Other waste

Our transfer stations do not accept household chemicals for disposal, and they are not accepted in kerbside bins.

Detox Your Home is a safe, free and easy-to-use service to dispose of highly toxic, unwanted household chemicals. This includes solvents, poisons and cleaning products. For a list of upcoming events and items they accept visit Detox Your Home. Future dates in the Hepburn Shire will be communicated. The 2024 Detox Your Home event was held in June - thanks to everyone who attended.

Disposing of these items correctly:

• reduces the risk to the environment and human health
• helps keep our waterways clean
• prevents chemicals from ending up in landfill
• reuses precious resources.

Chemicals dropped at the event are immediately sorted by qualified chemists. They’re placed in sealed drums and transported to a specialist waste treatment facility. Every effort is made to recycle chemicals or use them for other purposes. Some chemicals are used to create energy.

The City of Ballarat Transfer Station on Gillies Street South is a close, permanent drop-off site for the Detox Your Home program. Ballarat Transfer Station currently does not accept pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and nail polish remover, or chemicals used by businesses for industrial and commercial purposes.

Drum-Muster

Council participates in the national drumMuster program and is providing a safe way to dispose of eligible agricultural and vet chemical containers.

There are drumMuster cages at the Creswick and Daylesford Transfer Stations. Agvet chemical drums can now be dropped off if they are empty and triple rinsed with no chemical residue on or in the drum. Drums carrying the drumMuster label/embossing will be accepted free of charge. Find out the materials accepted by drumMuster along with details of how to clean your drums.

ChemClear

Another option for the disposal of unwanted farm chemicals is ChemClear.

Visit the ChemClear website or call them on 1800 008 182 to register chemicals for collection. Note that these collections occur in local runs so encourage your neighbours to participate as well.

It is best to try to sell or donate larger items from home that are no longer required. However, these items are accepted at transfer stations. Please see our Transfer Stations page for fees and opening hours. 

Township properties can use their lime green-lidded food and garden organics bin for garden materials. Green waste is also accepted at our transfer stations. Noxious weeds are not accepted in either location.

If bringing green waste to the transfer station, please ensure your load of green waste is separated from other waste before you arrive. The green waste must also be free of rubbish. See Transfer Station for fees, noxious weed guide and opening hours. 

The soft plastics recycling program REDcycle has been suspended as of 9 November 2022.

Soft plastics can't go in your yellow-lid recycling bin and should be disposed of in the red-lid general waste bin. Soft plastics include items such as re-usable shopping bags, newspaper wrapping, bubble wrap, plastic bags, zip-lock bags, biscuit wrapping (not the trays), lolly packs, bread bags, pasta and rice bags, courier satchels, cereal box liners, chip and cracker packets.

Council is investigating other options for resource recovery of soft plastics. 

Victoria's Container Deposit Scheme (CDS)

Current locations in Hepburn Shire region:

Creswick – The Hub, 68 Albert Street, Creswick - Reverse Vending Machine

Daylesford Industrial Estate, 37-39 East Street, Daylesford - Reverse Vending Machine

Pig & Whistle, 705 James Lane, Trentham East - Reverse Vending Machine

E-waste refers to any item with a plug, battery or cord that is no longer working or wanted. The Victorian Government banned e-waste from landfill as of 1 July 2019. 

Recycling your e-waste is important, but if we can avoid creating it, that is even better. If you have an item that still works, consider trying to find a new home for it first – friends, family, sell it, donate it (check they are happy/can accept).

You can recycle your e-waste (but not in your kerbside recycling bin). Please drop to your local transfer station or, if the item is small, you can take it to your local customer service centre/hub.

Our transfer stations accept e-waste for free from residents.

Items that are considered e-waste:

• Televisions, printers, computer equipment (including monitor and mouse)
• Small appliances – irons, toasters, kettles
• DVD players, microwaves
• Phones, chargers, tablets
• Light bulbs
• Toys with batteries

Please note there is a fee for refrigerators and freezers at the transfer stations. See transfer stations for fees, and Sustainability Victoria for more information.

You can’t put batteries in your rubbish or recycling bin

Most batteries contain hazardous materials that can pollute the environment when disposed of in landfills or when thrown out elsewhere. Materials like lead, cadmium and mercury can poison people and animals and contaminate soils and water, and they stay in the environment for a long time. Discarded batteries also pose a safety risk in garbage trucks as they can start fires.

Batteries (household) can be dropped to:

• Council’s customer service centres/hubs
• Transfer stations

Please note large batteries such as car batteries can ONLY be taken to our transfer stations.

Find a list of commercial battery recycling services.

Mobile phones are considered e-waste and contain hazardous but valuable materials. They are banned from landfill. Hepburn Shire Council recycles mobile phones through local contractor Rixon's Recycling.

Australian plastic recycler Transmutation has teamed up with Aussie Bread Tags for Wheelchairs to turn plastic bread tags into  bowls to raise funds to buy wheelchairs in South Africa. Find out more at Oz Bread Tags for Wheelchairs. 

Lions Recycle for Sight Australia is part of the Lions Clubs International Worldwide Eyeglass Recycling Program. Spectacles are refurbished and distributed globally.

Find out more at Lions Club.

Find out more at Terracycle.

Many light globes contain mercury which is toxic and can harm the environment. They require specialised recycling to ensure the  elements and materials are separated correctly.

Cartridges are made up of a complex mix of materials that can be turned into new products, including plastics, metal, inks and  toners.

Planet Ark has teamed up with Close the Loop and participating manufacturers Brother, Canon, Cartridge World, Epson, HP & Kyocera to ensure these valuable resources are recycled.

For more information visit Planet Ark.