General rubbish bins

General rubbish bin collection

We collect your general rubbish bin once a week on the same day as your recycling bin. If you pay a waste charge on your rates you can use this service. You can find out more about the waste charge on our Understand your rates page.

Our general rubbish bins have a dark green or red lid and a standard size of 80 litres.

You need to sort your waste into 4 different bins. Food scraps will no longer go in your general rubbish bin and will go in your new food and garden organics bin, which you received in June and July. Go to our Your new bins page for more information about these changes.

To find out when your general rubbish collection will be, enter your address below. 

For a printed waste collection calendar contact us on 9240 1111.

• Where should I put my bin for collection?

  Put your bins out by 5:30am on your bin collection day. You can also put your bins out the night before.

  Put your bin on the kerb at the edge of your street. Make sure the bin is facing the street and that there are no objects within 30cm (such as a car, tree or another bin).

  Any waste left beside or on top of the bin will not be collected.

  If your street is a court or cul-de-sac, place your bins along the straight part of the kerb.
  
  Below are some diagrams that show this placement.

  

  

• What can't go in my garbage bin?

  Make sure that you are putting the right items into your recycling bin and your food and garden organics bin. The items that belong in these bins should not go in your garbage bin.

  The following items also cannot go in your garbage bin:

  • asbestos
  • e-waste
  • batteries (take these to a household battery recycling drop off point)
  • excavation material or building rubble (trade waste of any kind)
  • household chemicals, oils, paints or solvents
  • loose dirt, dust, ashes, hair or other similar material
  • glass or other sharp objects (unless you wrap these items)
  • slops, liquid waste or offensive material
  • anything that can go in your recycling bin or organics bin

  You can take some of the items above to a recycling centre or a detox your home site. Our Recycling A to Z page also has information on where you can dispose of a wide range of recyclable items.

• What if I need a new bin or want to change the size of my bin?

  Go to our bin repairs and replacements page for information about how to change your bin or get a new bin. This includes damaged bins, lost or stolen bins, changing the size of your bin or ordering a bin for your property.

• What if I can't fit my garbage in my bin?

  If you have too much garbage to fit in your bin, you can wait until your bin is collected or you can take your excess waste to a transfer station. You can find out about nearby transfer stations on our waste and recycling locations page.

  We do not have a tip or landfill site in Merri-bek.

• More information about waste services

  Our Residential Kerbside Waste Services booklet is about our kerbside waste services. This also has information about composting, hard waste, and local transfer stations.

  Our Waste Services in the City of Merri-bek brochure is about disposing of things that don't go in your bins.

  To request a printed copy you can call us on 9240 1111.

• How do I report a missed collection?

  If your bin was not collected on your usual collection day, please visit our Missed bin collection page.
  

There is a waste management charge in your rates that covers garbage collection. You can find out more about this on our Understand your rates page. The charge also includes recycling, food and garden organics (FOGO) and hard waste collection.

You can find out more about how much waste we are collecting and which companies hold waste collection contracts with us, on our Council services data page.

Can I change the size of my general rubbish bin?

The available sizes for general rubbish are 80 litres (standard), 120 litres or 240 litres.

Households in Merri-bek are able to change to a larger or smaller garbage bin. Changing your garbage bin size will result in a change to your annual waste charge. You can learn more about your annual waste charge on our Understand your rates page. We include this change in your rates notice.

Before you request a larger garbage bin, please consider how you can reduce your household waste.

Shared bins at multi-unit developments and apartment sites

We provide shared bins for multi-unit and apartment sites across Merri-bek. These are for use by all residents at the site. Most shared garbage bins have 240 litres of capacity. They are 3 times larger than the standard 80 litre garbage bins. One shared bin has the capacity for 2 to 3 units.

There have been no changes to your general rubbish bin with the new 4-bin service. Go to our Bins at units, townhouses and apartments page for more information about how the changes will affect you.

• How to use shared bins effectively

  To ensure that everyone at a site can effectively use shared bins you need to:

  • Store the bins in a central location so that everyone can access the bins
  • Agree who will take out the bins for collection and bring them in
  • Assess if the capacity of the different bins is meeting the requirements of the site. Discuss this with your owners corporation or body corporate
  • Ensure shared bins do not weigh more than 30kg and are not overfilled as we will not be able to collect them
• Reducing waste at a multi-unit development or apartment site

  To reduce the amount of general waste produced at your development you can:

  • Order a food and garden organics (FOGO) bin online for your garden and food waste
  • Order a compost bin or worm farm from Compost Community for your food waste

Commercial waste

Information about commercial waste can be found on our Waste for businesses page.