Waste & recycling
When your bins go out, and how Cessnock City Council handles recycling and organics. The council runs a three-bin kerbside service: a red-lid general-waste bin collected weekly, a yellow-lid recycling bin collected fortnightly, and a green-lid organics bin collected weekly. The green bin is a combined food-and-garden organics (FOGO) service — food scraps were added to garden organics from 30 June 2025, and each household received a kitchen caddy and compostable liners. To find your collection day, use the council's waste-service address lookup.
New to these terms? Read them in plain English
- FOGO
- The green bin that takes food scraps as well as garden waste.
- Bulky / hard waste collection
- Pickup or drop-off for large items that don't fit in your bins.
- Community Recycling Centre (CRC)
- A free drop-off for 'problem' waste like paint, batteries and oils.
- General waste (red lid)
- Weekly
- Recycling (yellow lid)
- FortnightlyAlternates week-to-week with the green organics bin; confirm your zone on the council's waste page.
- Food & garden organics (green lid)
- WeeklyFOGO — food scraps (cooked or raw) plus garden clippings, collected together each week. Food was added to the garden-organics service from 30 June 2025; households received a kitchen caddy and 150 compostable liners. Organics enquiries: 1800 870 250.
- Bulky / hard waste
- No scheduled free kerbside pickup — drop-off appliesCessnock does not currently run a free annual bulky-waste kerbside collection; a bulk kerbside pick-up service is being investigated through the draft Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy 2026–2031. Large items can be taken to the Cessnock Waste Management Centre (disposal fees apply). Confirm current arrangements on the official waste site.
- Problem waste & drop-off
- Cessnock Waste Management CentreDrop-off point for household and bulky waste and recyclables; some items are accepted free and others attract a fee. Check accepted items and charges before you go.
- Find your bin day
- Council's 'Your Waste Service' address lookupSee the link below.
Cessnock's green bin is a combined food-and-garden (FOGO) service, collected weekly. Bin frequencies, sizes and fees can change — confirm your collection day and current fees on the official sources below.
Sources — check it yourself
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.