Indigo Shire (VIC) bin day, recycling & waste collection

Waste & recycling

Indigo's kerbside service is set by zone. In the urban zone, households have three bins: a red-lid general waste bin and a yellow-lid recycling bin, collected on alternate weeks, and a green-lid organics bin (food and garden) collected every week. In the rural zone there is no organics bin — households have the red and yellow bins only. The council says you can't opt out of parts of the service, though you can pay to upsize the rubbish or recycling bin.

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.

See the full explainer, with formulas →

Bin collection at a glance

General waste (red lid): Every second week; 140-litre bin in urban areasCollected on the alternate week to recycling. A 240-litre bin is available for a higher charge.
Recycling (yellow lid): Every second week, 240-litre binCollected on the alternate week to general waste; a 360-litre bin is available for a higher charge. Soft plastics can go in the yellow bin tied in an orange collection bag — pick up bags free from the Beechworth, Chiltern, Rutherglen or Yackandandah customer centres, or the Tangambalanga General Store.
Organics (green lid): Weekly, 240-litre bin — urban zone onlyFood and garden organics, including meat bones and facial tissues. Households get a kitchen caddy and a roll of 156 council-supplied compostable liners each year; only the council's liners may be used (or paper towel / newspaper). Mandatory in the urban zone; not available in the rural zone.
Glass: In the yellow recycling bin — no separate glass service yetThe council says it is still determining how and when it will introduce the separate glass service required by the state's four-stream reform (checked September 2026).
Find your bin day: By town, or the 2026 collection calendarMonday: Rutherglen, Wahgunyah. Tuesday: Beechworth, Yackandandah, Stanley, Kergunyah, Kiewa/Tangambalanga. Wednesday: Huon. Friday: Barnawartha, Chiltern. The calendar shows which bin goes out each week. Put bins out the night before.Bin days and calendar →
Transfer stations: Beechworth (1620 Diffey Road) and Rutherglen (53 Cornishtown Road)Beechworth: Friday–Monday; Rutherglen: Friday–Sunday. Hours are 1–5pm from 1 April to 30 November and 9am–1pm from 1 December to 31 March. Closed on Good Friday, Anzac Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, catastrophic fire-danger days and in extreme heat. EFTPOS only — no cash. 2026–27 fees include $63.00 per cubic metre of household waste ($11.30 minimum) and $24.40 per cubic metre of clean green waste; cardboard, sorted recyclables, e-waste, scrap metal and car batteries are free. Asbestos, paint, chemicals, concrete and bricks are not accepted.Transfer stations and fees →
Bulky / hard waste: No kerbside hard-waste collection — two transfer-station vouchers a year insteadEach property gets two vouchers with the first rates notice (September), each for one free load of up to 1 cubic metre of hard waste at Beechworth or Rutherglen — also accepted at the Wodonga and Tallangatta transfer stations. Only paper vouchers are accepted; tenants should ask their agent or owner.
Free green-waste weekends (2026): 23–25 October and 30 October–1 NovemberProperty owners can drop off domestic green waste free at Beechworth and Rutherglen on these dates. Free mulch is available (self-load) whenever the transfer stations are open.
Missed, damaged or extra bins: Online bin service request formReport a missed collection, a damaged or stolen bin, a new service or a bin upsize. New homes need a certificate of occupancy.Bin request form →

Bin colours and frequencies are as the council describes them on its own pages in September 2026. The 2026–27 kerbside charges (on your rates notice) are $128.00 for an urban 140-litre rubbish bin or $217.00 for rural rubbish, $119.00 for recycling and $202.00 for organics — so a standard urban three-bin service is $449 a year and a standard rural two-bin service $336 (our sums). Transfer-station recyclables go to Cleanaway's facility at Lavington, NSW, the council says.

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.