A-Z disposal guide

If it's in reasonable condition consider giving it away, swapping or selling it.

OR

• contact a waste to landfill site (treated timber)
• book a hard waste collection (plastic). 
• contact a scrap metal recycler (metal).

e.g. dog poo, bird, rabbit, guinea pig cage contents such as straw, paper, droppings, seed. See kitty litter entry for appropriate disposal.

  Loose, wrapped in newspaper or bagged in compostable bag - put in the green organics bin.

 Bagged in a plastic bag  - put in the red/waste to landfill bin.

The collection and disposal of animals from private property is the responsibility of the property owner.

Animals can be taken to:

• Local vets
• Pet cemeteries/crematorium
• Animal Welfare League at 19 Cormack Road, Wingfield
  Ph: 8348 1300
• Southern Region Waste Resource Authority (SRWRA) Landfill at 112 Bakewell Drive Seaford Heights
• Southern Waste ResourceCo Landfill at the cnr Main South and Tatachilla Roads, Maslin Beach

Ensure to contact the organisation beforehand to check what fees apply.

Small animals & household pets

e.g. mice, rats, birds, chickens, cats, small dogs etc.

Smaller animals can be placed in compost or worm farms or buried in the garden.

OR

  Can be placed in the green/organics bin.

If possible, wrap in newspaper first (no plastic).

OR

Place in the waste to landfill bin.

Dead animals on the roadside / council property

Please contact council on 8384 0666 or report online. 

Please note Department of Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) s responsible for the collection and disposal of animals from major arterial roads e.g. Main South Road, Southern Expressway, Victor Harbor Road, etc. for more information phone 1800 018 313.

Contact your local animal shelter or rescue group. 

Animal and human hair, fur, wool and feathers.

  Put it in the green organics bin.

Feathers and down from quilts and pillows need to be removed first, otherwise:

 Put them in the red/waste to landfill bin.

If in good condition, give it to a homeless shelter or charity or contact an animal rescue centre to see if they could use it.

Lions’ Blankets for the Homeless program accept donations of brand new or in excellent condition blankets and bedding.

OR

 Put it in the waste to landfill bin.

Clinical waste such as needles and sharps, human waste tissue, animal waste and waste from dental, medical or veterinary treatments have the potential to cause disease and must not go in the rubbish or recycling bin.

Contact your local hospital or health care provider for more information.

Household medical waste such as band-aids, bandages, contact lens and cotton buds can be disposed on in the household general waste bin.

Other medical waste, such as expired medicines can be taken to your local chemist for disposal.

 Put in the red/waste to landfill bin.

Please consider alternatives to balloons.

Download the flyer(PDF, 504KB).

Balloons may look like harmless fun, but they come at a serious cost to wildlife, the environment — and even our power supply. Whether they’re released into the air, tied down, or thrown away, all balloons eventually become litter.

Party balloons are typically made from:

• Latex – a natural rubber tapped from rubber trees.  Latex balloons may take up to a year to degrade in our oceans and longer in our creeks and wetlands — plenty of time for an animal to swallow them and suffer a slow, painful death from internal blockages.
• Metallised nylon (Mylar/BoPET) – a plastic film with a shiny, foil-like surface. Foil or Mylar balloons do not biodegrade and can remain in the environment indefinitely. Worse, they conduct electricity and, if they become tangled in powerlines, they can cause dangerous outages and fires.

All balloons become litter. Whether filled with helium or just air, balloons often:

• Blow away from outdoor events
• Are accidentally released
• Escape landfill or bins
• Wash into storm drains, creeks, rivers, and oceans

Even when they’re not released intentionally, balloons easily travel long distances and end up as pollution in natural spaces.

Helium-filled balloons may float out of sight — but they don’t disappear. Helium is a finite, non-renewable resource. Once it's gone, it’s gone for good. It has critical uses in medical and scientific equipment, like MRI machines and space exploration. Using helium for balloons wastes a valuable resource.

How balloons harm wildlife

Balloons and their attachments pose a serious threat to all types of wildlife, both on land and in water.

Animals such as birds, turtles, dolphins, possums, fish, and other native species are often attracted to the bright colours or shiny surfaces of deflated or burst balloons. They can:

• Mistake balloons for food, leading to fatal blockages in their digestive systems
• Become entangled in balloon strings or ribbons, which can cause injury, strangulation, or prevent movement
• Accidentally feed balloon fragments to their young, causing unintentional harm

For alternatives to balloons find inspiration at www.balloonsblow.org

We’re moving away from using balloons at all council-hosted events. We also encourage event organisers, community groups, and individuals — especially those using council land or facilities — to join us in protecting our environment by choosing balloon-free alternatives.

Treated / untreated

Contact a waste to landfill site.

Building - external

If it's in reasonable condition consider giving it away, swapping or selling it.

OR

• contact a salvage yard or waste to landfill site

Building - internal

If it's in reasonable condition consider giving it away, swapping or selling it.

OR

• contact a salvage yard or waste to landfill site
• book a hard waste collection

• Must be able to be handled by 2 people.
• If an item is wider or higher than 1.5 metres, we are unable to collect it. This is because the opening at the rear of our collection compactor truck is only 1.5 meters wide, and larger items cannot be accommodated.

Furniture

If it's in reasonable condition consider giving it away, swapping or selling it.

OR

• contact a salvage yard or waste to landfill site
• book a hard waste collection

• Must be able to be handled by 2 people.
• If an item is wider or higher than 1.5 metres, we are unable to collect it. This is because the opening at the rear of our collection compactor truck is only 1.5 meters wide, and larger items cannot be accommodated.

Small pieces

Including balsa, chipboard, plywood

 Put it in the red/waste to landfill bin.

OR

contact a waste to landfill site.

Wooden pallet

Some pallet suppliers offer a pallet return service, which may be run as a credit scheme to encourage higher return rates.

OR

Contact a waste to landfill site.

Sawdust / pencil shavings

Put it in the red/waste to landfill bin.

Sawdust from timber or wood product with treatment e.g. permapine/ CCA, paints or oil treatments, composite timber products, etc. contains chemicals or glues which makes it unsuitable for organics composting. 

Woodshavings - untreated (eg. pet bedding)

 Put in the green/organics bin.

Packaged small animal bedding made from natural, untreated wood only.

This CANNOT go in your household bins or to landfill.

Mercury is a highly toxic silver liquid metal that ‘shatters' into tiny balls, so take great care when cleaning it up.

The poisonous vapour is the main threat. Mercury can become quite a potent neurotoxin which affects human and animal health.
When products containing dangerous amounts go to landfill, they can easily contaminate the groundwater and release toxic compound.

In the home, mercury may typically be found in the following:

• hand-held thermometers (not generally available anymore)
• ambient outside temperature thermometers
• compact fluorescent lamps (CFL or fluoro light globe)
• desk mounted sphygmomanometers (used to monitor blood pressure)
• barometers.

If containing mercury, you can take these items to a FREE hazardous waste drop-off at:

Adelaide Waste and Recycling Centre
181 Morphett Road
North Plympton
Ph: 08 8295 5077

Open: Monday to Friday 7am–4pm, Saturday 8am–3pm, Sunday 10am–3pm.

OR

Heathfield Resource Recovery Centre
32 Scott Creek Road
Heathfield
Ph: 08 8339 4323

Open: Monday to Friday 7.30am–4pm, weekends 9am–4pm.

In the case that you have a mercury spill:

If the spill is major, do not clean it by yourself. Contact the Fire Department – call 000.

But if it is something that can easily be handled alone, then do the following steps:

1. People and animals should leave the area immediately, staying clear ideally for a day whilst ventilating the area in the process.
2. Wear proper protection such as heavy-duty gloves and boots to pick up glass shards. Afterwards, wrap them properly in a paper towel whilst also sealing the paper towel afterwards in a zip-lock bag.
3. Find the mercury content (dim the area to more easily locate). Then you can apply sulphur powder (available at pharmacies) and wait for 30 minutes to neutralise the mercury. Make sure the mercury residue is gone and collect by brushing.
4. Put the mercury content in a plastic bag, along with your gloves and any collection materials used and throw it into your household waste bin
5. if the mercury has spilt onto carpet, clothing or upholstery, the contaminated part needs to be removed and disposed of.

Mercury that cannot be stabilised by sulphur powder or is stored in a jar is a hazardous waste and can only be disposed at a Hazardous Waste site.

When cleaning up mercury spills

• Do not use the vacuum cleaner or a broom to sweep up the mercury. Both of these can break the mercury into smaller beads and may spread the spill even further. The heat from the vacuum motor may also cause the mercury to volatise (evaporate into fumes), which will further spread traces of mercury around your home.
• Do not machine wash clothing that may have absorbed mercury with the normal laundry. Throw away contaminated clothing if possible, or wash clothing separately in a bucket.
• Do not pour mercury directly down the sink.

 Put in the red/waste to landfill bin.

OR

Book a hard waste collection.

This includes cardboard scratchers, as the glue used makes the cardboard non-recyclable.

Soft plastics (excluding cling film)

Soft plastics are items that can be easily scrunched up in your hand. These include things like shopping bags, bread or freezer bags, chip, lolly & biscuit wrappers, yoghurt and cereal liners.

Recycling drop-off now available at Woolworths stores

 Drop clean, dry soft plastics off into the dedicated recycling bins located at the front of all metropolitan Woolworths stores in South Australia.

OR

Put it in the red/waste to landfill bin.

PLEASE NOTE: To avoid contamination, if a soft plastic item is certified compostable and has the AS 4736 ‘seedling’ logo printed on it, it must go in your green organics bin. These products are designed to break down in a commercial composting facility and should not be placed in soft plastics recycling.

Cling film wrap

Gladwrap, plastic food wrap, Saran wrap, cling wrap.

 Put it in the red/waste to landfill bin.

Biodegradable / oxo-degradable plastics

Biodegradable non-compostable plastic is capable of being decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms. It is NOT the same as compostable. 

 Put it in the red/waste to landfill bin.

PLA - Polylactic Acid can be made from corn starch or synthetic plastic or a combination of the two. Unless it has the Australian compostable seedling logo on it, then it goes in the waste bin.

Unless it displays the logo it is NOT compostable as it requires specific environmental conditions to begin to break down.

Compostable PLA - Look for the logo before placing ANY ‘compostable’ packaging in the organics bin: 

These are not recycling symbols.

They are Plastic Resin Identification Codes; and indicate the type of plastic the item is made from, NOT their recyclability.

Please search the A-Z guide for the item description (e.g. soft drink bottle) for appropriate disposal information.

Household / building paint and paint tins

This CANNOT go in your household bins or to landfill. 

Liquid paint, paint hardened in tins and empty paint tins can be dropped off at Hackham Recyclers as part of the national Paintback program. This program accepts paint from households and businesses.

• Hackham Recyclers 
  15 Cottage Lane, Hackham
  Phone: 8384 8667
  Please note that there are restrictions on what will/will not be accepted. For further information visit Paintback.

OR

You can take your unwanted paint and household chemicals to the Adelaide Waste and Recycling Centre, 181 Morphett Road, North Plympton. Ph: (08) 8295 5077. Open 7 days.

 OR

  Dry paint and empty paint cans can go in your red/waste to landfill bin.

Aerosol paint

These CANNOT go in your household bins or to landfill.

Fuels, paints and household chemicals can be dangerous if they are not stored or disposed of safely and also please be aware that Hazardous Wastes cannot be disposed of in the general waste bin as they are harmful to human health and the environment.

You can take your unwanted paint and household chemicals to:

Adelaide Waste and Recycling Centre
181 Morphett Road
North Plympton
Ph: 08 8295 5077

Open: Monday to Friday 7am–4pm, Saturday 8am–3pm, Sunday 10am–3pm.

OR

Heathfield Resource Recovery Centre
32 Scott Creek Road
Heathfield
Ph: 08 8339 4323

Open: Monday to Friday 7.30am–4pm, weekends 9am–4pm.

Aerosol paint cans- empty

 Empty aerosol cans - put in the yellow/recycling bin.

Craft paint

Liquid paint CANNOT go in your household bins.

 Add liquid paint to some clumping cat litter. Once it dries, remove all the clumps and dispose of it in the waste bin (preferably wrap it in newspaper or put it in a bag).

e.g. as used as bedding for pet rabbit or guinea pig.

Use it for compost or mulch at home.

OR

  Put it in the green organics bin.