Changes to Bin Collection Schedules

To improve our kerbside bin service as our city continues to grow, we recently introduced collection schedules in several areas across Newcastle.

This will help us to provide all residents with a more reliable and punctual service.

The new schedules started between Monday 1 August and Friday 5 August, where:

  • 14,000 households switched collection weeks for their Recycling and Garden Organics bins.
  • 2,000 households in Rankin Park and Wallsend also started to have their bins serviced on a new weekday.

To view your current collection schedule, please enter your address in our Waste Collection Search.

Should you have any questions, please contact us at waste@ncc.nsw.gov.au or on 4974 2000.

Please note:

  • Your kerbside bin service is not changing. Your 140-litre General Waste (red lid) bin will continue to be serviced weekly. Your 240-litre Recycling (yellow lid) and 240-litre Garden Organics (green lid) bins will continue to be serviced fortnightly on alternate weeks.
  • Even if your collection schedule is staying the same, your bins may be collected at a different time of day than previous. It's therefore important to have your bins on the kerb by 5am on collection day.

Frequently asked questions

We changed some households’ collection schedules to ensure all kerbside bin services can run smoothly across the city, both now and in the future.

Significant housing growth, particularly in the western suburbs, had led to an imbalance in the number of households our collection trucks needed to get to each day. This was causing service delays, especially on Fridays with services often deferred to the weekends.

The revised collection schedules will allow for a more even distribution of bins that require servicing throughout the week.

The changes were modelled upon evolving and predicted waste needs across the city, to help make our collections more resilient to the growing demands of new housing development. This will help our drivers to carry out collections on time, providing a more reliable kerbside waste service for all residents.

About 20% of households across the Newcastle local government area switched waste collection "areas". This means they now have their Recycling (yellow lid) and Garden Organics (green lid) bins collected on the opposite week to what they did previously.

Two thousand households in Rankin Park and Wallsend were also given a new bin collection day. Most households in Rankin Park moved from a Friday to a Monday service, and about a third of Wallsend households now have their bins serviced on a Thursday. You can find your current collection schedule by using our Waste Collection Search.

Please note: No change was made to the overall kerbside waste service provided to residents. All households will continue to receive a weekly General Waste (red lid bin) collection, a fortnightly Recycling collection and a fortnightly Garden Organics collection.

If your household was affected by the change, you should have received a new collection schedule from City of Newcastle in your letterbox.

If you did not receive a new collection schedule but believe you should have, please contact us at waste@ncc.nsw.gov.au or on 4974 2000.

If you are subscribed to our Assisted Household Waste Collection Service, one of our team members will continue to retrieve your bins in accordance with your new collection schedule.

You do not need to make any arrangements for this service to continue.

Newcastle residents can drop off household recyclables, free of charge, through our Sort & Save service at Summerhill Waste Management Centre. Conditions apply.

Summerhill Waste Management Centre is located in Wallsend and is open from 7:30am–4:45pm on weekdays and 9am–2:45pm on weekends.

You can also deposit empty drink containers—including cans, bottles and cartons—for a 10-cent reward at designated Return and Earn points. Most single-serve drink containers are eligible for a refund through the scheme.

Where possible, set aside small branches and prunings until your next scheduled green lid bin service, and refer to your revised collection schedule to make an informed decision on when to next mow your lawn.

If you do need to mow, grass clippings are high in nitrogen and are suitable to leave on your lawn every now and then. They can also be used as a mulch in garden beds or added to a home compost bin. When adding grass to a compost, make sure to balance it with carbon-rich material such as dried leaves, saw dust, shredded brown paper, coffee grounds and wood ash.

Excess garden organics can be dropped off at Summerhill Waste Management Centre in Wallsend. Charges apply. Summerhill Waste Management Centre is open from 7:30am–4:45pm on weekdays and 9am–2:45pm on weekends.

All waste and recycling must be placed inside your bins. The lids of your bins should be able to close.

Any items placed alongside, or on top of, bins will not be collected. This includes bagged or boxed items.
You can drop off extra household (yellow lid bin) recyclables through our Sort & Save service at Summerhill Waste Management Centre. This service is available free of charge to Newcastle residents. Conditions apply.

Our drivers cannot return to your property to service bins that were not presented on time. You will need to wait until your next scheduled collection day.

If you receive notification of a collection schedule change, please read your new schedule carefully and remember to have your bins on the kerb by 5am on collection day.

If you live on the boundary of two waste collection areas, different households—particularly those on opposite sides of the street—may have their yellow lid and green lid bins serviced on different weeks. Their bins may also be serviced on a different weekday.

Please refer to your collection schedule for guidance on which bins to put on the kerb and on what day to present them.

If you presented the correct bins by 5am on your collection day but we did not empty them, please lodge a missed service request.

While your collection schedule may not have changed, your property may now belong to a new collection route. As such, our trucks may arrive in your street at a different time of day than you are used to.

It therefore remains important for all residents to have their bins on the kerb by 5am on collection day. If that sounds a bit early for your liking, you can put them out the evening prior.

We are proposing to build an organics processing facility at Summerhill Waste Management Centre that will allow us to collect and process both food organics and garden organics, diverting it from landfill.

The timeframe around the kerbside collection of food organics is currently being considered by Council.

You can read more about the proposed facility on our Have Your Say page.