Recycling and disposal

Central Coast Council was one of the first councils to introduce kerbside recycling. All of the Central Coast’s kerbside recycling is delivered to a materials recovery facility located at Somersby. The resulting commodities are sorted and transported to a range of markets both nationally and internationally for recycling into beneficial products.

In 2020, residents of the Central Coast recycled approximately 29,300 tonnes of recyclables which:

• saved over 80,700 cubic metres of landfill
• prevented 14,720 tonnes of greenhouse gases being produced, equivalent to permanently removing 3,534 vehicles from the roads
• saved more than 487 thousand gigajoules of energy, enough to power 2,259 homes for one year
• saved 485 thousand litres of water, equivalent to 194 Olympic swimming pools of water, equivalent to the annual water usage of 5,188 people.

Check out the A-Z Recycling Guide on the 1Coast website to learn more about what items are accepted in your yellow lid recycling bin.

Soft plastics household recycling

Central Coast Council has launched a household soft plastics recycling program. The program, which is run by our partners iQRenew and CurbCycle, aims to provide a simple, fun and rewarding way for you to recycle soft plastics from the comfort and safety of your home using your Council yellow lid recycling bin. All residents who live in the Central Coast local government area (LGA) who have access to a smart phone can opt-in to participate in this free program. Here’s how to get involved:

1. Download the Curby App
2. You’ll be sent CurbyPacks for the collection of household soft plastics
3. Once you’ve received your packs, you’ll be able to put soft plastics into your yellow lid recycling bin

Visit the Curby website to learn more and register. 

Scrap metal products

Central Coast Council collects and recycles over 5,500 tonnes of scrap metal per year. Scrap Metal is accepted at our waste facilities free of charge. All scrap metal taken to our facilities is 100% recycled.

Accepted items include car bodies (not LPG), microwaves, washing machines, dryers, fridges, freezers, dishwashers, bikes, bbqs, trampoline frames, air conditioners, car tyres on rim (maximum four) and all other primarily metal containing products.

Council will also collect these items from your kerbside (with the exception of tyres on rims which are not accepted in this service), utilising one of your free six (6) kerbside collections per annum. Scrap metal is recovered from the tip face for recycling, where possible.

Hazardous waste

Visit our disposing hazardous waste page for information on disposing items such as asbestos, household chemicals, needles, sharps and syringes.

Electronic waste (e-waste)

Central Coast Council collects and recycles over 117 tonnes of e-waste per year. E-waste is the waste associated with electronic equipment such as computers, televisions, printers and includes non-metal electrical items that do not contain liquid.
 
About 95% of all e-waste products are recyclable. E-waste can contain a broad range of materials, including precious metals (such as gold and platinum), heavy metals such as lead, phosphorus, mercury, selenium and cadmium, metal circuitry, mixed plastics, fire retardants and glass that are recovered and recycled.
 
Unfortunately e-waste is one of the most common items placed in household bins and bulk kerbside collections. This is not only a missed opportunity to retrieve precious metals, but also unnecessarily consumes our limited landfill space.
 
We accept any electrical product with a cord that does not contain liquid. Visit the 1Coast website to see full list of e-waste items accepted. Residents can drop off unlimited quantities of e-waste items for free at any of our Waste Facilities.

Mobile phones

More than 90% of the plastics and metals in mobile handsets are recyclable and can be used to make fence posts, stainless steel products, jewellery and pallets. To recycle an old phone, simply drop them off at any of our Waste Facilities.

Don't let mobiles go to landfill or waste away in your drawers. You can help reduce e-waste by recycling your old mobiles and accessories with MobileMuster. Simply drop them off at over 3500 public drop off points including all major mobile phone retailers, including Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, and Samsung stores.

Mattresses

Recycling mattresses not only saves limited landfill space, it also saves resources.

Council retrieves mattresses from landfill at our waste management facilities daily. Mattresses are then stripped to acquire, reuse and recycle the metal components, which are sent to our contractors for recycling into various new products.

You can dispose of a mattress at one of Council’s Waste Facilities for an additional fee. Mattresses can also be collected for free through the bulk kerbside collection service, which is available to most households. Visit the 1coast website to learn more about bulk kerbside collection. View our Fees and Charges.

Electricity generation from landfill gas

Central Coast Council, in partnership with landfill gas management contractors has developed gas extraction and electricity generation facilities at its landfill sites.

When buried in anaerobic conditions (without oxygen), organic waste generates the greenhouse gases methane and carbon dioxide. Methane is extracted from the landfilled areas via a network of pipes inserted into areas of the landfill then filtered and burned in a generator creating electricity.

Approximately 25,000 megawatt (MW) hours of electricity is produced each year from our landfill sites - enough to power 4,300 houses annually. In addition, the destruction of landfill generated methane has also resulted in the removal of the equivalent of 148,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere - the equivalent of taking 13,410 cars off the road for a year!