Glass-only bin FAQs

Broken glass contaminates paper, cardboard, plastic and metal making them less valuable and more difficult to recycle. Keeping glass separate has a huge impact on the quality of other recyclable materials, and will help create a more resilient and environmentally responsible collection service for our community.

Lids

Lids need to be removed.

• METAL Beer bottle caps/lids
  These can go in the yellow-lid recycling bin. They are small but made of a metal that can be sorted with a magnet, so they can go to the recycling centre.
• METAL wine bottle screw caps
  These small metal lids are aluminium and not magnetic and will get lost in mixed recycling collection. If you collect them all into a larger aluminium can they could be recycled. Otherwise put them in the landfill bin.
• PLASTIC lids - small
  Lids smaller than a credit card, like from milk and juice bottles, will jam up the sorting machines, so please remove them from plastic containers and put them in the landfill bin. Some kindergartens will accept them for craft projects, and some charitable organisations will recycle them.
• PLASTIC lids - large
  

  If the lid is larger than a credit card AND have the number 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 on it in a triangle, it can go in the recycling bin.

Collars/rings

The collars around the neck of a wine bottle, for example, can stay on the bottle when you put it in the glass-only bin.

Labels

Paper labels can stay on the bottles and jars.

The glass-only bin is only for bottles and jars. These might include:

• drink bottles
• pasta sauce jars
• condiment jars
• make up containers
• medicine jars

It does not accept mirrors, light globes, crockery, window panes, or other household glass.

These must go in your landfill bin, with the exception of light globes which are ewaste and must be taken to a transfer station.

Having space to store a new bin might be a concern for some people, but putting glass in the recycling bin is no longer an option. You cannot opt out of the glass bin service, even if you choose not to use the bin.

You know your property best and may need to re-assess or reconfigure your current bin storage area to accommodate the fourth bin. The glass-only bin gets collected every four weeks, so it doesn’t need to be as accessible as your other bins, and it might be easier to store it somewhere else on your property.

If you live in a multi-unit residence with a body corporate you might benefit from a shared bin arrangement. Contact us if you think this is the case for you.

You sure can.

There is no cost to downsize bins.

If you would like an extra glass-only bin there is a yearly fee.

If you would like a larger glass-only bin there is a once-off fee.

View the forms and costs - https://au.openforms.com/Form/c357cfe3-29ac-491c-9596-684029f92aa3

https://au.openforms.com/Form/0f1915c6-454a-4029-83ee-12d0288f2c3a

The fourth bin for recycling glass, will be collected every four weeks.

We did a trial of the bin size and four week collection in October 2019 and for most people it was the right frequency.

In some households the bin for glass will hardly have anything in it after four weeks, and that’s ok, it’s still important to keep the glass out of the recycling bin.

For others the bin will be overfull (especially if you've had an event during that time). In that case you can:

• keep it aside for the next collection
• ask your neighbours if they have space
• bring the extra to the transfer station for free (up to 0.5m3).

If it is consistently overfull, you might consider getting a slightly larger bin.

Here's what the collection frequency will look like with the new service:

That’s OK. You can put the glass-only bin out every collection or once a year, whatever works best for you. Glass, however, must be kept out of the recycling collection.

If you find you occasionally have too much glass, talk to your neighbours about the extra space they might have in their bin, or you can bring up to 0.5m3 to the transfer station free of charge.

If it is consistently overfull, you might consider getting a slightly larger bin.

We did a trial of the bin size and four week collection in October 2019, and for most people it was the right frequency.

We know that in some households the bin for glass will hardly have anything in it after four weeks.

We also know for others it will be overfull (especially if you've had an event during that time).

If you find you have too much glass occasionally, talk to your neighbours about the extra space they might have in their bin, or you can bring up to 0.5m3 to the transfer station free of charge.

If you consistently have more glass than the bin can hold, consider upgrading to a larger bin.