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Recycling Bin

Learn about what can go in your yellow recycling bin.

Recycling bins in different sizes, large to small.

 

The following items CAN go in the yellow lid recycling bin:

  • Milk and food/juice cartons including tetra packs
  • Newspapers and magazines
  • Hard plastic
  • Aerosol cans (empty)
  • Clean paper and cardboard
  • Plastic bottles and containers
  • Glass bottles and jars
  • Aluminium and steel cans

The following items MUST NOT be put in the yellow lid recycling bin:

  • Batteries
  • Broken glass
  • Ceramics
  • Compostable or biodegradable labelled items and packing
  • Clothing and textiles
  • Food-soil cardboard and paper
  • Mirrors
  • Paper towels
  • Plant pots
  • Polystyrene foam
  • Pyrex
  • Recyclables in plastic bags
  • Shredded paper
  • Soft plastics
  • Takeaway coffee cups

Learn how to correctly dispose of unwanted items or what options exist for reuse or recycling through our handy A-Z Guide to Waste and Recycling.

Download our printable Recycling poster

Learn more about Recycling in the Bega Valley


  • Lids larger than a credit card can be placed in your recycling bin separately.
  • There is no need to rinse anything, just make sure any liquid is emptied from bottles first.
  • Flatten large cardboard boxes, but do not jam boxes in the recycling bin – they will get stuck, and it may not empty.
  • Redeem 10c per eligible container on many household beverage containers at your nearest Return and Earn.
  • Ensure your recycling is put in loose, never in a plastic bag. When items are placed loosely in the bin they are able to be easily sorted at the Materials Recycling Facility.
  • Other than bottles and jars, do not dispose of glass (reading glasses, pyrex, drinking glasses, windows, mirrors ect) in the recycling bin. These other types of glass are created at different temperatures and may have additives and will ultimately lead to contamination.

How well do you know your recycling service?

Ever wondered which bin is the correct one to place a takeaway coffee cup in?

Try our recycling quiz to test your knowledge. Learn all of the INs and OUTs of what to put in your yellow recycling bin.

Take the recycling quiz

 

Teenager emptying recycling rubbish into the yellow bin from a plastic bag.For kerbside recycling system to work, all recyclable materials need to be placed loose into your recycling bin.

Recycling that is tied up inside plastic bags and placed in your recycling bin will not get recycled, as bags cannot be opened at the sorting facility. Instead, they get sent straight to landfill, wasting your effort and the valuable materials inside.

Keep your recycling loose!
You can collect your recycling inside anything as long as you tip it loose into the recycling bin. Most people find it easiest to use a bin, crate, box, or a hanging reusable bag which gets filled up, tipped out, and brough back inside to use again.

 

Many of our collection trucks can collect recycling and general waste in the one truck.

Cleanaway operate several ‘split trucks’, where the driver can empty the red bin in one chamber and the yellow bin in another with the push of a button. The red bin waste can be sent to landfill while the recycling is still on board.

Watch how the split truck works

The inside of a recycling truck showing the two seperate chambers for recycling and FOGO.

 

You can recycle many common household problem waste items like paint, gas bottles, fire extinguishers, motor and cooking oils, car and household batteries, fluorescent tubes and globes and smoke detectors at our Community Recycling Centre (CRC) located at Merimbula Waste and Recycling Centre.

We also have a Mobile CRC that visits Wallagoot, Bermagui and Eden Waste and Recycling Centres on a regular basis throughout the year. Or visit our convenient Community Recycling Stations at each Bega Valley Shire Library site where you can recycle household alkaline batteries, mobile phones and accessories, household ink cartridges and smoke detectors.


 

© Bega Valley Shire Council 2025

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