Yellow lid Recycling Wheelie Bin
Check your bin day HERE
As recycling wheelie bins are collected fortnightly, your property is scheduled as either Week 1 or Week 2. Use the Recycling Wheelie Bin Fortnightly Service Calendar as a helpful reminder of which week we are up to.
Top Tip | Remove all lids and give a quick rinse/ scrape out of food or liquids. Put your recyclables loose in the bin - no plastic bags.
Where do my recyclables go?
Recyclables can be placed in your yellow-lid recycling wheelie bin, or self-hauled to be dropped off for free in the Commingled recycling bin in the Recycling Area at all waste management facilities in the Rockhampton Region.
In 2019, the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) which was located at Parkhurst and contracted to Rockhampton Regional Council and other surrounding councils, was destroyed by fire caused by the disposal of hazardous waste (batteries!!).
Since then, kerbside recycling collection trucks have been unloading at Lakes Creek Road Waste Management Facility. From there, the recovered materials are loaded into bulk haul semi-trailers and transported to MRFs outside our region for processing.
As of 18 October 2022, Rockhampton Regional Council, on behalf Livingstone Shire Council, Gladstone Regional Council, Central Highlands Regional Council and Banana Shire Council (together, the 'Participating Councils'), are inviting submissions for tender for a regional solution for ‘Recyclables Processing Services’.
Delivery of the services may be from either:
• a MRF to be constructed within the Region;
• from an existing MRF(s); or
• any combination of MRF delivery solutions.
Tenders for this service will close in January 2023. Further updates will be provided once the tender has been awarded.
What is recyclable?
Paper and Cardboard | Remove plastic wrap, polystyrene packaging and squash boxes flat.
- Cardboard (all except waxed)
- Clean pizza box lid
- Junk mail and newspapers
- Clean food and egg cartons
- Loose office paper
- Envelopes - plain or windowface
- Telephone directories, books and magazines
- Toilet paper rolls
- Matchboxes
- Wrapping paper and greeting cards (preferably low gloss)
- Empty milk and juice cartons
Aluminium and Steel | Scrape/ rinse out all content remnants.
- Softdrink cans
- Beer cans
- Coffee cans
- Food can/ tins
- Pet food tins
- Empty aerosol deodorant and paint cans
- Clean aluminium or tin foil (as scrunched ball 5cm wide)
- Metal lids over 5cm wide
Plastic containers | (On hard moulded plastics look for the numbered 1-7 recycling symbols)
The only exception to this rule is Styrofoam/Polystyrene items - they are not recyclable in CQ
- Detergent containers
- Ice cream containers and lids
- Juice bottles
- Milk bottles
- Household/ takeaway containers
- Lunchboxes
- Butter/ margarine tubs and lids
- Sauce bottles
- Shampoo/ toiletry bottles
- Softdrink bottles
- Yoghurt containers
- Plastic cups
Glass | All clear, green and amber glass bottles and jars.
- Oil, Sauce and Vinegar bottles
- Jam jars
- Juice and Soft drink bottles
- Alcohol bottles
- Medicine bottles
Collection points for other recyclables
Chemicals and drums
Both drumMUSTER and ChemClear are national product stewardship programs funded by a 6c per lt/kg levy on participating manufacturers products, collected by AgStewardship Australia Ltd.
These programs aim to reduce the quantity of unused or obsolete Australian agricultural and veterinary chemicals and their clean, empty metal or plastic containers stored on properties and in businesses across Australia - reducing negative impacts on the environment, people and trade in the future.
Chemicals and containers eligible for collection for FREE under the program will display the drumMUSTER/ChemClear logo on the container.
For more information visit ChemClear and drumMUSTER.
Containers for Change
To help improve our recycling efforts and keep our beautiful environment litter-free, Containers for Change scheme lets people get a 10 cent refund for each eligible container returned to a refund point.
What containers are eligible for a refund?
Most aluminium, glass, plastic, steel and liquid paperboard beverage containers between 150ml and 3 litres are eligible for a refund.
Drink containers generally consumed only at home (eg. cordial, plain milk, wine and spirit bottles, condiments and cleaning) are excluded.
Look for the refund mark; "10c refund at collection depot in participating state/ territory of purchase".
Visit Containers for Change website for frequently asked questions and to search for container refund points.
E-Waste
E-waste is the term used for unwanted or unused electronic goods. E-waste can be recycled into new electronic goods. It cannot be placed in your wheelie bin. E-waste can be disposed of for free at the following Waste Management Facilities:
- Lakes Creek Road
- Gracemere
Items accepted include:
- Personal and laptop computers (any brand) including monitors, internal hard drives, CD drives
- Computer accessories e.g. mice, keyboards, web cameras, USBs, modems, all cables
- Tablets, notebooks, palmtops
- Printers, faxes, scanners
- Televisions.
Items NOT accepted include:
- Game consoles
- Video recorders and DVD
- Whitegoods and household appliances
- Power tools
- Non-computer batteries
- Radios and stereo equipment.
Officeworks also accepts e-waste and customers can take up to five items from computer systems including; desktops, laptops, computer mice, monitors, printers, scanners, multifunction printers, keyboards, computer power supplies, printed circuit boards, motherboards, network cards, disks and CD drives. Items not accepted include; televisions, gaming consoles and electronic games, software, digital cameras, electronic equipment, videos and hi-fi equipment. Monitors with broken screens if they can’t be safely handled by our team members.
Household batteries
- ALDI Stores (Only AA, AAA, C, D, 9v - any brand, rechargeable or not)
Nespresso Capsules
- Lakes Creek Florist
- Every Blooming Thing
Paint
An Australian paint industry-led initiative to divert unwanted architectural and decorative paint and packaging from landfill for both household and trade painters. Funded through a 15c plus GST per litre levy on eligible products.
Paintback accepts a maximum of 100 litres per visit to a collection site of unwanted paint and packaging (wet or dry) in containers no larger than 20 litres.
Eligible products include;
- Deck coatings and floor paints
- Interior and exterior architectural paint (typically not a specialty coat, industrial maintenance or original equipment manufacture)
- Packaging (plastic and metal containers in which paint was originally sold in)
- Primers
- Sealers
- Stains and shellacs
- Undercoats
- Varnishes and urethanes (single components)
- Wood coatings
Not accepted products are also listed on the paintback website.
Printer Cartridges
Planet Ark are the host for the printer cartridge recycling program paid for by manufacturers. If your workplace uses more than 3 cartridges a month you can receive a free collection box. Organise through Planet Ark.
Or use the following local free drop off points:
- Lakes Creek Road Community Recycling Centre
- Australia Post
- Harvey Norman
- JB Hi-Fi
- The Good Guys
- Officeworks
Soda Stream Cylinders
- Kmart
- The Good guys
- Thomo's Betta Electrical
- Big W
- Spotlight
Cylinder is cleaned, inspected and refilled for reuse.
Soft Plastics
Soft plastics are not recyclable in the yellow lid wheelie bin. The REDcycle Program is the only way to keep plastic bags and soft plastic packaging out of landfill. Visit the REDcycle website for drop off locations.
Terracycle
Stationery (pens and pen caps, mechanical pencils, markers and marker caps, permanent markers, and permanent marker caps)
- Buy the TerraCycle Zero Waste Box from Officeworks, price includes shipping and recycling costs.
Towels
Alma Street Veterinary Hospital (no sheets or blankets)
Helpful resources