Christmas waste tips

Batteries should never be disposed of in household bins as they pose a significant health and safety risk to humans and the environment and can potentially cause fire hazards in waste vehicles and processing facilities.

Toys, remote controls, light-up ornaments, artificial candles.

Where possible, remove batteries from these items before disposal.

Tape the terminals of old batteries and place them in a glass jar. Batteries can be dropped off for free at Council’s collection stations, located at Penrith City Library’s branches, or Penrith Community Recycling Centre.

Alternatively, click here for other collection points near you.

Items containing embedded batteries (E.g. rechargeable devices such as solar powered fairy lights, mobile phones, gaming remotes, remote control toys, blue-tooth headsets, e-bikes, and e-scooters)

Rechargeable devices generally contain lithium-ion batteries, which can be extremely hazardous when disposed of incorrectly. These items can be taken to Council’s free community e-waste resource recovery drop-off events, held at The Kingsway Playing Fields, Werrington to reduce risks to environmental health and safety.

For information about the next e-waste event on Saturday 8 March, 2025, click here.

Additionally, many of these items can be thoughtfully disposed of for free year-round at Penrith’s Community Recycling Centre, Gate 3, 96 Dunheved Circuit, St Marys. Click here for operating hours and to view a full list of accepted items.

Sell, give away or donate

Baubles and others ornaments in good condition may be able to be donated to charity, sold, or given away. Try listing your items on an online marketplace to find them a new home.

Red-lidded residual bin

If broken or in bad condition, baubles/ Christmas tree ornaments can be placed into your red-lidded residual bin.

Reuse

Biscuit tins can be reused to store small household items in such as in the garage or in the laundry.

Yellow-lidded recycling bin

Biscuit tins (eg. Shortbread biscuit tins) can be placed into your yellow-lidded recycling bin. Please empty out any remaining biscuits or wrappers before recycling.

Reuse

Use bubble wrap to wrap and store delicate ornaments or dinnerware or keep it handy to use when wrapping presents in the future.

RecycleSmart Power Pickup

Soft plastics such as bubble wrap can be collected from your doorstep to be sent to an appropriate recycling facility as part of a RecycleSmart Power Pickup.

Red-lidded residual bin

It is not recommended to dispose of large amounts of bubble wrap in your red-lidded residual bin as it is very likely to fill the entire bin, leaving no room for your regular rubbish. However, small amounts can go into this bin.

Sell, give away or donate

Bulky household items such as furniture in good condition may be able to be donated to charity, sold, or given away. Try listing your items on an online marketplace to find them a new home.

Book a free bulky waste collection

Council provides residents with up to four bulky waste collections every year. Each collection must be no more than 2 cubic metres in size, which is roughly the carrying capacity of a standard box trailer. A collection can be arranged for garden vegetation, whitegoods, mattresses or general household items. Bookings are essential; please review the list of accepted items and correct presentation, as well as the terms and conditions prior to booking your collection

To book a bulky waste collection online, visit The Waste Spot. 

Red-lidded residual bin

It is not recommended to dispose of bulky items in your red-lidded residual bin as it is very likely to fill the entire bin, leaving no room for your regular red-bin rubbish or making the bin too heavy to collect. However, small unwanted items can go into this bin.

Yellow-lidded recycling bin

Cardboard can be placed into your yellow-lidded recycling bin. Flatten or cut up boxes to save space in your bin.

Green-lidded FOGO bin

Small amounts of cardboard can also be placed into your green-lidded FOGO bin. Flatten or cut up boxes to save space in your bin. However, please make sure it is only made from cardboard and contains no metal staples, tape, glass or plastic as these items do not break down in the composting process.

Recycling drop-off days

As part of our Christmas services, a recycling drop-off point for residents is available at The Kingsway Playing Fields, Werrington from 3pm until 6pm, weekdays from Monday 18 December 2023 - Friday 29 December 2024 (public holidays and weekends excluded).

All regular household recyclables that can go in the yellow-lidded recycling bin are accepted, including glass bottles and jars, milk and juice cartons, paper and cardboard, plastic bottles and containers, and steel and aluminium cans.

For more information, visit Christmas Waste Recycling Services

Green-lidded organics bin

Chicken and turkey carcasses (and any other food scraps) can be placed into your green-lidded FOGO bin. Food can be placed in the bin loose, in the council-provided green compostable bags or wrapped in newspaper.

Sell or give away or donate

Artificial Christmas trees and other decorations in good condition may be able to be donated to charity, sold, or given away. Try listing your items on an online marketplace to find them a new home.

Book a free bulky waste collection

Council provides its residents with up to four bulky waste collections every year. Each collection must be no more than 2 cubic metres in size, which is roughly the carrying capacity of a standard box trailer. A collection can be arranged for garden vegetation, whitegoods, mattresses or general household items. Bookings are essential, please review the list of accepted items and correct presentation, as well as the terms and conditions prior to booking your collection

To book a bulky waste collection online, visit The Waste Spot.

Red-lidded residual bin

It is not recommended to dispose of entire fake and artificial Christmas trees in your red-lidded residual bin as they are very likely to fill the entire bin, leaving no room for your regular red-bin rubbish. However, small branches that have fallen off can go into this bin.

Green-lidded FOGO bin

When broken down or cut into smaller pieces, Real Christmas trees and fallen pine needles can be placed into your green-lidded FOGO bin. Please make sure the bin lid can still shut.

Real Christmas tree drop-off day

We’re holding a Christmas tree drop-off day on Saturday 11 January 2025 at The Kingsway Playing Fields, Werrington from 10am until 2pm where real Christmas trees will be collected for mulching.

For more information, visit Christmas Waste and Recycling Services.

Sell, give away, or donate.

Clothing and shoes in good condition may be able to be donated to charity, sold, or given away. Try listing your items on an online marketplace to find them a new home.

RecycleSmart Power Pickup

Unwanted clothing can be collected from your doorstep to be sent to an appropriate recycling facility as part of a RecycleSmart Power Pickup.

Book a free bulky waste collection

Council provides its residents with up to four bulky waste collections every year. Each collection must be no more than 2 cubic metres in size, which is roughly the carrying capacity of a standard box trailer. A collection can be arranged for garden vegetation, whitegoods, mattresses or general household items. Bookings are essential, please review the list of accepted items and correct presentation, as well as the terms and conditions prior to booking your collection

To book a bulky waste collection online, visit The Waste Spot. 

Clothing items that are no longer fit for wear.

Consider recycling clothes and shoes that are broken or in bad condition through organisations such as UPPAREL and Textile Recyclers Australia to give these items a new life and keep them out of landfills. These organisations offer a convenient ‘from your door’ collection service and are committed to research and development to manage Australia’s growing textile waste problem sustainably.

Alternatively, these items can be placed into your red-lidded residual bin as a last resort.

Yellow-lidded recycling bin

Homemade or decorations made at school from paper or cardboard can be placed in the yellow-lidded recycling bin.

Please note: decorations with mixed materials such as plastic, glitter, wire, feathers, tinsel etc. must be kept out of this bin as they are considered contamination and cannot be recycled.

Red-lidded residual bin

Homemade or decorations made at school made from mixed materials such as plastic, glitter, wire, feathers, tinsel can be placed in the red-lidded recycling bin.

Green-lidded FOGO bin

Any flowers, garden trimmings and clippings can be placed into your green-lidded FOGO bin.

Book a free bulky waste collection

Garden organics such as branches*, plants, clippings and trimmings, leaves, and flowers can be collected in as part of a bulky waste collection. Loose items must be bundled with natural twice or placed in a cardboard box.

Individual branches must be no larger than 1.2m long and 10cm in diameter. Branches must be bundled and tied together into manageable loads using natural twine.

To book a bulky waste collection online, visit The Waste Spot.

Return and Earn locations

Many glass bottles can be returned to one of NSW Government’s Return and Earn locations. To find your nearest location, and more about what containers are accepted, visit Return and Earn.

Yellow-lidded recycling bin

Any type of glass bottles can be placed into your yellow-lidded recycling bin. Please empty any liquid from the bottle before recycling.

Recycling drop-off days

As part of our Christmas services, a recycling drop-off point for residents is available at The Kingsway Playing Fields, Werrington from 3pm until 6pm, weekdays from Monday 16 December 2024 - Friday 27 December 2024 (public holidays and weekends excluded).

All regular household recyclables that can go in the yellow-lidded recycling bin are accepted, including glass bottles and jars, milk and juice cartons, paper and cardboard, plastic bottles and containers, and steel and aluminium cans.
For more information, visit Christmas Waste and Recycling Services

Green-lidded FOGO bin

Ham bones (and any other food scraps) can be placed into your green-lidded FOGO bin. Food can be placed in the bin loose, in the council-provided green compostable bags or wrapped in newspaper.

Green-lidded FOGO bin

All leftovers can be placed into your green-lidded FOGO bin. Food can be placed in the bin loose, in the council-provided green compostable bags or wrapped in newspaper. To find out more about how to store your leftovers and get other handy tips about reducing food waste, visit Love Food Hate Waste.

Sell, give away or donate

Christmas lights in working order may be able to be donated to charity, sold, or given away. Try listing your items on an online marketplace to find them a new home.

Community Recycling Centre

If broken or in bad condition, Christmas lights can be disposed of responsibly at our Community Recycling Centre (CRC). To find out more about why it’s important to keep problem waste out of our household bins, visit penrith.city/problemwaste.

Sell, give away or donate

Christmas ornaments and decorations in good condition may be able to be donated to charity, sold, or given away. Try listing your items on an online marketplace to find them a new home.

Red-lidded residual bin

If broken or in bad condition, ornaments can be placed into your red-lidded residual bin.

Return and Earn locations

Many plastic bottles can be returned to one of NSW Government’s Return and Earn locations. To find your nearest location, and more about what containers are accepted, visit Return and Earn.

Yellow-lidded recycling bin

Plastic bottles can be placed into your yellow-lidded recycling bin. Please empty any liquid from the bottle before recycling. 

Recycling drop-off days

As part of our Christmas services, a recycling drop-off point for residents is available at The Kingsway Playing Fields, Werrington from 3pm until 6pm, weekdays from Monday 16 December 2024 - Friday 27 December 2024 (public holidays and weekends excluded).

All regular household recyclables that can go in the yellow-lidded recycling bin are accepted, including glass bottles and jars, milk and juice cartons, paper and cardboard, plastic bottles and containers, and steel and aluminium cans.

For more information, visit Christmas Waste and Recycling Services

Green-lidded FOGO bin

Prawn shells (and any other food scraps) can be placed into your green-lidded FOGO bin. Food can be placed in the bin loose, in the Council-provided green compostable bags or wrapped in newspaper.

Handy hint: keeping these in the freezer until the night before bin collection helps to reduce odours.

Reuse

Decorative ribbon from presents can often be saved and reused to wrap next year's presents.

Red-lidded residual bin

If unable to be reused, ribbon can be placed into your red-lidded residual bin.

Community Recycling Centre

Clean, plain white pieces of polystyrene and styrofoam larger than foam packing peanuts can be disposed of responsibly at the Penrith Community Recycling Centre (CRC). Coloured or dirty pieces of polystyrene and small polystyrene fragments like bean bag filling will not be accepted at the CRC. Please ensure your foam packaging is clean of any dirt, dust, sticky tape, labels, cardboard or plastic before taking it to the CRC.

To find out more about why it’s important to keep problem waste out of your household bins, visit Problem Waste. 

Red-lidded residual bin
It is not recommended to dispose of large amounts of polystyrene in your red-lidded residual bin as it is very likely to fill the entire bin, leaving no room for your regular red-bin rubbish. However, small amounts can go into this bin.

Reuse
Tinsel can often be saved and reused to decorate year after year.

Red-lidded residual bin
If unable to be reused, tinsel can be placed into your red-lidded residual bin.

Sell, give away or donate

Toys in good condition may be able to be donated to charity, sold, or given away. Try listing your items on an online marketplace to find them a new home.

Red-lidded residual bin
If broken or in bad condition, toys can be placed into your red-lidded residual bin.

Book a free bulky waste collection
Council provides its residents with up to four bulky waste collections every year. Each collection must be no more than 2 cubic metres in size, which is roughly the carrying capacity of a standard box trailer. A collection can be arranged for garden vegetation, whitegoods, mattresses or general household items. Bookings are essential, please review the list of accepted items and correct presentation, as well as the terms and conditions prior to booking your collection

To book a bulky waste collection online, visit The Waste Spot.

Return

Unwanted gifts can often be returned or exchanged where they were purchased provided you have a copy of the receipt. If unsure, consider politely asking the person who gave the gift if they still have the receipt.

Re-gift
If a gift wasn’t quite what you were hoping for, a perfect way to make sure it stays out of landfill is to gift it to someone else! Not only will it save you time and money, you might just make someone’s day, too.

Sell, give away or donate

Unwanted gifts in good condition may be able to be donated to charity, sold, or given away. Try listing your items on an online marketplace to find them a new home.

Reuse
If in good condition, wrapping paper can be kept and reused when giving gifts to others.
Handy hint: when wrapping gifts, use less sticky tape or alternatives to tape such as ribbons and string to make it easier for others to reuse their wrapping paper, too.

Yellow-lidded recycling bin

Wrapping paper made from paper that easily tears can be placed into your yellow-lidded recycling bin. Please ensure all tape and ribbons are removed prior.

Please note: wrapping paper made from plastic or that has silver backing cannot be placed in the yellow-lidded recycling bin

Reuse

If in good condition, wrapping paper can be kept and reused when giving gifts to others. Handy hint: when wrapping gifts, use less sticky tape or alternatives to tape such as ribbons and string to make it easier for others to reuse their wrapping paper, too.

RecycleSmart Power Pickup

Soft plastics such as plastic wrapping paper can be collected from your doorstep to be sent to an appropriate recycling facility as part of a RecycleSmart Power Pickup.

Red-lidded residual bin

Plastic wrapping paper can be placed into your red-lidded residual bin.