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Waste & recycling

Waste & recycling

How Knox's household bins work today. Homes have three bins: a rubbish bin with a red lid and a recycling bin, each collected every two weeks, and a food and garden bin with a green lid, collected every week. Recycling bin lids are being changed from blue to yellow, starting on 20 July 2026. Glass bottles and jars go in the recycling bin. Bins go out by 6am, and collections go ahead on public holidays. Use the council's address lookup to find your collection days.

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

Rubbish (red lid)
Every 2 weeksThe standard bin is 80 litres; a 120-litre bin costs extra. For soft plastics, nappies, take-away coffee cups and wrapped broken glassware. Not for batteries, e-waste, chemicals, paint or building materials. You can ask for a free extra rubbish bin if your household has extra medical waste or two or more children in disposable nappies.What goes in this bin →
Recycling (blue lid, changing to yellow)
Every 2 weeksPaper and cardboard, hard plastic containers, steel and aluminium cans, and glass bottles and jars (lids off). Put items in loose, not bagged; soft plastics don't go in. From 20 July 2026 the council is changing more than 60,000 lids from blue to yellow, to match the state's standard colours. Leave your recycling bin out until 6pm on collection day until your lid has been changed; collection carries on as normal either way. The council asks you to contact it only if you haven't got a yellow lid by 1 February 2027.What goes in recycling →
Food and garden (green lid)
Every weekFood scraps (including meat, bones and dairy), garden prunings and branches under 10 cm across. Line the kitchen caddy with lime-green compostable liners (AS4736), newspaper or paper towel, or use no liner. Residents can order one free roll of liners every six months. The service has been compulsory since 2023; you can opt out only if you compost all food and garden waste at home.What goes in this bin →
Bundled branches
Every 2 weeks, on your rubbish bin dayBundles tied with natural twine, no more than 30 cm across, 1.5 m long and 30 kg. Garden waste in your own rigid container (under 55 litres, no food scraps) is also collected.How to put out branches →
Glass (separate bin)
No separate glass bin — glass goes in the recycling binThe council says the Victorian Government wants every council to give households a purple glass bin by mid-2027. In August 2026 the council said Knox was among 39 Victorian councils calling on the state to pause the rollout and look at expanding the Container Deposit Scheme instead. The council says independent modelling puts the cost of a glass service at about $1.43 million a year, or about $27 per household.Changes to bin lids →
Hard rubbish
2 booked collections a year per householdBook online: if you book Monday to Wednesday, collection is the next week; Thursday to Sunday, the week after. Items up to 30 kg and 1.5 m (fridges and mattresses excepted; mattresses limit 2). Not accepted: building materials, asbestos, chemicals, tyres, gas bottles, green waste. The 2026–27 budget lists an additional hard waste service at $136. Properties with private collections aren't eligible.Book hard rubbish →
Drop-off
Knox Transfer Station and Recycling Facility, 251 George Street, Wantirna SouthPhone (03) 9887 4222. Fees apply for many items, charged by volume or weight; check opening hours and gate prices on the transfer station's website. The council also lists other paid sites nearby, including the Whitehorse and Monash recycling and waste centres.Transfer station →
Find your bin day
Council address lookup, or the July–December 2026 waste calendarCheck your bin day →

We describe the bins the way the council does. The cost of the bin service is billed as a separate Residential Garbage Charge on your rates notice (see Rates & fees). Lid colours, charges and the glass-bin timetable are changing, so check the council's pages 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.