Join the War on Waste

If we all get on board with small changes to reduce our waste, we can make a big difference to how much rubbish goes needlessly into landfill.

We all need to do our bit to protect this extraordinary place we call home and reduce the amount of waste heading to landfill.

NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) charge a levy on all waste facilities and this cost is then passed onto Councils. Each year the waste levy increases to encourage the reduction of waste going to landfill and to promote recycling. The current waste levy is nearly 2.5 times more than what is was for 2009-2010.

Simple choices add up and help reduce the amount of waste we generate. Choose to refuse and re-use.

• Use reusable coffee cups, water bottles and shopping bags.
• Put a ‘no junk mail’ sticker on your letterbox.
• Opt out of getting paper copies of the Yellow and White Pages.
• Use your bins correctly. For example, over 5% of our red-lidded bin is made up of recyclable plastics or paper/cardboard.  Ensure recyclable plastic containers are placed in the yellow bin and not the red-lidded bins, and that recyclable paper/cardboard is placed in the blue bin.
• Recycling of soft plastics:  Soft plastics make up over 7% of our red bin waste by weight and take up a lot of space in your bin. You can take these to your local supermarket and pop them in the REDcycle bin
• Decrease food waste: Food waste makes up the largest amount of waste in our red-lidded bins (over 40%). You can attend a composting or a worm farming workshop at Kimbriki (subject to COVID restrictions) and receive a voucher from Council to get your own compost bin or worm farm (T&Cs apply). Council is also currently examining options to significantly reduce the amount of food entering the red bin.
• Use our A-Z guide to reuse and recycling to see where you can reuse or recycle numerous items.
• Check out our video: Be the best version of you and avoid the red bin when you can

What is Council doing?

We are:

• Committed to diverting 85 percent of waste from landfill by 2040. Find out more in our Environment and Climate Change Strategy 2040
• Investigating ways to recover more resources from food waste, soft plastics and our bulky goods collections. For example, we are currently undertaking a market assessment to consider what collection and processing solutions of soft plastics may be suitable for the Northern Beaches into the future, to enhance the Northern Beaches circular economy.

• Holding textile collection events so the community are able to get rid of their unwanted fabrics and clothing. Textiles make almost 5% of our red bin waste. 
• Supporting Worn Up in a trial period of recycling school uniforms in poor and at ‘end of life’ condition.

Attend a workshop

Learn and find ways to reuse, repair and recycle used items. Attend one of our workshops and help save the planet. Choose from many of the activities listed below, such as fermenting foods, keeping backyard chickens or make money selling unwanted stuff online.... check out these interesting activities to get involved and reduce your impact.  

 Waste Reduction Webinars & Workshops