Fact Sheets

If you are unsure which bin to put something in, consult our A-Z of Waste and download the SBRC Recyclopedia app. There you will find information on which bin common materials can go into, or if they need to be disposed of or recycled at your local waste facility directly.

Council is contracting the collection services of JJ’s Waste and Recycling for both recycling and general waste collections. Your recycling bin is collected in a different truck to your general waste bin.

We have waste educators delivering lessons to schools and running community workshops on waste and recycling. The next round of lessons and community workshops will commence in the weeks of Monday 20 February and Monday 8 May. All are welcome at the community workshops where members of the community learn and ask any questions they may have about recycling. Refer to the Council Events page for upcoming workshop dates, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram for any updates.

A study was conducted in 2021 that found organic materials make up approximately 32% of the average general waste bin in the South Burnett. You can divert food/garden materials from the landfill by putting them in a compost bin, worm farm, or feeding them to your pet. Placing acceptable recyclable materials in your yellow-lid bin will help divert a further 32% of materials from landfill. More materials can also be recovered at Waste Transfer Facilities including batteries, oil, paint, tyres, electronic waste, garden waste, mattresses, timber, metal, and more. Refer to the Council waste app or website for more information.

The SBRC Recyclopedia smart phone app is the best way to stay up to date with your bin day. It is available for download on your phone’s App store or through Council’s website. This app provides information on your collection day, local waste and recycling facilities, and an A-Z of what waste can go in which bin. You can also use the Council waste app to set reminders for your bin collection day and manage waste requests to Council. You can also download a customised calendar for your property’s collection days here.

If you are interested in receiving a domestic waste collection service, please contact the Customer Service Centre to lodge a request. Council's waste collection contractor will undertake an assessment to ensure a service can safely and economically be provided. Alternatively, domestic waste is accepted at any of Council’s Waste Facilities.

We have two kerbside waste bins. Your yellow-lid bin is your recycling bin. Your general waste bin may be either red or dark green. Your waste from your general waste bin goes to landfill. Your recycling goes to the Cherbourg Material Recovery Facility and gets sorted and recycled into new items.

Your bin might not have been collected for several reasons. Please ensure your collection day and week is correct for your general waste and recycling services. There may have been an obstacle obstructing the collection vehicle or the bin was too far away from the kerbside. Ensure no obstacles, including other bins, are within 50cm of your bin. If your bin is overflowing or your lid is not closed it will not be collected. If your bin exceeds 70kgs it will not be collected. Please contact Council for further enquiries. You can find our bin guidelines here.

You can report a missed collection via the SBRC Recyclopedia app or by contacting Council.

Additional kerbside general waste or recycling bins are available for purchase through Council. To purchase a bin, consult the SBRC Recyclopedia app or contact Council for more details.

Asbestos or suspected asbestos containing materials needs to be disposed of at designated Council Waste Facilities at Kingaroy and Nanango. It is encouraged that asbestos is not disposed of by domestic customers. Please ensure any material containing asbestos is sealed and double wrapped in black plastic. Provide 48 hours’ notice before arrival. Fines apply if asbestos is illegally dumped or disposed of in your kerbside bins.

Items that are not recyclable or recoverable at a Council Waste Facility or through your kerbside recycling bin. This includes items such as soft plastics, food, soiled items, nappies, and items too small to be recycled (smaller than the palm of your hand). Always remember to check if an item can be recycled rather than disposed. You can do so through our A-Z of Waste.

Items like batteries, full aerosols, paints, chemicals, and e-waste cannot go in your general waste bin. These items are fire hazards and are potentially harmful to our workers and trucks. You can dispose of these items, including concrete, clean fill, tyres, mattresses, and more, at a designated Council Waste Facility.

Make the most of your recycling bin. If you recycle, you can reduce your general waste by about one third. You can reduce your waste by another third by investing in a compost bin or worm farm to reduce your organic food waste, or by taking your green waste to your local Council Waste Facility. Otherwise, live via the waste hierarchy; always looking to avoid, reduce, reuse, or recycle before you dispose to landfill.

Green waste or garden waste can be taken to a Council Waste Facility free of charge. Green waste gets turned into mulch which is free to be collected by the public. Find where and when you can collect your free mulch here.

The following items can be dropped off at your local waste facility for free, cardboard and paper, loose kerbside recycling, e-waste, garden waste, scrap metals, batteries, and motor and cooking oils. Items like mattresses, paints, construction waste, tyres, and household hazardous waste can also be taken to a Council Waste Facility with the addition of a fee.

Ensure your load is sorted and covered prior to arrival. Sorting and covering your load will make the disposal process quicker, easier, and safer. Inappropriate disposal of items at Council Waste Facilities is a costly issue which can lead to many problems. Your load may be inspected upon arrival. Inspections are an important part in managing our Waste Facilities. Here are some reasons why.

Illegal dumping at any of the facilities will result in clean up orders and fines. Cameras are placed throughout the waste facilities to identify any alleged offenders. Any repeated abuse of facilities will result in site usage being reviewed by management.

Scavenging is illegal and will be reported to the police. Any material dropped at any of the waste facilities shall not be removed unless you are authorised by Council to do so.

You can find the opening hours for all waste facilities here. Unmanned waste facilities can only be accessed during daylight hours only.

If your local Council Waste Facility is a locked facility, please get in touch with Council via email or call (07) 4189 9100 to obtain the access code or key.

Kerbside Recycling bins were rolled out during late November 2022. If you believe you should have received a recycling bin but have not, please contact Council’s Waste Management team on 4189 9100 or email info@sbrc.qld.gov.au.

Recycling is a fortnightly service and will be collected on the same day as your general waste bin. Check the Council website, the SBRC Recyclopedia app, or refer to the information attached to your yellow-lid bin upon its delivery for your collection day and week.

State and federal government departments set targets relating to waste to landfill, and resources recovered. The federal and state governments have ambitious targets to divert recycling from being landfilled and that is why they are imposing targets to local governments. It is impossible for us to meet those targets without more kerbside bins to divert material from landfill. SBRC must comply with the changing legislation to meet government requirements. It will cost us more down the track if we do nothing.

Recycling will cost $35.00 for ratepayers in designated waste collection areas for the period 1 January to 30 June 2023. Eligible pensioners will receive a 50% discount for this period. The cost of the service will be included with your usual rates notices.

All materials going to the landfill are subject to the waste levy to be paid by the Council to the State government. SBRC has to recover these costs from residents. The introduction of recycling bins helps reduce levy payments to the State government. The money saved by the Council in terms of less amounts paid to the State government is already considered in calculating the price for the recycling bin service.

The introduction of the recycling bin helps reduce the waste levy payments that SBRC has to make to the State government. The introduction of recycling will also help the Council to claim fundings (when available) from the State government to implement a variety of funding/initiatives for local residents. This may include upgrades to existing waste facilities, and the introduction of more recycling alternatives which mean a better customer experience.

In order to calculate the cost of the new recycling service, the following factors were considered:

• Cost of the new recycling bin
• Cost of collection service on a fortnightly basis
• Transportation to the Material Recovery Facility
• Recycling processing cost at the Material Recovery Facility
• Potential savings of the state government levy due to the diversion of recycling materials from being landfill

Recycling your waste diverts materials from the landfill. Approximately 32% of materials in your general waste bin were found to be recyclable items in a 2021 study. These materials can all be diverted from landfill. Materials that end up in landfill are never used again and are a huge waste of resources. By recycling our materials, we can avoid having to strip raw materials from the earth. This in turn reduces pollution caused in the collection, distribution, and processing of raw materials.

The new yellow-lid recycling bins will be picked up fortnightly. Your general waste bin will still be collected weekly.

Your bin is collected fortnightly on the same day as your general waste bin. The South Burnett region is divided into two collection weeks (Week 1 and Week 2). This means that your bin is collected fortnightly on either Week 1 or Week 2. All households received a letter when their recycling bins were delivered providing further information on recycling bin collection. A sticker was placed on the side of your recycling bin also with your week and collection day. You can also visit the Council website or download the SBRC Recyclopedia app.

Plastic bottles, punnets, and tubs; steel cans; aluminium cans; glass bottles and jars; and paper cartons, newspaper, magazine, and cardboard boxes. All containers should be empty and dry with their lids off. Aerosols need to be empty. All articles need to be loose (not bundled together or in a plastic bag). Items need to be larger than a small yogurt pot. For more information, consult the A-Z of Waste or the SBRC Recyclopedia app.

Anything other than the above cannot go in. No plastic bags, bottlecaps, food, toys, appliances, medical waste, batteries, or textiles like clothes and shoes. Garden waste, nappies, tissues and paper towels, building materials, and household appliances are also unacceptable contaminants. Be sure to consult the A-Z of Waste or the SBRC Recyclopedia app to see which bin an item can go into if you are unsure.

Get creative with it! Use a cardboard box, an old washing basket, a tub, and get the kids to paint it. Recyclables should be rinsed before disposal so there’s no need for a plastic liner. It will make it easier if you have a recycling bin next to every general waste bin in your house so you can separate straight from the source.

No, all recyclable items should be placed loose into the bin. We recommend having a bin inside your home which you tip into your recycling bin regularly.

Yes. Containers for Change and the Container Refund Scheme points are still operating, and you can continue to exchange your eligible containers.

Yes. You can recycle plastic milk bottles. All milk bottles whether they are clear, opaque, made of plastic, or liquid paperboard or cardboard are recyclable. Ensure they are empty and with lids off prior to being placed in your recycle bin.

All the recycling from the South Burnett region will be taken to the Materials Recovery Facility in Cherbourg. Sorting machines and workers will separate materials into the 5 main categories – paper and cardboard, plastic, steel, aluminium, and glass. MRF workers will attempt to remove any large contaminants or bagged materials with their hands, so it is important we are disposing of our waste safely. The output is then baled up and loaded onto trucks and sold for recycling projects. Recycling has created local opportunities and jobs in the region.

Putting the wrong things in the recycling bin is not the end of the world. Neither a bin nor truck with some contamination, is automatically taken to landfill. Recycling loads are all taken to the Materials Recovery Facility where it gets sorted. Though contamination can reduce the quality of the recycling output. Items are separated into material types when they enter the Material Recovery Facility. Filters are in place to take out contamination, though higher levels of contamination do increase the chances of it mixing with the end product. For example, paper is sorted by its lightweight properties – which is mimicked by plastic film. If significant amounts of plastic film ended up in the paper output, it makes the recycling process more difficult. It can also cause machines to break over time which costs us more money to replace.

Recycling moves along systems of conveyor belts, workers, and machines designed to remove contamination and sort materials together based on their properties. For example, paper is light, glass is heavy, steel is magnetic. Paper is separated by its lightweight properties and carried upwards by vibrating machines whereas heavier glass falls. Steel is separated by a magnet, aluminium is separated by an eddy current, and plastics are identified and sorted by hand into the numerous types of plastics to be recycled together. Contaminants that mimic recyclable material properties can end up in the wrong output and ruin the end product.

It is not compulsory to present your bin for collection, though all eligible ratepayers will receive their yellow-lid recycling bin. Your recycling bin will only be collected when presented to the kerbside on your recycling collection day.

Yes. You will still receive a recycling bin. Present your recycling bin as you would your general waste bin on your usual bin day. Check to ensure your recycling bin day is correct.

All households have been provided a flipchart with information regarding acceptable materials and contaminants. Council also has a website on waste services and an app called SBRC Recyclopedia which provides all relevant information and services.

All eligible ratepayers will be delivered a recycling bin free of charge and collection trucks will service all presented bins. If you are a business and need more than one bin, you can order extra bins. Please visit the Waste mobile app – Recyclopedia or contact the Council directly.

Further information on recycling options is available here.

If you are finding that your bin is filling up too fast, you are welcome to request a second bin just as you would for your general waste service. This can be done through the SBRC Recyclopedia app, or through the Council website. Alternatively, you can try saving space by ensuring all recycled boxes have been flattened and that items are being placed in the bin loose.

We have two tip shops which accept any unwanted reusable items rather than disposing to landfill. There is Kingaroy Recycle Shop and Nanango Tip Shop. Find more information on their opening hours here.