Council-regulated verge side collections can be a handy way of clearing out waste, rubbish and unwanted items from your home. However, you may be wondering if there are some items that won’t be collected during a verge side collection.
Each council may have different rules and regulations regarding what they will accept from a verge side collection, but here’s a general guide to get you started:
WILL be accepted during verge side collection
Here’s a few items that will be collected during your next verge side collection:
- Household items: including furniture (mustn’t contain glass), toys, bicycles, barbeques (not containing gas bottles), mattresses, carpet and lino.
- Small electrical goods: including kettles, vacuums, toasters, printers, phones, DVD players, televisions and computers.
- White goods: including stoves, fridges and freezers.
- Green waste: including tree branches, weeds, twigs, flowers and organic garden waste. If you have lawn clippings or leaves, put them in a cardboard box. Tree branches or other green waste longer than 1.5m won’t be collected, so make sure you cut them up.
It’s worth noting that some city councils have a dedicated green waste verge collection at other times of the year, in which case green waste is not accepted in the residential bulk verge collection.
It’s important to remember that though the listed items will be accepted during verge side collection, there is usually a limit to how much material you can put out on your verge to be picked up. Check with your local council if you’re unsure, but the general rule is that your total collection can not be more than three cubic metres.
WON’T be accepted during verge side collection
Bulk verge side collection is generally only for residential properties, so if you want a collection for waste at an industrial or commercial site, you will need to organise and book a set pickup, which some councils offer. Items on a vacant block will not be collected.
Items that will not be collected during a verge side collection:
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- Hazardous waste: including motor oil, fluorescent globes, flammable liquids, gas cylinders, pool and garden chemicals, poisons, empty aerosol cans and asbestos.
- Domestic rubbish: such as kitchen food waste, nappies and rubbish which can go in your regular green bin.
- Car bodies, vehicle parts, tyres, or batteries.
- Medical or veterinary waste.
- Any liquids.
Items bigger than 1.5m will not be accepted (where practical). Sort out your verge collection into categories to make it more efficient for the collectors, and to reduce waste going to landfill. Fines may apply if you put your items out too soon before the scheduled collection date. This differs from various councils, but generally 1-7 days before collection is the rule. If you obstruct footpaths or put the items too far away from the verge onto your property, they may not be collected.
When to wait for verge side collection
Depending on the council where you live, it’s likely that verge side collection only happens twice a year, or perhaps one bulk household collection a year, and one green waste collection. If you know your verge side collection is coming up, it’s a good time to sort your house and figure out what needs to go.
However, if you have all your waste ready to go, it could still be quite some time until the next verge side collection. Instead of sitting with the unwanted items for months waiting for verge side collection, it’ll likely be worthwhile organising your own rubbish removal.
When to hire a skip bin
If you’ve missed the council bulk waste collection, if you have prohibited items or more waste than you could fit on the verge within the allocated measurements, it’s likely that you’ll benefit from hiring a skip bin. Skip bins are an easy, hassle-free way of disposing of not only residential rubbish, but industrial waste, too.
The advantages of organising your own waste removal is that you can book it in for whenever suits you. If you have a weekend off work that you’ve dedicated to gutting the house, book your skip in to immediately clear out all the unwanted items.
If you know you will have a lot of waste to dispose of (for example, when starting a reno or building), a skip bin is definitely worthwhile, and is a cost-effective way of getting rid of rubbish and waste.
It’s likely you can also dispose of items that aren’t accepted in verge side collection, such as large items or asbestos products, but it’s worth discussing with the skip bin experts before you book in your skip hire.
While council-regulated verge side collections can be helpful for clearing out some household waste, there are restrictions to what will be collected, and the pickups only occur once or twice a year. If you need to organise your own waste removal, and want to ensure that everything that can be recycled is recycled, contact Kwik Skips today. Our friendly team of skip experts will be able to offer an obligation-free quote and help you on your way to clearing out your home or industrial site.
