Green garden waste


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Garden waste

Garden waste, also called green waste or garden organics, includes items from your garden such as leaves, grass clippings, garden prunings, small branches and weeds.

You can place garden waste in your home compost or green garden waste bin. You can also take garden waste to the Mugga Lane Resource Management Centre or hire a trash pak or skip.

Do not place garden waste in your recycling or landfill bin. It can create harmful greenhouse gas methane in landfill. Dispose of it correctly so that it can be made into compost and mulch products.

Green garden waste bin collection

The ACT Government provides a fortnightly green garden waste bin collection service.

Green garden waste bins are optional and there is a one-off registration fee*. The bin is registered to the address and must remain at the property if you move. You cannot order additional or larger green garden waste bins, there is only the 240-litre option. Please make sure your bin weighs less than 50 kg so the truck can lift it.

See the bins page for more information including collection dates.

Order a green garden waste bin

You can order a green garden waste bin for a one-off registration fee*.

If you live in an apartment or townhouse with shared waste facilities, ask your building management to apply for you.

*Green garden waste bins are free if you hold an ACTION Gold Card, Department of Veterans' Affairs Gold Card, Centrelink Pensioner Concession Card or ACT Seniors Card.

Order a green garden waste bin
Order a green garden waste bin - strata

What goes in your green garden waste bin

The green garden waste bin is for organic garden waste. This includes:

  • grass clippings
  • weeds
  • garden prunings
  • leaves
  • flowers and
  • small branches no longer than 45 cm and with a diameter less than 10 cm.

Do not put compostable bags, plastic bags, building waste, animal waste, manure, soil, or treated timber in your green garden waste bin. Read our garden waste brochure (PDF 11.4 MB) to find out what goes in your bin.

Unless you are part of the FOGO pilot, do not put food waste in your green garden waste bin. See the A-Z guide to recycling and waste for food waste disposal options.

Drop off garden waste

You can drop off your residential garden waste at the following locations:

Trash pak and skip hire

The following trash pak and skip bin services collect garden waste (fees apply):

FOGO pilot program

Some Canberra suburbs are part of a food organics and garden organics (FOGO) pilot program. Participants in Belconnen, Bruce, Cook and Macquarie, and some apartments and townhouses in Tuggeranong, can place food scraps along with garden waste in their FOGO bin (which looks the same as a green garden waste bin). For more information see FOGO.

Video

Watch the video to find out more about green garden waste bins.

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Acknowledgement of Country

We acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as traditional custodians of the ACT and recognise any other people or families with connection to the lands of the ACT and region. We acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.

To see how we are building stronger relationships with the Traditional Custodians of the ACT view the Reconciliation Action Plan.