Waste & recycling
How Port Phillip's household bins work. Houses and single-unit dwellings have a red-lid garbage bin (120 litres as standard) and a yellow-lid recycling bin (240 litres). Properties with space for another bin also have a green-lid food and garden organics (FOGO) bin. The council empties all three once a week, on the same day. Apartments share bins with the rest of the building. There is no separate kerbside glass bin: glass bottles and jars go in the recycling bin, or in one of the council's communal glass bins.
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.
Bin collection at a glance
- Garbage (red lid)
- WeeklyThe standard bin for a house is 120 litres. You can switch to an 80-litre bin for an $82 rebate on your rates, or pay $326 a year (2026–27) for a 240-litre bin or a second 120-litre bin. Coffee cups, soft plastics, broken glass and crockery, nappies and pet waste go in this bin.Bins and collections →
- Recycling (yellow lid)
- WeeklyPaper and flattened cardboard, glass bottles and jars, rigid plastics coded 1, 2 or 5, and steel and aluminium cans and foil. Put items in loose, never bagged. No coffee cups, long-life cartons, shredded paper, soft plastics, or window and mirror glass.What goes in recycling →
- Food and garden organics — FOGO (green lid)
- Weekly, for properties with space for the bin — $90 a year (2026–27)Food scraps (including meat, bones and bread), grass clippings, prunings and leaves. No tea bags, coffee pods or pet waste. Liners are optional; if you use them, they must be lime green and certified compostable (AS 4736 or AS 5810). The council says only properties with a garden and space for another bin get a kerbside FOGO bin; everyone else can use a communal FOGO hub. A free kitchen caddy and liners can be collected from any of the five library branches.About FOGO →
- Glass
- No separate kerbside glass bin — use the recycling bin or a communal glass binThe council runs 80 communal glass and FOGO hubs in local parks and reserves, and since February 2026 accepts glass bottles and jars at its Resource Recovery Centre. The state requires councils to offer a glass recycling service by 2027. The council's Waste and Recycling Strategy 2025–28 includes introducing a kerbside glass service and moving houses and townhouses to fortnightly garbage collection; on the pages we could read, no start date is given.Find a communal hub →
- Hard and green waste
- Houses: 4 booked collections a year; apartment buildings: 6 shared collectionsIncluded in the waste charge. Up to 2 m³ of green waste and 2 m³ of hard waste per collection, sorted into three piles (hard waste, green waste, and metal, appliances and e-waste). Items must be under 50 kg and 1.5 m long. No building materials, soil, chemicals, paint or asbestos. Put items out no more than 24 hours before collection; mattresses are collected separately. Book online, or phone 03 9209 6777.Book a collection →
- Drop-off
- Resource Recovery Centre, corner of White and Boundary Streets, South MelbourneFor Port Phillip residents (bring ID showing your address). Open Monday to Friday 7.30am–3.30pm and weekends 9am–1pm; closed on public holidays. Takes green waste, cardboard, glass, paint (up to 50 litres), e-waste, small metal, oils and some appliances; fees apply to landfill waste and mattresses. No chemicals, asbestos, building materials or soil. The council doesn't run a tip.What's accepted →
- Find your bin day
- Address lookup map, or Monday to Friday by areaMonday Albert Park, Tuesday St Kilda and St Kilda East, Wednesday St Kilda and Elwood, Thursday Middle Park and St Kilda Road, Friday Port Melbourne — the street boundaries are on the council's page. Bins are collected on public holidays except Christmas Day.Check your bin day →
We describe the bins the way the council does. The council's website refused our requests in September 2026, so these details come from the council's pages as archived between May and August 2026 — check the council's pages for any change. The 2026–27 charges come from the council's rates and waste pages as archived in July and August 2026. Bin charges are also on the Rates & fees page.
Sources — check it yourself
- City of Port Phillip — Bins and collection services (read from an archived copy) · Jun 2026
- City of Port Phillip — Guide to recycling bins and services (read from an archived copy) · Jun 2026
- City of Port Phillip — Dispose of your food and garden organics (FOGO) (read from an archived copy) · Jun 2026
- City of Port Phillip — Communal glass recycling and FOGO recycling hubs (read from an archived copy) · May 2026
- City of Port Phillip — Hard and green waste collection services (read from an archived copy) · Aug 2026
- City of Port Phillip — Resource Recovery Centre (read from an archived copy) · Jul 2026
- City of Port Phillip — Managing our waste together (2026–27 charges, Waste Strategy 2025–28) (read from an archived copy) · Aug 2026
- City of Port Phillip — Glass recycling at the Resource Recovery Centre (24 Feb 2026) (read from an archived copy) · Feb 2026
- Victorian Government — New recycling laws and governance (glass by 2027, FOGO by 2030) · Sep 2026
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.