A-Z guide to waste and recycling

How to deal with unwanted household items

Check our A-Z guide to find out how to recycle or dispose of unwanted items in the City of Whittlesea.

Search for your item in one of the following ways:

  • Select the relevant letter below.
  • Scroll down and find it in the list.

If you can't find your item listed, get in touch and we'll let you know what to do with it.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Aerosol cans

Put in your recycling bin.

Air conditioners (split systems)

Air conditioners (split systems)

Aluminium foil, trays and cans

Asbestos

Ash

  • Let cool, then put on your garden or in your home compost bin.
  • Let cool, bag and place in your household rubbish bin.
      

 

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B

Baking trays

Balls (basketballs, volleyballs, footballs)

Balloons

  • Put in your rubbish bin

  • Please do not use balloons outdoors. Use flags, bubbles, bunting or banners instead. Council-run community events are balloon-free.

  • Balloon litter is a particular hazard for seabirds.  Find out more on the Zoos Victoria website.

Bassinettes (suitable for reuse, less than 10 years old)

Bassinettes (old or damaged)

Batteries - household

  • Take to the designated recycling box beside one of our recycling stations
  • Find your closest drop off location see bcycle.com.au Woolworths, Aldi, Battery World, Bunnings and Officeworks stores may accept batteries for recycling
  • Take to Heidelberg Materials (Wollert landfill) for free recycling
  • Take to Hume City Council Resource Recovery Centre Campbellfield
  • Take to Darebin Resource Recovery Centre
  • Take to Banyule Waste Recovery Centre
    Australia’s national product stewardship scheme for battery recycling has commenced and it is called B-cycle. This scheme provides convenient, safe, and free (except for some commercial services) battery recycling options. 

    B-cycle will ensure the production, distribution, and recycling of batteries is managed sustainably in Australia. The program will manage a voluntary group of battery retailers, importers, and producers who are taking responsibility for these products.

Batteries - mobile phone

  • Take to the designated recycling box beside one of our recycling stations.
  • Recycle at phone retailers or any Post Office.

Bike

Biscuit trays (not including the soft plastic packaging on the outside)

Blankets

Blister packs (empty)

Take empty medicine blister packs to our recycling stations or any Chemist Warehouse or My Chemist store in the country.

Only empty blister packs can be placed in the designated recycling box. Plastic bags and cardboard boxes are not accepted.

All brands are accepted, including blister packs made from plastic, aluminium foil and paper.

If the blister pack still has medication in it, return it to your pharmacy for disposal.

Bottles (glass and plastic)

  • Put plastic bottles in your recycling bin. Please remove the lids and put the lids in the rubbish bin
  • Put glass bottles into your glass recycling bin. Please remove lids and place them in the rubbish bin. 
  • Return beverage containers (between 150mL and 3L) to receive a 10-cent refund with Victoria's Container Deposit Scheme.  To find your closest refund point visit  CDS Victoria website.

Bottle lids

Bread bag tags (Plastic only, excluding cardboard)

Bricks

Building and renovation material

 

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C

Cameras including accessories

Cans (aluminium, steel and tin)

Car batteries

Car parts

  • SRS Metals Pty Ltd
    304-308 Mahoneys Road, Thomastown
    Open Monday to Friday - 8am to 4pm, Saturday - 8am to 12.30pm
  • Take to a car scrap recycler.

Cardboard

Carpet and underlay

CDs and DVDs

Ceramic plates and dishes

Chemical drums (empty) – crop and farm chemicals

Chemicals - household cleaning, garden and automotive

Child car restraints

Old or damaged

Suitable for reuse, less than 10 years old

 

 

 

 

Christmas tree

Cigarette butts


Cling wrap/glad wrap

Clothing

Suitable for reuse

Not suitable for reuse

Coat hangers

  • If metal - take to the Wollert landfill (free disposal), or put in the red lidded garbage bin
  • If plastic, wooden or fabric - put in the red lidded garbage bin.


Coffee cups - takeaway

  • Put in your rubbish bin.

Coffee grounds

Coffee pods


Column heater - oil based

Computers, printers and accessories

You can take your broken desktop PCs, laptops, printers, scanners, monitors, hard drives, CD/DVD drives, keyboards, mice, power supplies, memory cards and floppy disks to:

Concrete

Cooking oil (used)

Cooking oil containers

Coolant

Copper and electrical cable

Corks from bottles

  • Put in your rubbish bin. Cork is no longer recycled within Victoria.

Cots

Old or damaged

Suitable for reuse, less than 10 years old

 

 

 

 

 

Cups (ceramic, glass and polystyrene)


Cups (paper)

Cutlery (metal/plastic)

  • Donate metal cutlery in good condition to charity.
  • Dispose of metal or plastic cutlery in your rubbish bin.

 

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D

Dishwasher

  • Transfer station at Heidelberg Materials (Wollert landfill)
  • SRS Metals Pty Ltd
    304-308 Mahoneys Road, Thomastown
    Open Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm and Saturday, 8am - 12.30pm
  • Scrap Metal Merchants.

Dog droppings

 

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E

Egg cartons

E-waste (any household appliance with a plug, cord or battery)

E-waste can no longer be accepted in any bin or picked up through Council's hard rubbish collection service.

  • Before you dispose of your electrical items, see if you can get it repaired at the Mernda Repair Café
  • Free e-waste drop off points.

Take any household electrical items, such as televisions, computers, tablets, printers, vacuum cleaners, toasters, hair dryers, video and DVD players, electrical tools, electronic toys or electronic cigarettes to the designated e-waste recycling skips at:

  • Transfer Station at Heidelberg Materials (Wollert landfill)
  • SRS Metals Pty Ltd, 304-308 Mahoneys Road, Thomastown. Open Monday to Friday, 8am - 4pm and Saturday, 8am - 12.30pm
  • Scrap Metal Merchants

Free whitegoods drop-off

You can drop off large household appliances such as refrigerators, freezers, dish washers, microwaves, etc at either of the above two locations, or at:

Recycling Stations

Take cameras, mobile phones, household batteries, CDs, DVDs, fluorescent light globes, printer cartridges, X-rays and small electrical appliances like IPods, electric tooth brushes and calculators to one of our Recycling Stations.

Electronic Cigarettes

You can drop off these items for free at:

 

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F

Face masks

Fence palings

  • Take natural or stained wood fence palings (not painted) to the Timber waste recycling facility in Epping - charges apply or you can use your timber waste voucher on your rates notice.

Fertilisers

Fire extinguishers

Fluorescent light globes

Foil

Food scraps

Fridges

  • Transfer station at Heidelberg Materials (Wollert landfill)
  • SRS Metals Pty Ltd
    304-308 Mahoneys Road, Thomastown
    Open Monday to Friday, 8am - 4pm and Saturday, 8am - 12.30pm
  • Scrap Metal Merchants.

Fuels (petrol, diesel and kerosene)

Furniture (not suitable for reuse)

 

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G

Garden waste

Gas bottles

Gas bottles can be refilled many times. You can swap an empty gas bottle for a full one at locations including:

  • Selected Petrol stations such as Quix, Caltex, Mobil, Shell and BP outlets
  • Bunnings Warehouse
  • Participating Kennards Hire, Mitre10 and BOC outlets.

You can find your closest drop-off point by entering your suburb or postcode at SWAP'n'GO site locations.

Some gas bottles must be returned to the manufacturer. These include BOC/CIG, Matheson, Linde, GasTech, Air Liquide, LAA and Liquid Air cylinders.

For disposal, you can take gas bottles to:

Glass bottles and jars

Glass waste and ceramics

All glass waste and ceramics (including crockery, drinking glasses, Pyrex glass, ovenware, window glass, mirrors and light bulbs):

Glasses – sighted and reading (not broken)

  • Return your pre-loved reading glasses to an OPSM or Spec Savers store.

Gloves

Glues

 

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H

Helium gas tank

Contact the manufacturer on the helium tank for instructions regarding disposal.

Herbicides and weed killers

Hot water service unit

Hand towel

  • Put in your rubbish bin.

High chair (suitable for reuse, less than 10 years old)

  • Donate good quality baby and children's equipment and clothing to Big Group Hug.

 

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I

Ice-cream containers

Insulation (Fibreglass, wool, and cellulose)

iPods, iPhones and iPads

Irons (household)

 

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J

Jewellery

 

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K

Kitchen sponges

Kitty litter

 

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L

Laptop computers

Take to:

Lawn clippings

Lids (from plastic or glass bottles)

Light bulbs

Light bulbs (incandescent)

All other light bulbs (including fluorescent globes, compact fluorescent globes, high-intensity discharge lamps and LEDs)

Liquid soap and moisturiser pump packs

 

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M

Margarine containers

Mattresses

Medicines

  • Return to your local pharmacy.

Metal waste

Microwaves

  • Transfer station at Heidelberg Materials (Wollert landfill)
  • SRS Metals Pty Ltd
    304-308 Mahoneys Road, Thomastown
    Open Monday to Friday, 8am - 4pm and Saturday, 8am - 12.30pm
  • Scrap Metal Merchants.

Milk and juice cartons

All milk and juice cartons (including liquid paperboard and tetra packs)

Mirrors (broken)

Mobile phones including accessories

Motor oil

MP3 players and personal music players

 

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N

Nappies

Needles

Newspaper

 

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O

Office products

Ovens (rangehoods, cook tops, and hot plates)

 

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P

Paint and empty paint tins

Pallets

Paper

  • Put in your recycling bin (put small pieces of paper - less than 7.5cm long and wide - in an envelope or paper bag first). Please note tissues, tissue paper, hand towel and shopping receipts cannot be recycled.
  • Take to Heidelberg Materials (Wollert landfill) for free recycling
  • Take to Visy Coolaroo Office, 13 Reo Crescent, Campbellfield.

Paper (shredded)

Paper towel (soiled)

Pen and markers

  • Return to Officeworks for recycling.

Phones (mobile)

Pizza boxes

  • Put in your recycling bin. Remove any food residue from the box.


Plant pots

Plastic bags

Plastic containers and bottles

Including plastic takeaway food containers - labelled 1,2,3,4 or 5

Plastics

All soft plastics including bubble wrap, biscuit packets, lolly bags, pasta bags, frozen food bags and soft plastic packaging (not including glad wrap/cling wrap)

  • Take your soft plastics to the designated recycling bins at Hanson Landfill (55 Bridge Inn Road, Wollert) to be recycled by APR plastics

  • Put in your rubbish bin.




Polystyrene packaging

Polystyrene trays

Pool chemicals

Prams/strollers

Suitable for reuse, less than 10 years old

Old or damaged

 

Printers and accessories

Take to:

Printer cartridges and toner cartridges

 

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Q

Quilt covers

 

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R

RAT - Rapid Antigen Test kits

Receipts

Refrigerators

  • Transfer station at Heidelberg Materials (Wollert landfill)
  • SRS Metals Pty Ltd
    304-308 Mahoneys Road, Thomastown
    Open Monday to Friday, 8am - 4pm and Saturday, 8am - 12.30pm
  • Scrap Metal Merchants.

 

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S

Sanitary products

Scrap metal

Sheets and pillow cases (not suitable for reuse)

Shampoo and conditioner bottles

Shoes (including sneakers)

Shopping receipts

Shredded paper

Smoke alarms

Soil and rocks

Soft plastic packaging (such as lolly packets, plastic bags, and bubble wrap)

  • Do the scrunch test - if it is clean, plastic and easily scrunched into a ball like a chip packet then it is soft plastic. Glad wrap/cling wrap cannot be recycled through this service.
  • Take your soft plastics to the designated recycling bins at Hanson Landfill (55 Bridge Inn Road, Wollert) to be recycled by APR plastics.
  • Or, put in your rubbish bin.

Straws (plastic disposable)

Syringes

 

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T

Tea bags

Television

Take to:

TetraPak (such as milk and juice cartons)

Timber

Tissues

Tissue paper

Toasters

Drop off for free to:

Towels (not suitable for reuse)

Toys (unsuitable for reuse)

  • Return to a Big W store. Visit the Toys for joy website to find out more about the program and to find your local store.
  • Put small toys in your rubbish bin
  • Larger toys can be booked in for a kerbside hard waste collection.

Tyres

 

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V

Vacuum cleaners

Drop off for free to:

Dyson brand - Visit the Dyson website.

 

Vape (electronic cigarettes)

Video/VHS cassettes

 

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W

Water bottles (up to 15L)

  • Put in your recycling bin
  • Return beverage containers (between 150mL and 3L) to receive a 10-cent refund with Victoria's Container Deposit Scheme. To find your closest refund point visit CDS Victoria website.

Waxed paper and cardboard

Weeds (common)

Whitegoods (microwaves, fridges, washing machines, dishwashers and clothes driers)

Take to:

  • SRS Metals Pty Ltd
    304-308 Mahoneys Road, Thomastown
    Open Monday to Friday, 8am-4pm and Saturday, 8am-12.30pm
  • Transfer station at Heidelberg Materials (Wollert landfill)
  • Scrap Metal Merchants.

Window glass

Wrap in newspaper, bag and then:

Wipes (such as baby wipes, hands or face wipes)

Work boots


 

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X

X-rays

 

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Y

Yoghurt tubs

 

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