{"id":758382,"date":"2026-06-25T02:13:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T02:13:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/758382\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T02:13:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T02:13:25","slug":"green-bin-rules-surprising-items-you-can-actually-put-in-and-the-one-you-absolutely-cant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/758382\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Bin Rules: Surprising items you can actually put in (and the one you absolutely can\u2019t)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Food scraps and dinner leftovers belong in the green garden organics bin<\/a>, not the red general waste bin<\/a>, a common mistake made by Australian households.<\/p>\n

Despite being a staple of the driveway, the green organics gardening bin is actually the most misunderstood of the big three household bins (red general waste, yellow recycling, and green organics gardening<\/a>).<\/p>\n

According to Cleanaway\u2019s 2026 Recycling Behaviours Report<\/a>, many households are still accidentally sorting their waste into the wrong categories.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Confusion over what can go in each household kerbside bin is common.\u00a0Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/p>\n

Yasmin Assis, a Sustainability Officer at Cleanaway, told nine.com.au that while rules can vary slightly by council, the majority now welcome food organic waste<\/a> alongside your garden clippings.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost councils do allow food scraps<\/a> in the green bin,\u201d Assis said. \u201cSo food leftovers, food that\u2019s been in your fridge, anything that\u2019s mouldy, any salad that\u2019s slimy, carrot peelings, leftover rice, mouldy cheese, and weeds from your garden (excluding priority weeds), can go in your green garden organics bin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next time you\u2019re cleaning out the fridge<\/a>, it\u2019s worth checking your local council\u2019s guidelines to see just how much you can divert from the red bin.<\/p>\n

There is one item that could be a little more confusing when it comes to deciding which bin to place it in: Medications, which shouldn\u2019t go in any of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cMedications should not go in your household bin. You can take them to a participating pharmacy for safe disposal<\/a>,\u201d Assis said.<\/p>\n

She added that these also cannot be washed down the sink or flushed down the toilet because they pose a contamination risk.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the yellow recycle bin, which continues to cause confusion, particularly when it comes to so-called \u2018recyclable plastics\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that would probably be one of the most common mistakes that we do see in the kerbside bins. A lot of people will bag their recyclables or just put loose plastic bags in them.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Food scraps and dinner leftovers can go in your green bin\u00a0Jo Abi<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Medications need to be taken to a participating pharmacy for safe disposal.\u00a0Jo Abi<\/p>\n

\u201cSo plastic bags or any you can scrunch up with your hands, including lolly packets, should not go into your recycling bin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some hard plastics can, including water bottles and other similar containers that \u201cmaintain their form\u201d.<\/p>\n

Again, Assis recommends checking your local council website for specific rules which can vary.<\/p>\n

Food refuse can be placed in the recycle bin as long as they are \u201cclean, empty, there is no food inside, and they are not to greasy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Then there are takeaway coffee cups, which can\u2019t go into the recycle bin due to their plastic lining and plastic lids.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Not all recyclable plastics can go in the yellow bin after all.\u00a0Jo Abi<\/p>\n

This is one of the most common items mistakenly placed in the recycle bin.<\/p>\n

Assis also stressed the importance of ensuring no electrical, wired, or battery-operated rubbish is placed in any of the three kerbside bins as they pose a fire risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Food scraps and dinner leftovers belong in the green garden organics bin, not the red general waste bin,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-758382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}