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Never Miss a Rubbish Collection Again

Free bin-day reminders for every red, yellow and green lid across Australia, from your council's own collection calendar.

In Australia, kerbside waste collection is run by your local council — all 537 local government areas set their own bin schedules, contractors and rules. That means collection day can differ from one street to the next, and public holidays often push everything back a day. Most households have a three-bin system: a red-lidded bin for general waste headed to landfill, a yellow-lidded bin for mixed recycling, and a green-lidded bin for organics.

The red bin is usually emptied weekly, while the yellow and green bins alternate fortnightly in most councils. The green bin increasingly accepts FOGO — food organics and garden organics — though some councils still run garden-only green waste, so check what your shire allows. Bins go out on bin night, the evening before collection, with trucks typically starting their rounds from 6am, so a bin left out on the morning is often a bin missed.

Beyond the weekly wheelies, councils offer extras with their own local flavour: hard waste or bulky verge collections are a fixture in Perth and across WA, while Sydney households book a council clean-up for old furniture and whitegoods. Drink bottles and cans can also earn 10 cents back through container deposit schemes like Return and Earn in NSW and Containers for Change in Queensland and WA — keeping them out of your yellow bin and putting cash in your pocket.

• Put bins out the night before — trucks start from 6am, and a bin rolled out after breakfast is usually too late.
• Collection shifts by one day after most public holidays, so check your council calendar around Easter, Christmas and Australia Day.
• Keep recyclables loose in the yellow bin; plastic bags and soft plastics jam the sorting facility and can send the whole load to landfill.
• Leave a half-metre gap between bins and clear of cars, trees and letterboxes so the truck's side-arm can grab them.

Everything you need for bin day