Waste & recycling
When your bins go out, and how Newcastle handles recycling and bulky waste. The city 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 garden-organics bin collected fortnightly (alternating with recycling). The green bin is garden-organics only for now — a combined food-and-garden (FOGO) upgrade to a weekly green bin is scheduled for mid-2027. To find your collection day, use the council's bin collection days 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)
- FortnightlyPaper, cardboard, glass, hard plastics, steel and tin cans (collected by Cleanaway).
- Garden organics (green lid)
- FortnightlyGarden organics only for now; a FOGO (food + garden) upgrade to a weekly green bin is scheduled for mid-2027.
- Bulky / hard waste
- 2 bulk-waste services per rolling 12 monthsSelf-haul voucher or on-demand kerbside pick-up, up to 2 m³ each; booking required.
- Problem waste & drop-off
- Summerhill Waste Management CentreFree/subsidised drop-off for chemicals, e-waste, sharps and other household problem waste.
- Find your bin day
- Enter your address on the council's bin collection days pageSee the link below.
Newcastle's green bin is garden-organics only at present; the council's FOGO upgrade (weekly green bin taking food scraps) is scheduled for mid-2027. Bin frequencies 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.