At a glance
- Four bins
- Household waste (red lid, weekly), mixed recycling (yellow lid, fortnightly), FOGO food and garden organics (green lid, fortnightly), glass (purple lid, every four weeks)
- Put bins out by
- 6am on collection day, handles and wheels facing the house, openings facing the road, 50cm apart
- Hard waste
- No kerbside hard waste service; take it to the Ballarat Transfer Station, 119 Gillies Street South, Alfredton. Eligible homes get two free vouchers a year
- Transfer Station hours
- Monday to Friday 8am to 4pm; weekends and public holidays 10am to 4pm
- Glass drop-off change
- The council says its Pass on Glass drop-off sites will be removed from 30 November
- Who it’s for
- Ballarat households, including new residents and renters who have not sorted four bins before
- What to do now
- The council has a digital waste calendar where each address looks up its own collection days
- Last checked
- Monday 9 November 2026, against the City of Ballarat waste and recycling pages
- Not yet confirmed
- Transfer Station fees (the council says it is updating prices from 1 July 2026 and the fee table was not part of the pages we read), and Christmas and New Year bin day changes, which the pages do not list
Ballarat households have four bins: a red-lid household waste bin collected weekly, a yellow-lid recycling bin and a green-lid FOGO (food and garden organics) bin collected fortnightly, and a purple-lid glass bin collected every four weeks. Bins must be out by 6am on collection day. This guide is built from the City of Ballarat’s own waste and recycling pages, checked on Monday 9 November 2026.
Which bin is collected how often?
| Bin | Lid and size | Collected | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Household waste | Red, 140L | Weekly | Waste that cannot be recycled; goes to the Ballarat Regional Landfill |
| Mixed recycling | Yellow, 240L | Fortnightly | Clean paper, cardboard, cans and certain plastics |
| FOGO | Green, 240L | Fortnightly | Food and garden organics, turned into compost |
| Glass | Purple, 140L | Every four weeks | Glass bottles and jars |
The council does not publish one fixed day for everyone. You search your address in its digital waste collection calendar, which can also produce a printable PDF for the year. Some of the council’s pages call the FOGO lid “lime green” and others say “green”, and the household waste page mentions a “dark green” lid as well as red.
What goes in the household waste bin?
The red bin takes things that have no other home: clothing and textiles, crockery and ceramics, disposable nappies, drinking glasses, halogen and incandescent bulbs, mirrors and broken window glass, pet waste and kitty litter, polystyrene, heat-proof dishes such as Pyrex, and soft plastics such as bags, food wrappers and bubble wrap. Plastics with recycling codes 3, 4, 6 and 7 also go here.
It must not hold asbestos, batteries or e-waste of any kind, building or trade waste, compact fluorescent tubes, hazardous chemicals, used oil, paint, recyclable items, rocks and soil, or food and garden waste. The council says almost 22,000 tonnes went to landfill in 2024/25 from 53,000 homes.
What goes in the yellow recycling bin?
- Clean paper, cardboard, newspapers, magazines, office paper and egg cartons.
- Pizza boxes, if clean of food and oil.
- Aluminium and steel cans, and empty aerosol and deodorant cans.
- Foil scrunched into a ball larger than a golf ball.
- Plastic bottles and containers with recycling codes 1, 2 and 5.
Keep items loose, not in plastic bags. Glass, coffee cups, paper towel, tissues, codes 3, 4, 6 and 7, building waste and soft plastics do not belong in this bin. The council’s tips are to rinse containers, flatten cardboard and put in only plastics from the bathroom, kitchen and laundry. Recycling goes to APR, a materials recovery facility in Truganina.
What goes in the FOGO bin?
FOGO takes fruit and vegetable scraps, raw and cooked meat and bones, dairy, seafood shells, eggshells, coffee grounds, grass clippings, leaves, small branches, weeds, flowers, paper towel, tissues and newspaper. It is collected fortnightly and processed into compost at Green Care Mulching. The service is mandatory for households with a residential waste collection, with no opt-out.
It cannot take glass, metal, nappies, wet wipes, coffee pods, tea bags, liquids, plastic bags, food packaging, cling wrap, pet waste, kitty litter, soil, rubble, building materials, large branches or tree stumps. For smell, the council suggests a caddy liner, a shaded spot, a closed lid, layering grass clippings with food scraps, and freezing scraps until bin night.
How does the glass bin work, and what is changing on 30 November?
Glass bottles and jars go loose in the purple bin, empty and lightly rinsed, with lids removed. That covers wine, beer and spirit bottles, medicine and vitamin bottles, and jars for jam, pasta sauce, pickles and coffee. Broken jars and bottles are fine, but drinking glasses, Pyrex, ceramics, mirrors, window glass, perfume bottles and light globes are not and go in the red bin.
Lids have their own rule: metal lids and plastic lids bigger than a credit card go in the yellow bin, and small plastic lids go in the household waste bin. The council says you cannot opt out of the glass service, because the Victorian Government requires a kerbside glass service. You can put the bin out even when it is not full.
The dated change is on the drop-off sites. The council’s glass page says the Pass on Glass drop-off sites can still be used for a period of transition but will be removed from 30 November. The page does not state the year. Free glass drop-off will continue at the Transfer Station, and the council also points to reverse vending machines for containers eligible under the Container Deposit Scheme.
How do I put the bins out, and what if one is missed?
Place bins by 6am with handles and wheels facing the house and openings facing the road. Keep them 50cm apart, away from parked cars and trees, and do not overfill them or put anything on top. The council lists four reasons a bin may be skipped: it was not out in time, it weighed more than 70kg, it was overfull, or a truck could not reach it. To report a missed bin or ask for a repair or a new one, call Customer Service on 5320 5500 or use the online forms. Repairs to a broken or damaged bin are free, and bins stay with the property when you move out.
Residents of units and townhouses who struggle to store four bins can ask their owners corporation to contact the council about bin sharing. Skip bins need a permit, which the skip bin company applies for on your behalf. The council does not hire out skip bins.
Where do I take hard waste and e-waste?
The council has no hard waste collection. Homes with a council kerbside service receive two free Transfer Station vouchers a year, included in the waste brochure delivered in July. The Ballarat Transfer Station is at 119 Gillies Street South, Alfredton.
| Day | Transfer Station hours |
|---|---|
| Monday to Friday | 8am to 4pm |
| Weekends | 10am to 4pm |
| Public holidays | 10am to 4pm |
| Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Anzac Day, Good Friday | Closed |
It may also close in extreme weather: temperatures above 38 degrees, wind gusts above 60km/h, or fire ban restrictions. Bring photo ID, because prices differ for City of Ballarat residents and others. The site is busiest from 11am to 12pm on weekdays and all day on weekends, so the council suggests arriving before 10:30am or after 1pm on a weekday, with your load sorted and secured.
E-waste must not go in any home bin. Residential amounts of televisions and National eWaste Scheme products, such as computers, laptops, tablets, monitors, printers and routers, are accepted free at the Transfer Station. Small items have free drop-off points: batteries, mobile phones and light bulbs at The Phoenix, 25 Armstrong Street South, and the same plus small electronics such as keyboards and radios at Sebastopol Library and Wendouree Library.
What about soft plastics?
Soft plastics are banned from the yellow bin, but City of Ballarat runs a pilot program for eligible households. You register online, are accepted, then collect orange bags from The Phoenix, the Operations and Environment Depot at 2 Trewin Street in Wendouree, or the Ballarat, Sebastopol and Wendouree libraries. Fill the bag with empty, dry, scrunchable plastic until it is tight like a basketball, tie it with a double knot, and put it in the yellow bin. Only the council’s orange bags are accepted; any other bag is treated as contamination. The council says residents outside the City of Ballarat and other participating municipalities cannot take part, and Woolworths has become a soft plastics drop-off location.
Sources
- City of Ballarat: Bin collection at your home (bin sizes, placement, missed bins; checked 9 November 2026)
- City of Ballarat: Your household waste bin, mixed recycling bin, FOGO bin and glass bin (what goes in each; checked 9 November 2026)
- City of Ballarat: Hard waste and Electronic waste (vouchers, drop-off points; checked 9 November 2026)
- City of Ballarat: Transfer Station (hours, rules; checked 9 November 2026)
- City of Ballarat: Soft Plastics Collection Program (checked 9 November 2026)
Featured image: container deposit scheme bins at Burwood, Victoria, not Ballarat (photo: Pru.mitchell / CC BY 4.0) (text added)
OZ Local Updates is an independent local guide and is not affiliated with the City of Ballarat. Collection days and rules can change.