Recycling

Recycling is one of the easiest ways to live sustainably and we do a great job of recycling in Baw Baw. Your kerbside commingled recycling collection is a service designed to assist in the recovery of resources from household food, beverage and goods packaging and reduce landfill.

Sometimes it is hard to decide what can be recycled in your kerbside commingled recycling bin however and contamination with the wrong items could mean the whole lot ends up in landfill or greater costs to process the materials.

What is contamination?
When we’re talking about our kerbside commingled recycling collection - contamination is any item that isn’t on the Acceptable Recycling list below. This is because some items, even if they have a recycling symbol or code, are unsuitable for the sorting process and can cause damage to the equipment.

Items that can’t go into your kerbside commingled recycling such as ‘soft’ plastics, may be able to be recycled elsewhere. You can visit www.recycling.vic.gov.au to search for specific items. Remember that while many of us are working from home, some drop off services or specialist collections may not be available.

Commingled Recycling is collected fortnightly on the same day as your rubbish.

Acceptable recycling:

• Cans, glass and cartons (bottle tops to be placed in the garbage)
• Paper and cardboard
• Hard plastic packaging, excluding expandable polystyrene (APES)
• Aerosol cans

Pizza boxes are recyclable but please make sure that you don't leave any food waste in the box.

Unacceptable recycling:

• Rubbish
• Plastic bags, plastic wrap or bin liners
• Nappies or syringes
• Pyrex, window glass, light globes, broken glass or ceramics
• Green organics
• Waxed cardboard
• Polystyrene
• Garbage or food waste
• Hard waste, timber or building materials
• Car parts
• Clothing or carpet
• Items wrapped in plastic bags.

Buying products without excess plastic packaging or using reusable containers will help to reduce plastic waste. 

See Council's A-Z Guide to Recycling and Waste(PDF, 97KB) for further information on what can and cannot be placed in your recycling bin, or look it up using the Sustainability Victoria 'Can I recycle this?' online tool.

Learn more about how to get it right on bin night at Sustainability Victoria's website or download the Baw Baw Waste App.

Want clear instructions for what goes in the red lidded rubbish bin and what goes in your kerbside commingled recycling?

The Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) is an evidence-based labelling system that provides easy to understand instructions about how to correctly dispose of every part of a product’s packaging. Now we know which parts belong in the recycling bin, the rubbish bin, or which items can be returned to a store through their soft plastic collection bins.

Household garden organics – or ‘green waste’, can be disposed of at one of Council’s transfer stations or in your fortnightly kerbside collection bin.

Garden organics disposal at our transfer stations

If you would like to dispose of garden organics (green waste) at our transfer stations using your free “do it yourself” drop off, bookings are essential and can be made phoning WM Waste Management Services on 1800 969 278.

Bookings are required to be made at least one day prior to disposal to allow the transfer station operators to be notified, or by 4.00pm on Fridays for a weekend disposal. Disposal cannot be made on the same day as the booking. 

Further information is available on our hard waste page.

Transfer station locations and open hours:

Lardner

• Location: Simpson Road, Lardner
• Open hours: 10.00am - 4.00pm every day

Trafalgar

• Location: Giles Road, Trafalgar
• Open hours: 10.00am - 4.00pm on Saturday, Sunday and Monday

Neerim South

• Location: Neerim East Road, Neerim South
• Open hours: 10.00 am - 4.00pm on Friday and Sunday

Erica

• Location: Mathiesons Road, Erica
• Open hours: 12.00pm - 4.00pm on Monday, Wednesday and Sunday

Free green waste drop offs

Free Green Waste Drop Off Days are held annually to assist residents to clean up ahead of the summer fire season. Dates will be advertised on our website later in the year. 

Residential garden organics

Residential garden organics (green waste) are collected fortnightly. Place your green waste directly in the bin with no bags or pots. Any waste materials that aren’t green organics are considered contamination and are a significant problem.

Our green waste is reprocessed at PineGro in Morwell into soil improvers and compost for the agricultural industry. 

To learn more about how our green waste is reprocessed into quality compost and why it's important to eliminate contamination, watch this short video of our processor’s facility.

What can go in your garden organics bin

• Grass clippings and weeds, free from soil 
• Garden pruning’s including rose clippings 
• Leaves 
• Small logs and raw timber off-cuts up to 10cm wide and 30cm long. 

What can't go in your garden organics bin

• Bricks or other building waste
• Stones
• Tree stumps
• Treated or painted timber
• Noxious weeds
• Plastic pots and containers

Please place your garden organics bin on your nature strip before 6am on your collection day (or put it out the night before). See Council's Recycling and Waste Guide(PDF, 11MB) for further information about your collection day.

Composting is a great way to recycle naturally and help cut down on waste going to landfill. It will also help you grow a great garden.

Food scraps and garden waste can go into a compost bin where they break down to form a rich soil. You can then use it on your garden as mulch with an added benefit of providing extra nutrients to the soil.

Steps to Composting

1. Put your bin in a level, well-drained, sunny (but not too hot) position. This means extra water can drain out and makes it easier for worms to get in and start breaking down the compost.
2. Start filling up the compost bin with the right ingredients. These include:
   • "greens" such as vegetable peelings, fruit waste, teabags, garden and grass clippings, which rot down and provide nitrogen and moisture.
   • "browns" such as scrunched paper and leaves, which are slower to rot and create air pockets in the mixture to keep everything moving.

   Keep the compost free of pet droppings, meat scraps and bones, diseased plants and weeds. If it's not organic, it won't help your garden grow; plastic bags and other garbage need to go in the bin.

3. Keep the ingredients balanced. If the compost is too wet, add more browns. If it's too dry, add some greens. Keep the air circulating with scrunched paper and egg cartons. Crushed eggshells are also good for extra nutrients.
4. Use your compost when it is a dark brown, almost black soil-like material. It is rich in nutrients and can be spread onto your garden beds to improve soil quality.

We have worm farm and compost bin rebates available to Baw Baw Shire ratepayers (conditions apply). The rebate application form can be downloaded in the Related Information Section on this page.

For further information please visit our worm farm rebate page on our website.

E-waste is no longer accepted in any waste bin.

What is E-waste or electronic waste?

Any unwanted electronic item with a plug, battery or cord including computers and office equipment, mobile phone, TV’s, microwaves, power tools and light bulbs. Visit Sustainability Victoria for more information.

E-waste is growing up to three times faster than general municipal waste and contains valuable resources we can reuse, as well as some toxic materials that are bad for the environment.

The good news is that e-waste is more than 95 per cent recyclable. For example, old mobile phones can be recycled to make stainless steel goods, new batteries and even plastic fence posts. 

Where to take your e-waste in Baw Baw 

You can dispose of your e-waste free of charge at Council’s transfer stations.(PDF, 880KB) Please call the transfer station before bringing your e-waste to ensure they have capacity for your load (particularly if you have a large number of items). 

Acceptable e-waste items from 1 July 2019

The Drouin Civic Centre has an e-waste drop off bin that accept smaller e-waste items. These include, mobile phones, batteries, small appliances such as electric toothbrushes, shavers, hair straighteners etc, and small e-waste accessories such as chargers, ear phones, iPads, etc. 

Select Office Supplies at 166 Queen Street, Warragul also accept e-waste such as computer equipment, photocopiers, faxes, printers, modems, data cables, TVs, monitors, server mainframes, etc. They do not accept white goods or small household appliances.

How e-waste is recycled

Watch this short video from Sims Recycling Solutions (where Baw Baw's electronic e-waste is processed) to see how your discarded electronics and old computers are recycled to produce raw material streams of steel, plastic, copper, aluminium, and precious metals, which can be used to make new products.

Council now has the solution to separate and recycle glass in a dedicated skip bin at the Lardner and Trafalgar Transfer Stations.

This is to reduce the glass breakage (shards and fines) contaminating other recyclables in the commingled recycling bin. 

Acceptable glass:

• Glass wine and beer bottles of all colours (with lids removed)
• Glass food and drink bottles of all colours (with lids removed)
• Glass jars and containers (with lids removed)

Single-use plastic ban

Single-use plastic straws, cutlery, plates, drink stirrers, expanded polystyrene food and drink containers, and cotton buds will be banned from sale or supply from Wednesday 1 February 2023 under new Victorian Government legislation. 

The Victorian Government is encouraging businesses to take steps to get ready for the ban. 

Alternatives to single-use plastics

This table outlines some options for reusable items that minimise the need for any single-use items, as well as biodegradable options. 

* Indicates items banned from sale or supply
** People who need single-use plastic drinking straws due to a disability or for medical reasons can still purchase and use these items.

For further information on the ban, please visit Victoria Government: Single Use Plastic

We are currently not accepting textiles at the Lardner and Trafalgar Transfer Stations.

Please refer to Upcycle 4 Better for any enquiries.