Each month, we’re highlighting a tricky waste item that often causes confusion at the bin. Knowing where these items belong helps reduce contamination and keep our waste and recycling systems working properly.
September: Pet Poo
Pet poo can be a surprisingly tricky waste item. Because it’s organic, it might seem like it belongs in your green bin along with food scraps and garden waste. However, pet poo, kitty litter and poo bags should never go in your green organics bin.
Pet waste can contain pathogens, including viruses and intestinal worm eggs, which may not always be destroyed during commercial composting. Keeping pet waste out of the green bin helps protect human health and ensures the compost produced from our food and garden waste is safe and high quality.
Pet poo and kitty litter belong in your red general waste bin.
This includes pet poo collected in bags – even if the bag is labelled biodegradable or compostable. When you’re out and about with your dog, always pick up after them and place the bag in a general waste bin.
A Better Choice:
Pet poo itself may be unavoidable, but the extra waste doesn’t have to be. At home, use a dedicated scoop to transfer pet waste into your red bin rather than using a new plastic bag each time. When you’re away from home, only use as many bags as you need and always take your pet’s waste with you until you find a general waste bin.
Some other tricky waste items:
Shredded Paper
Shredded paper is one of those items that seems like it should be recyclable, but it actually causes big problems at the recycling facility. Once paper is shredded, the pieces become too small and light to sort. They blow around the conveyor belt, contaminate other materials, and can even jam the machinery.
That’s why shredded paper belongs in your red bin.
Whole sheets of paper can still go straight into your yellow bin where they can be properly sorted and recycled.
A Better Choice:
If you’re disposing of documents, try to shred only what you really need to for confidentiality purposes. By doing this, you can reduce waste to your red bin and recycle the paper instead.
Gas Cylinders
Gas cylinders are a common household item that often end up in the wrong place once they’re empty. Small camping canisters, BBQ gas bottles, and similar items can look harmless, but they pose a serious risk if placed in any household bin.
At waste and recycling facilities, gas cylinders can explode or cause fires when compacted or damaged. Even cylinders that feel empty can still contain residual gas, putting workers, equipment and the community at risk.
Gas cylinders should never go in your red, yellow or green bins.
Instead, they should be taken to a Waste Transfer Station where they can be handled safely through the Drop Off for Free program.
This includes common items such as:
- BBQ gas bottles
- Butane canisters
- SodaStream canisters
- Nitrous oxide cream chargers
Gas bottles containing gases such as propane, butane, helium, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen, nitrogen, argon, compressed air and acetylene can all be accepted.
A Better Choice:
Where possible, choose refillable gas options or swap and go programs to reduce waste and avoid disposal altogether.
Tea Bags
Tea bags are a common source of confusion at the bin, particularly because they used to be accepted in the green bin. In 2022, the NSW Environment Protection Authority mandated what can go into organics bins across the state.
The EPA clarified that green bins are for food and garden waste only. Items like tea bags, shredded paper, serviettes, paper towels and pizza boxes were no longer accepted, even if they seemed compostable or were made from paper.
Tea bags should go in your red general waste bin.
They don’t belong in your green bin or yellow recycling bin.
Many tea bags contain plastic fibres to help them hold their shape. When paper and fibre-based products end up in the green bin, they can contaminate the organics stream.
Ensuring that you only place food and garden organics into your green bin helps keep our organics system clean and ensures food and garden waste can be processed safely and effectively across the Port Macquarie Hastings Council region.
A Better Choice:
If you’re looking for a better option, loose leaf tea is a great alternative. Loose tea leaves can go straight into your green bin, where they’ll be composted along with other food scraps.
Aluminium Foil
Aluminium foil often ends up in the recycling bin after meals and celebrations, especially around Easter, when it’s commonly used for cooking, baking and wrapping eggs. While aluminium can be recycled, foil that is small or covered in food residue can’t be properly sorted at the recycling facility and causes problems in the system.
Used aluminium foil should go in your red general waste bin.
Clean aluminium foil can be collected and scrunched into a firm ball about the size of a tennis ball and placed in your yellow recycling bin.
At the recycling facility, powerful magnets and electrical currents are used to separate materials. If foil is too small or flat, it can be missed, while a tennis ball-sized piece is more likely to be sorted correctly.
A Better Choice:
Where possible, choose reusable alternatives like baking trays, containers or silicone baking mats, or reduce foil use altogether by planning meals and storage differently.
Liquid Paperboard Containers (Tetra Paks)
Liquid paperboard containers (commonly referred to as Tetra Paks) often end up in recycling because they carry a recycling symbol and look similar to cardboard cartons. However, they can’t be recycled through our local kerbside system.
Liquid paperboard containers are a composite material, made from layers of cardboard, aluminium foil and plastic. These layers are bonded together and can’t be easily separated at the recycling facility.
Common liquid paperboard containers include:
- Long-life and alternative milks
- Pre-made stocks and soups
- Juices and drink cartons
- Children’s poppers
Liquid paperboard containers should go in your red general waste bin.
They don’t belong in your yellow recycling bin.
There is one important exception. Drink cartons and poppers under 1 litre, with the 10c refund mark on the label, can be accepted through the Return and Earn scheme.
A Better Choice:
Where possible, choosing products with simpler, recyclable packaging, buying concentrated options, or making your own can help reduce composite packaging waste altogether.
Batteries
Batteries are a common household item that should never be placed in any bin. From small button batteries and AA batteries through to larger rechargeable batteries, all batteries can pose a serious fire risk if crushed or damaged during collection and processing.
At waste and recycling facilities, batteries can spark or ignite when compacted. This has caused fires in trucks and facilities across Australia, putting workers, equipment and services at risk.
Batteries do not belong in your red, yellow or green bins.
Instead, they should be taken to a designated battery recycling drop-off point. Find your closest location here.
It’s also important to watch out for embedded batteries — batteries hidden inside everyday items like toys, tools, greeting cards, vapes, e-bikes and small electronics. If an item contains a battery, it should never go in a household bin. Products with embedded batteries can be dropped off for free at the Port Macquarie Waste Transfer Station.
A Better Choice:
Where possible, choose rechargeable batteries and products with built-in USB charging to reduce the number of disposable batteries used at home. Taking used batteries to approved drop-off points also helps recover valuable materials and keeps our waste system operating safely.
Soft Plastics
Soft plastics are one of the most common items mistakenly placed in recycling. These are plastics that are flexible and scrunch easily into a ball, such as plastic shopping bags, bread and produce bags, snack wrappers, cling wrap, chip packets, and soft food packaging.
At the recycling facility, soft plastics wrap around sorting equipment and jam machinery. This causes shutdowns, contamination, and damage that slows down recycling and increases costs.
Soft plastics should go in your red general waste bin.
They don’t belong in your yellow or green bins, even if the packaging has a recycling symbol.
Some soft plastics can also be recycled through dedicated collection points at supermarkets such as Aldi and Woolworths, where accepted items are collected separately from household recycling.
Visit Soft Plastic Stewardship Australia to learn more about the program and the soft plastics accepted at their drop-off points.
A Better Choice:
Even better, look for ways to reduce soft plastic use where possible — choose loose produce, reusable bags and storage containers, products with minimal packaging, and wax wraps. Plastic Free July is the perfect time to rethink plastic habits and pledge to make a change.
Clothing and Textiles
Clothing and other textiles can be surprisingly tricky to dispose of. Many people assume old clothes, shoes, towels or bedding belong in the yellow recycling bin because they’re made from recyclable materials. However, household recycling facilities are designed to sort materials like paper, cardboard, glass, plastic and metal—not textiles. Fabric wraps around conveyor rollers and sorting equipment, causing machinery to jam and forcing workers to stop the sorting line to remove it by hand. It can damage machinery and delay sorting, leading to increased costs.
Clothing, shoes, towels, bedding and other textiles should never be placed in your yellow recycling or green organics bins.
Before throwing them away, consider whether they could be used again. Good quality clothing and household textiles can often be donated to local op shops or charities, helping extend their life and keeping valuable resources out of landfill.
Old sports shoes are accepted for recycling at Hastings Enviro Recycling Hub and may also be accepted at other local shoe retailers.
If an item is worn out, damaged beyond repair or no longer suitable for reuse, it should be placed in your red general waste bin.
A Better Choice:
Buying quality items that last longer, repairing clothing where possible, and donating items you no longer need are all simple ways to reduce textile waste.
Check out the Reuse and Repair Directory to find local op shops, reuse organisations and repair services across our region.
Disposable Coffee Cups
Disposable coffee cups are one of the most common items mistakenly placed in recycling.
While they might look recyclable (and some even carry the recycling symbol), most cups have a thin plastic or wax lining and leftover drink residue that make them unsuitable for the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council yellow bin.
Regardless of labels such as biodegradable, sustainable, or eco-friendly, all disposable coffee cups should go in your red bin.
Coffee cup lids also belong in the red bin. They’re too small to be processed through our local recycling facility – they can get stuck in other waste items causing contamination, or get caught in machinery, causing costly blockages.
A Better Choice:
Simply Cups collect disposable coffee cups to be recycled. Find your local drop off point here.
Even better, ditch the takeaway cup altogether: bring your own reuseable cup or take a moment to sit in and enjoy your coffee.
Knowing where tricky waste items belong helps reduce contamination and keeps our waste and recycling systems working safely and efficiently across our region.
Waste and recycling systems change over time, and the information on this page is current at the time of publishing for the Port Macquarie Hastings Council area. We’ll update this page as changes occur.
