Waste & recycling
When your bins go out, and how Forbes Shire handles recycling and waste. Council provides eligible households three 240-litre bins: a green-lidded food-and-garden-organics (FOGO) bin collected weekly, and a red-lidded general-waste bin and yellow-lidded recycling bin each collected fortnightly. Kerbside collection covers Forbes and the surrounding area (roughly 5 km from the CBD) and is run by JR Richards & Sons under a joint contract administered through NetWaste. Households outside the kerbside area use the Forbes Recycling and Waste Depot on Daroobalgie Road or the village landfills at Bedgerabong, Garema and Ootha. To find your exact collection day, use the council's collection calendar below.
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.
Bin collection at a glance
- General waste (red lid)
- Fortnightly240-litre red-lidded bin, collected on alternating weeks with the yellow recycling bin. Contents go to the Forbes Recycling and Waste Depot (FRWD), 341 Daroobalgie Road, where they are landfilled. Bins must be out the evening before collection and must not weigh more than 75 kg.
- Recycling (yellow lid)
- FortnightlyAlternates with the red general-waste bin. Contents are taken to Orange for containerising, then to the Visy materials recovery facility at Smithfield in Sydney for sorting. Recyclables must be loose — not in plastic bags.
- WeeklyForbes has run a FOGO service since 2016. Contents go to Australian Native Landscapes at Blayney to be composted into mulch, potting mix and soils. A kitchen caddy is provided with the green bin — call (02) 6850 2300 if you did not receive one. Council took part in the NetWaste / NSW EPA 'Scrap Together' FOGO education campaign with seven neighbouring councils from September 2025 to February 2026.
- Bulky / hard waste
- One free kerbside collection a year — in 2026, Monday 4 to Friday 8 MayPart of the kerbside contract with JR Richards; offered only to properties already receiving the domestic kerbside service. Maximum two cubic metres, items removable by two people, sorted into four separate piles (scrap metal and whitegoods; e-waste; general bulky waste; bundled garden organics). A letterbox drop and media campaign run at least two weeks beforehand.
- Problem waste & drop-off
- Community Recycling Centre at the Forbes Recycling and Waste Depot, 341 Daroobalgie RoadOpened April 2022; free drop-off, 8.30am–5pm every day except Christmas Day and Good Friday. Takes batteries, paints, motor oils, gas bottles, fire extinguishers, fluoro globes and tubes, smoke detectors, aerosols, mobile phones and X-rays. Household and garden chemicals, pool chemicals, fuels and poisons are NOT accepted at the CRC — they go to the free Household Chemical Cleanout (next: Friday 11 September 2026, 8.30–11.30am at the FRWD). A small drop-off station for globes, batteries, smoke detectors, small e-waste and printer cartridges is at the council office, 2 Court Street.
- Find your bin day
- Council's online collection calendar, the LoopedIn Councils app, or the Waste Hotline 1300 725 415See the link below. Council moved from the iRecycle Forbes app to the LoopedIn Councils app in June 2026.
Kerbside collection is available in Forbes and surrounds (approximately 5 km from the CBD); rural properties outside that area use the FRWD or the village landfills at Bedgerabong (Wednesday afternoon and Sunday morning), Garema (Wednesday morning and Sunday afternoon) and Ootha (controlled access). Businesses have a different arrangement — red and green bins weekly, yellow fortnightly. Bin frequencies, event dates and facility hours can change — confirm your collection day and current charges on the official sources below.
Sources — check it yourself
- Forbes Shire Council — Waste and Recycling: Collection · 2026
- Forbes Shire Council — Bin Info (three-bin service, collection day lookup) · 2026
- Forbes Shire Council — Annual Services (bulky waste, chemical clean-up) · 2026
- Forbes Shire Council — Landfills and waste management facilities · 2026
- Forbes Shire Council — Hazardous Waste Disposal (Household Chemical Cleanout) · 2026
- Recycling Near You — Forbes Shire Council
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.