For after hours urgent public health matters including environmental health, radiation safety, food poisoning and communicable disease management phone:
This information is for households with their own individual bins. If you live in a complex with shared waste, please contact your building management to submit a service request on your behalf.
All single residential households in the ACT have:
a 240-litre recycling bin with a yellow lid, collected fortnightly
a 140-litre general waste bin with a red or dark green lid, collected weekly
an optional 240-litre green garden waste bin with a lime green lid. The bin has a one-off registration fee* and is collected fortnightly. *Some concessions apply. See green garden waste for more information.
Some suburbs are part of a food organics and garden organics (FOGO) collection pilot. Households in these suburbs have a 240-litre FOGO bin with a lime green lid which is collected weekly.
Find your bin collection day
Check the bin collection calendar to find out your bin day.
If your bin hasn’t been collected, complete the missed bin collection form or call JJ’s Waste & Recycling on 02 6270 5070 within 24 hours. Please leave your bin on the kerb until it has been collected.
Bin management tips
Put your bins out the night before or by 7 am on collection day.
Put your bins on the kerb with the front of the bin facing the road and the wheels at the back.
Leave a gap of at least 30 cm between bins so the truck can pick up each bin.
Keep bins a minimum of 1 m away from obstacles such as trees, parked cars or poles.
Ensure your bin is not too heavy (less than 80 kg for recycling and general waste, and less than 50 kg for green garden waste).
Make sure bin lids can close completely to avoid littering.
Bring your bins in from the kerb as soon as possible after they have been emptied.
Make sure your bins are clean.
Do not paint or permanently mark your bins.
Multi-unit developments such as apartments and townhouses usually have shared waste facilities. These can vary considerably, and some properties may have hoppers or waste chutes instead of bins.
Bin requests
Please see below for information on how to order new household bins or request a bin service. This includes reporting a damaged, missing or abandoned bin, requesting a larger bin and requesting help taking out your waste and recycling bins.
If you live in an apartment or townhouse, please contact your building management to submit a service request on your behalf. If you manage shared waste for a complex, visit the multi-unit development page.
If you are regularly overfilling your general waste and recycling bins, you can request an additional or upgraded (larger) bin using the online form. Some fees may apply. Options include:
upgrade general waste bin from 140 litres to 240 litres
upgrade recycling bin from 240 litres to 360 litres.
Please note:
There is currently no upgrade or additional bin option for the green garden waste bin.
Each property is entitled to a maximum of 3 additional bins in addition to the standard bin allocations.
Once you complete the form, place your existing bin on the kerb by 7 am the next day. Leave it on the kerb until the request has been complete as our contractor will not cross the property boundary to collect the bin.
cracked, melted or broken body (in this case, the entire bin will be replaced)
damaged handle (in this case, the entire bin will be replaced)
damaged or missing wheel(s) or axle
damaged or missing lid.
Once you have reported it, place your damaged bin on the kerb by 7 am the following day and leave it out until the repair is complete.Our contractor will not cross the property boundary line and retrieve the damaged bin from your carport, garage, behind gates or fences or any other area of your property.
Assistance is available for households where no-one is physically able to take the bins to the kerb. This is a free service for people who are unable to put their bins out due to illness, age or disability. If approved, your bins will be collected and returned from the designated accessible location. There must be no safety hazards, bins must not be overloaded and pets must be restrained.
ACT NoWaste may require medical or other information to support your application and reserve the right to withdraw or refuse assistance.
Please note: This service is only available for houses with their own single residential bins. It is not available for apartment buildings or townhouses with shared bins.
Missing bins are replaced for free within 5 working days from the approval of this form. Please note: the replacement bin can only be delivered to an occupied residence.
If you find an abandoned bin on your property or on public land (e.g. a park or school grounds), please report it to us and our contractors will remove it. The report can be anonymous.
If you have moved into a newly built house, you can request a new set of general waste and recycling bins for free. You can order a green garden waste bin for a fee. We can only deliver your new bins once the residence is occupied.
Bins can also be downgraded or removed. Fees may apply. Once you complete the form, place your bin on the kerb by 7 am the next day. Leave it on the kerb until the request has been complete as our contractor will not cross the property boundary to collect the bin.
Please note: A pro-rata amount will be payable for additional waste services upon the downgrade or removal of this service. For more information on fees and charges please see the fees and charges page.
Please contact Access Canberra on 13 22 81 if you require assistance or have any issues with your bin request.
We aim to complete your request within 5 working days.
Bin inspection and tagging
To encourage better recycling and help us learn more about current waste and recycling behaviours, bin inspections are being carried out on household bins. Find out more about bin inspections and tagging.
Video
Find out more about wheelie bin collections in the ACT.
