Council’s garbage trucks encourage safe battery disposal

15 April 2025

With new fires happening every week, Hawkesbury City Council is reminding the community to be battery safe and dispose of batteries correctly.

Two of the Council’s garbage trucks now carry bright red signage reminding customers not to bin their batteries. They should instead drop them for free at the Hawkesbury Community Recycling Centre in South Windsor, the Deerubbin Centre in Windsor, local supermarkets and Bunnings or check bcycle.com.au.

Mayor Les Sheather said: “Council has a whole range of measures in place to help residents to be responsible when it comes to reducing waste that goes into landfill and disposing of hazardous and toxic materials.

“These include our Online Waste Guide, our Rebately program to encourage the purchase of recyclable batteries, nappies and personal hygiene products, our Community Recycling Centre and educational videos.

“Council is constantly working to tackle the challenge of excessive waste, and the pollution it can cause, to keep our community safe, our service costs down and our environment in pristine condition – but we need your help.”

Online Waste Guide

Council’s Online Waste Guide This external link will open in a new window helps residents work out which items are recyclable, which ones must go in the red bin and which items can be dropped off for free at Council’s Waste Management Facility (WMF) in South Windsor.

For example, old BBQs can be disposed of at the Metal section of the WMF for free.

Waste Collection Days can also be checked on the Waste Guide page and for really tricky questions you can fill in a form to ‘Ask a Waste Expert’.

Waste Surveys show that, on average, 18% of the red lid general waste bin contains items that could have been recycled, and 38% of material in red bins is compostable.

Council has some easy-to-understand animated videos to help residents to sort their garbage successfully and keep recyclables and garden waste out of landfill. They are: Lifting the lid on recycling This external link will open in a new window and Journey beyond the kerbside This external link will open in a new window.

Here are the Top 5 Things to keep OUT of the recycling bin:

• Soft, scrunchable plastics go into the red bin
• Recycling that’s tied up in plastic bags. Keep it loose to ensure it’s recycled
• Clothing - clothes can get stuck in the sorting machines. Instead, drop off at the Hawkesbury Community Recycling Centre
• Polystyrene
• Food scraps - ensure your recycled containers are completely empty

Remember to recycle:

• Paper and cardboard
• Glass bottles and jars
• Aluminium and steel cans
• Milk and juice cartons
• Empty rigid plastic bottles and containers from your kitchen, bathroom and laundry

To rinse or not to rinse

No need to rinse containers before putting them in the recycling bin. They just need to be empty and dry.

Rebately Program

Hawkesbury City Council is working with digital platform Rebately to offer rebates for households that purchase reusable nappies, reusable sanitary products, rechargeable batteries and chargers. For more information and to apply for your rebate, visit: https://rebately.co/hawkesbury/ This external link will open in a new window

Easter holidays and garbage collection

Household bin collections continue as normal, even on public holidays, however, the Community Recycling Centre and Waste Management Facility are closed throughout the Easter holidays.