Green (Food Organics & Garden Organics) bin
Why have the rules for the green bin recently changed?
Councils and our commercial compost facilities need to comply with state government legislation and policy (see below). Recent testing has also found that many fibre-based products claim to be compostable but not only do these products add little to no nutritional value to compost, but contain chemicals and substances, such as per- and polyfluroalkyl substances (PFAS), that can harm the environment and our health. Keeping those potentially harmful items out of our green bins means that we can create high-quality commercial compost to support food production and soil health.
What can go in your green bin
- Fruit and vegetable scraps
- Meat and bones
- Seafood and shells
- Pasta, bread, rice and cereals
- Eggs and dairy products
- Loose tea leaves and coffee grinds
- Grass and garden clippings (leaves, weeds, etc)
- Agricultural manure
- Council-approved compostable kitchen caddy liners that comply with AS 4736-2006 and newspaper / paper used to wrap food scraps
What cannot go in your green bin
- Fibre-based products (bamboo, cardboard, paper etc) can no longer be placed in your green bin
- Paper towels, serviettes, tissues, napkins
- Compostable or biodegradable products (excluding AS 4736-2006 kitchen caddy liners)
- Vacuum cleaner dust
- Washing machine and dryer lint
- Pet poo and poo bags
- Tea and coffee bags
- Treated wood and timber
Kitchen caddies
Kitchen caddies and liners can be purchased from the following locations:
- Lismore City Council Corporate Centre, 43 Oliver Avenue, Goonellabah.
- The Revolve Shop at the Lismore Recycling & Recovery Centre, 313 Wyrallah Road, East Lismore.
Caddies are $8 and a roll of Compost-a-Pak compostable bin liners is $6.50.