Waste & recycling
When your bins go out, and how Hornsby Shire handles recycling and bulky waste. A standard house gets a 140L red-lid general-waste bin collected weekly, plus a 240L yellow-lid recycling bin and a 240L green-lid garden-organics bin that alternate fortnightly (so one of the two goes out every week alongside the red bin). The green bin is garden organics only for now — Council has committed to a new food organics collection service from 1 July 2027 to meet the NSW Government's Food Organics mandate, funded partly by a 10% rise in the 2026/27 waste charge. Townhouses, villas and apartments receive a different service level (see the facts below). To find your exact collection day, use the council's 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, 140L)
- WeeklyHouses. Townhouse/villa and apartment complexes receive larger bins (240L–1,100L) collected 2–3 times a week.
- Recycling (yellow lid, 240L)
- Fortnightly (houses); weekly for townhouses/villas & apartmentsAlternates weekly with the green bin for houses.
- Garden organics (green lid, 240L)
- Fortnightly, garden organics only for nowA new food organics collection service is planned from 1 July 2027 to comply with the NSW Government's Food Organics mandate under the POEO Act, funded in part by a 10% rise in the 2026/27 Domestic Waste Management Charge. Full detail on how the new service will be collected (e.g. caddy or bin) had not been finalised at time of writing — confirm with Council.
- Bulky / hard waste (houses)
- 2 free scheduled collections a year (max 3m³ each)Plus a booked, on-call user-pays service for up to 3m³ per booking via the Waste Hotline. Apartments (5 storeys and under) get a monthly scheduled collection instead; larger apartment complexes use a booked, user-pays service arranged by their Strata Manager.
- Problem waste & drop-off
- Free — Thornleigh Community Recycling Centre (drive-through only)Batteries, e-waste, mobile phones, eyeglasses, flattened cardboard, and wearable/reusable clothing, linen and textiles. See the A–Z guide for items not listed.
- Find your bin day
- Enter your address on the council's waste collection dates toolSee the link below.
Hornsby's green bin is garden-organics only at present; a food organics collection service is committed for 1 July 2027, ahead of the NSW-wide 2030 FOGO mandate, but the exact collection method wasn't finalised at time of writing. Bin sizes, frequencies and fees can change — confirm current details on the official sources below.
Sources — check it yourself
- Hornsby Shire Council — What waste and recycling services do I receive? · 2026
- Hornsby Shire Council — Find your waste collection dates (bin-day lookup)
- Hornsby Shire Council — Bulky waste collection
- Hornsby Shire Council — Community Recycling Centre (Thornleigh)
- Yoursay Hornsby — Draft 2026–2030 Delivery Program and 2026/27 Operational Plan (food organics service, waste charge) · Jun 2026
- Hornsby Shire Council — Waste Working Group (FOGO feasibility)
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.