening of the collection day.

Bin not collected?

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If your bin is not collected, it may be because it was:

  • Too heavy (over 50kg)
  • Overflowing or the lid is open
  • Contaminated (items aren’t sorted correctly)
  • Not out on time or inaccessible to trucks (blocked by vehicles).

Call 1300 652 625 within 24 hours of a missed collection of your bin.

Report it online if you have a lost bin or need to request a bin repair.

Bins - What goes where?

cartoon of man and woman each standing in wheelie bin pretending to be nude and surrounded by images of food scraps

Sorting your waste correctly helps to:

  • reduce waste to landfill
  • recover resources 
  • protect the environment.

Check what can go in each bin using our A to Z Waste & Recycling List.

A to Z Waste & Recycling List

Make sure you check out the recent Changes to what goes in your green bin

We also carry out regular visual audits as a part of our lift the lid campaign.

Moving House?

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Unwanted items

Do you have old furniture or household items you don’t know what to do with?  

There are plenty of options to dispose of your waste correctly.  

Do not dump them or leave them on the kerbside – you could get fined $4000 for illegal dumping.

Items in good condition?

  • Take to the Re-Market at the Byron Resource Recovery Centre
  • Donate to a charity
  • Host a garage sale, or sell online 
  • Sell at Second-hand Saturday event.

Remember…if you wouldn’t give it to a friend, don’t donate it

Items in poor condition?

  • Use your Annual Free Drop Off service at the Byron Resource Recovery Centre – Each household gets 2 x 150kg household waste OR 500kg of green waste FREE (tenants can ask their landlords for approval to use these vouchers).
  • Book our courtesy trailer available at the Byron Resource Recovery Centre if you have a large load of waste or bulky items.
  • Take it to a local repair workshop or try to repurpose the item –Shedding Repair Café runs every Saturday 
  • Organise a local waste contractor to come and collect the items
  • Dispose of it at the Byron Resource Recovery Centre, see our fees and charges.

Dumped green waste

Dumped green waste can have a lot of nasty impacts on local wildlife and native plants. 

Here’s what you can do with your green waste:

  • Put it in your organics (green lid bin), compost or worm farm..
  • Take it to the Byron Resource Recovery Centre where we turn it into high quality pasteurised mulch! You can use our courtesy trailer to transport green waste. 
  • Hire a gardener or waste contractor
  • Spread lawn clippings and leaf litter as mulch in your own garden. 

Sofa and mattress dumped on a road reserve. Text reads fines over $4000 for illegal dumping report it online to epa, details on page.

Problem Household Waste

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There are many items that cannot go into your kerbside recycling bin but can still be recycled, like: