Recycling

Marrickville Council provides a recycling collection service to houses and units in the Marrickville Local Government Area. The recycling collection service is part of Council's comprehensive waste strategy that allows residents to contribute to our shared protection of the environment through recycling.

Recycling not only reduces the amount of waste for disposal, but saves raw materials too. Sydney buries a tonne of waste per household every year, very few countries produce more. Every one of us can do our bit for the environment by recycling as much as possible and putting only the correct materials into your yellow lidded recycling bin.

Houses are provided with a 240 litre yellow-lidded bin collected fortnightly.
Units are provided with 240 litre bins collected fortnightly. Each bin is shared between two units.

If you are unsure about which week your recycling is collected, download Waste and Recycling Zones (PDF) and follow the simple steps listed below.

Scroll down to your address.
Look under the Zone heading on the spreadsheet to determine which zone your address belongs to - A or B.
To view or print a copy of your recycling calendar, please click on Calendar A (PDF) or Calendar B (PDF).
Please note your zone dates by looking at the weeks marked in yellow.

What items go into my recycling bin?

It is very important that you only place the correct items into your recycling bin. If the incorrect materials are found in your recycling bin it will not be picked up. Your recycling bin is for the following materials ONLY:

Glass bottles and jars	Aluminium and steel pots and pans	Aerosol cans	Aluminium and steel cans
Newspaper, cardboard and paper	Milk and juice cartons	Plastic bottles and containers

Please ensure that bottles, cans and cartons are empty and clean and that cardboard boxes are flattened.2

Wash

Squash

Remove Lids

Flatten

What items do not go in my recycling bin?

Please do not place any of the following items into your recycling bin. If any of these items are found in your recycling bin it will be stickered with a yellow rejection sticker and will not be collected. If this occurs please remove the incorrect materials from your bin and place out again for normal collection.

Plastic Bags	Nappies	Green Waste
Medical Waste	Foam	Food Waste

Tricky items

VISY has produced a list of items where it may not be immediately clear whether they are recyclable. In some cases, it also includes some additional instructions on how to recycle them:

Item	Can it go in the recycling bin?
Aluminium foil	YES, if scrunched up into a ball a size of a fist.
Aluminium foil trays	YES, as long as clean.
Light plastic food containers (e.g. strawberry/cherry tomato containers)	YES.
Hard plastic yoghurt/margarine container lids	YES, as long as the lid is attached to the container. Lids larger than 5cm in diameter can go in separately.
Plastic bottle lids	YES, as long as the bottle is emptied, squashed to get rid of the air from inside, and the lid attached loosely. Lids larger than 5cm in diameter can go in separately.
Metal jar lids, beer bottle caps and wine bottle screw caps	YES.
Plastic containers for take-away food	YES, as long as they are clean.
Take-away coffee and drink cups	NO. There are many different types of take-away cups and, while some are recyclable, others don't break down in the paper pulping process due to their high "wet strength" material content). VISY advises not to put these cups in the recycling to avoid contamination (unless they are specifically marked as recyclable).
Pizza boxes	YES and NO. Empty pizza boxes with a bit of grease can be recycled, but if the greasy bottom half of the box is covered with food scraps it needs to go into the compost or garbage bin, while the clean lid can be torn off and put into the recycling bin.
Pringles containers	NO. This product contains a number of different materials (cardboard, metal and plastic) and it is too difficult to separate them in the recycling process.
Flower pots	NO. Many flower pots are made from a lower grade plastic that isn't recyclable. Flower pots may also contain garden chemicals and dirt which contaminate recycling. Some flower pots may also be too big for the recycling sorting machinery.
Photographs	NO, due to the chemicals and the high "wet strength" material used in photographs.

What if my recycling bin is damaged/lost/stolen?

Missing or stolen bins

If your bin goes missing, please call Customer Service during business hours on 9335 2222. A replacement fee will be required in accordance with Council's current Schedule of Fees and Charges. Upon payment of the fee, we will conduct a search for the bin and if it is found, the fee will be refunded in full.

Replacement fees vary depending on bin size, and a discount applies for pensioners. Please visit this page to download the current fees and charges document, and refer to the "Resource Recovery Services" heading.

Damaged bins

If your bin is damaged, please call Customer Service during business hours on 9335 2222. It will be determined upon inspection whether your bin can be repaired or needs replacing.

If your bin is damaged as a result of normal wear and tear or damaged by the collection crew, a replacement bin will be provided free of charge. This will be determined upon inspection. Should your bin be intentionally damaged, a replacement fee will occur in accordance with Council's current Schedule of Fees and Charges. Please note that the fee is to be paid first via credit card or in person at Council's Citizens' Service Centre before a replacement bin is delivered.

Where does my recycling go when collected?

Recycling once collected by Marrickville Council trucks is taken to the Visy Material Recycling Facility at Burrows Road, St Peters. Material Recycling Facilities (MRF) are designed to sort mixed recyclable material into different products for reprocessing and returning to the market. This is achieved through a combination of staffed and mechanised 'positive' sorting.

Find out what happens to your recycling and see how each individual product is recycled:

Recycling has real returns! Find out how much 1 tonne of recycled paper or cardboard saves.

Recycling involves breaking down the materials of a used product and using those materials to make something new. Find out what each product you recycle is turned into:

How important is recycling right?

It is very important that everyone in Marrickville Council recycles right. Putting the wrong things into your yellow lidded recycling bin can cause contamination to a whole truckload of recycling. Find out what an employee of Visy and an employee of Marrickville Council involved in the Recycling process have to say.

If you need help with your bins and what goes into each please contact the Citizens' Service Centre online or phone 9335 2222. Marrickville Council can provide your block of units or house with educational material that includes brochures, stickers and laminated posters for bin areas. A time can also be arranged for Councils Waste Education Officer to visit you to help.

The good news

In 1 month Marrickville citizens recycle approximately 620 tonnes of materials. This is equivalent to 103 truckloads per month which no longer goes to landfill. While this is an excellent effort we can still achieve more. If you find you have too much recycling for one bin, an extra recycling bin can be provided to you free of charge. Please contact contact Council's Citizens' Service Centre online or phone 9335 2222.

If you would like a smaller recycling bin as a result of a medical condition/physical disability or limited storage area this can also be provided. You will need to contact the Citizens' Service Centre online or phone 9335 2222. You can also download and print off a form below:

Link to Request for a Smaller Recycling Bin form

Residents who want a smaller bin due to a medical condition or physical disability will need to provide us with a doctor's certificate giving full details of condition and we will provide the bin free of charge. Those residents who need a smaller bin for storage/access reasons will need to pay a fee.

Steel Can Steve's Recycling Adventure

Image of Steel Can Steve First came Superman, Spiderman and Batman, but now there is a new superhero on the scene - Steel Can Steve, the steel can recycling hero!

Steel Can Steve, an animated character, has featured in an advertisement promoting steel can recycling. Click here to view the advertisement.

Marrickville Council, in collaboration with Visy Recycling and six other councils, has joined forces in creating an advertisement to educate communities on the importance of steel can recycling.

Steel cans are one of the least collected recyclable materials with only 44% of Australians recycling their steel cans. With substantial room for improvement, Council hopes you can do your part by recycling steel cans.

Just remember to wash and squash your steel cans before placing this in your recycling bins.

If you can't view the Steel Can Steve advertisement, please download Windows Media Player.

Related Sites

Visy Recycling