Recycling bins
You can put the following in your recycling bin:
- Paper including envelopes, office paper, newspapers, magazines
- Cardboard including boxes, cereal boxes, egg cartons, clean pizza boxes
- Household metals including aerosols, aluminium and steel tin cans, foil (scrunched)
- Rigid plastics such as soft drink bottles, milk and detergent bottles, biscuit trays, margarine tubs, ice cream tubs
- All cartons (e.g. long-life, TetraPaks and UHT (ultra heat treated) milk cartons)
- Orange soft plastic collection bags
- Caps and lids:
- Plastic bottle caps and lids must be removed and can go in the general waste bin. Alternatively, they can be collected and taken to any resource recovery facility (formerly 'transfer station'). Plastic lids and caps are considered too small to be recycled and will not be collected properly at the material recovery facility.
- Metal lids can go in the recycling bin.
Do rinse items going into your recycling bin, but you don't need to clean them thoroughly as recycling companies clean the materials.
Remove excess food from plastic containers and pizza boxes, but there is no need for them to be spotless.
For more information, refer to our A-Z waste guide of what goes where
Do not put these items in your recycling bin
Do not put the following in your recycling bin:
- Bagged recyclables
- Plastic bags
- Loose soft plastics like chip packets, snack wrappers, produce bags (soft plastic in special orange collection bags is ok)
- General waste
- Polystyrene or foam
- Light globes
- Glass and ceramics
- Food waste
- Garden waste
- Clothing, shoes and textiles
- Syringes and sharps
- Electrical/e-waste
- CD/DVD
For more information, refer to our A-Z waste guide of what goes where
Removal of glass from recycling bins
Glass is not accepted in your recycling bin (yellow lid). Please continue to keep glass out of your recycling bin and place in your glass-only bin (purple lid) bin.
Separating and sorting glass from recycling is an important step in ensuring all recyclables avoid being sent to landfill and can be turned into something new.
When mixed with other materials, glass can break. Shards and small pieces of glass can become embedded in paper and cardboard and reduce the quality of these materials, making them harder to recycle or resulting in recyclables going to landfill.
Can I use a liner in my bin?
Do not line this bin and do not put your recyclables in plastic bags.
The recyclables must be loose or they will end up in landfill due to the soft plastic contaminating the recyclables.
When is your bin collection day?
Your 240 litre recycling bin (yellow lid) is collected fortnightly, on the alternate week to your general waste bin (red lid).
Find out your bin collection day
What do the different recycling symbols mean?
Triangle recycling symbol
This symbol can mean a couple of different things. It can show that a product is made from recycled content or that it is recyclable. Some items can be recycled through your kerbside recycling bin, others may need to be returned to a drop off location for specialist recycling. Always check before placing in your bin, refer to our A-Z Waste Guide for what can and can’t go in your recycling bin.
Plastic identification code
It may look like a recycling symbol but this number indicates the type of plastic the item is made from. Not all of these plastics can be recycled and some may require specialist recycling. Not all items have been marked with a code by the manufacturer, it’s always best to check the list of accepted plastic items (top of the page) before placing in your bin.
Australasian recycling symbol
The Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) is an evidence based system that provides consumers with easy to understand recycling information for packaging of participating brands. It shows what needs to be done with each piece of a package to dispose of it in the best way. Learn more about the ARL.
Check our A-Z guide of what goes where for a comprehensive list of specific waste items.
Putting your bin out correctly
Follow these steps to ensure your bin is put out correctly:
- Put your bin out the night before your collection day
- Leave a one metre gap between each bin and any obstructions, e.g. trees, cars, power poles
- Place bins close to the road with handles facing your property
- Ensure bins are closed
- Do not overfill bins or leave rubbish beside them (overfilled bins will not be collected)
- Bins must not weigh more than 80 kilograms
Recycling bin lid stickers
Our contractors are placing stickers on the lid of all recycling bins across the shire. This sticker is a friendly reminder that no glass is to be placed in the yellow lid recycling bin and highlights the materials that are currently accepted.
Sticker example:
If you would like a sticker posted to you to place on the bin yourself, call our Customer Service team on (03) 5422 0333 or mrsc@mrsc.vic.gov.au
Where does your waste go?
Recycling collected from your household recycling bins is taken to Australian Paper Recovery (APR) where it is processed and sent for recycling.