Waste & recycling
Every Cardinia household has a red-lid rubbish bin collected weekly and a yellow-lid recycling bin collected fortnightly. A green-lid food and garden waste bin, collected fortnightly, is optional and charged separately. The council has not yet introduced the Victorian Government's separate glass bin: in February 2026 it voted to delay it, so glass bottles and jars still go in the yellow bin. Use the council's address lookup to find your bin day.
New to these terms? Read them in plain English
- Bulky / hard waste collection
- Pickup or drop-off for large items that don't fit in your bins.
Bin collection at a glance
- Rubbish (red lid)
- Weekly80- or 120-litre bin, maximum 70 kg. The council asks you to bag your rubbish. Every household must have one.
- Recycling (yellow lid)
- Fortnightly240-litre bin. Paper, cardboard, plastic bottles and containers, cans, and glass bottles and jars, placed loose (not bagged). Mirrors, window glass and broken drinking glasses don't go in it.
- Food and garden waste (green lid)
- Fortnightly — optional, extra charge120- or 240-litre bin, ordered from the council for $108.70 or $138.70 a year (2026–27). Food scraps and garden waste, with a free kitchen caddy; no plastic bags. The council's draft waste strategy says this opt-in service will move to a standard service for all households under the state's kerbside reform; the state requires food and garden organics services by 2030. The strategy doesn't give a Cardinia start date.Order a bin →
- Glass
- In the yellow bin — no separate glass bin yetAt its 16 February 2026 meeting the council voted to delay the state's glass-only (purple-lid) bin until the Victorian Government endorses service standards, and to ask for more time. The council's position is that its current system already recovers most glass. The state requires a glass service by July 2027, and the council says it is still planning for that deadline.Council statement (reprint) →
- Hard waste
- Bookable kerbside collection, up to 4 m³ a yearTaken as one booking or two smaller ones, with two extra paid collections available (council's draft Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy, February 2026). Bookings are made through a portal run by the council's contractor, Cleanaway.Book hard waste →
- Drop-off
- Privately run transfer stations, plus free council drop-off daysThe council lists Future Recycling Transfer Station Pakenham, Cleanaway Lysterfield, Drouin Waste Recyclers, Grantville Transfer Station, Veolia Hampton Park Outlook and the Frankston Regional Recycling and Recovery Centre. They set their own fees and rules. The council's free green waste drop-off days for 2026–27 were 'under review' in July 2026.Waste drop-off →
- Find your bin day
- Council address lookupBins are collected as normal on public holidays.Check your bin day →
We describe the bins the way the council does: its bins page calls the organics bin 'green lid', while its waste strategy uses the state's 'lime green'. The council's website refused our requests, so we read the bins and drop-off pages from Wayback Machine copies made in July and September 2026; check the live pages for changes. The council expects to adopt its Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy 2026–36 in late 2026.
Sources — check it yourself
- Cardinia Shire Council — Bins and collections (read from a Wayback Machine copy of 14 Sep 2026) · Sep 2026
- Cardinia Shire Council — Waste drop off (read from a Wayback Machine copy of 28 Jul 2026) · Jul 2026
- Creating Cardinia — Shape our future waste services (draft strategy, FAQs) · Sep 2026
- Cardinia Shire Council — Draft Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy 2026–2036 (PDF) · Feb 2026
- The National Tribune — Council calls for more time on new bin rollout (reprint of Cardinia Shire Council release, 17 Feb 2026) · Feb 2026
- Cleanaway — Cardinia Shire hard waste collection booking portal · Sep 2026
- Victorian Government — Standardising household recycling across Victoria · Sep 2026
Figures are current as at the dates shown and may change — always confirm with the linked source. See the notice at the bottom of the page for full details and how to report a correction.