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Tricky waste

Not sure what to do with tricky waste, like alfoil, batteries, building materials, clothing, shoes, mattresses, bulbs, gas bottles, paint or oil? We’ve put together a guide for safely disposing of these items.

What to do with your tricky waste?

We have developed a guide to help you dispose of your tricky waste safely and correctly, but we recommend calling or visiting the website of the organisations to double check if your waste is right for them.

Still got questions after reading this guide?

Alfoil

You can put small pieces of alfoil in your blue landfill waste bin. If the size of the alfoil when scrunched into a ball is bigger than the size of your fist, you can put it in your yellow recycling bin. If your alfoil ball isn't big enough, keep adding pieces to your alfoil ball until it is big enough to place in the yellow recycling bin.

Aluminium Coffee Pods

Clean aluminium coffee pods, can be folded and placed into an empty aluminium drink can and placed into the Yellow recycling bin.

Asbestos

You can’t put asbestos in any of your bins or out for hard waste collection. We recommend doing a search on the Yellow Pages for specialised professionals or visit the EPA or Safework SA.

For information on safely and legally removing asbestos, visit the SA state government website.

Batteries, E-Cigarettes & Vapes

Batteries

You can’t put batteries in any of your bins or out for hard waste collection as they pose a high risk of causing fires. You can take car and truck batteries, and non-ferrous metals to:

E-Cigarettes, Vapes & Other Embedded Batteries

Embedded batteries are now accepted at the free hazardous waste drop off facilities, including vapes, e-cigarettes, smart watches, cordless vacuums, e-scooters, electric toothbrushes, light up items. The closest facilities are:

Visit Green Industries SA for a full list of locations and what other hazardous materials they accept.

Loose Household Batteries

Loose household batteries (e.g.  AA, AAA, 9V and lithium batteries) can be taken to:

Don't forget to tape the terminals as 'dead' batteries still have some charge.

Bean bags and beans

Full bean bags can be placed into your blue landfill bin. These take up a lot of room so you may want to consider taking your bean bag to Adelaide Waste and Recycling Centre. If you have loose beans please place them into a bag then you can dispose of them safely in your blue landfill bin.

Building and construction material

You can’t put building and construction material in any of your bins, and you can’t put it out for hard waste collection. Instead, you should take it to a waste transfer station, such as:

CD and DVD cases

CD and DVD cases (remove disc, plastic sleeve and paper cover) and take them to YCA Recycling or drop off at Officeworks.

Cigarette lighters or gas lighters

If the container is full, it needs to go to a hazardous waste facility. If it’s completely empty and dry, you can put it in your general waste bin.

Clothing, shoes and handbags

You can donate unwanted clothing, shoes and handbags to local op shops and charity groups. Visit Charitable Recycling Australia to find a charity op shop near you. You’ll need to make sure items you donate are in good condition and can be reused. Any items that are donated in poor condition will need to be disposed of by op shops themselves, which can increase their costs.

Some clothing and textile brands are now introducing recycling options in partnership with Upparel, a textile recycling company.

You can also donate clothing, shoes and handbags, including those that aren’t in good condition, through the SCR Group. In 2017, 70% of items were donated to people in need, 15% of items were recycled, and 15% of items were converted from waste to alternative fuels..

There are drop off locations at major shopping centres, including:

You can also take old shoes to participating retailers to be recycled:

Visit Tread Lightly to find more shoe collection locations.

Clothes Recycling

Electronic waste

Electronic waste (e-waste) are products with a power cord or battery that have reached the end of their useful life. Here are some examples:

  • Televisions
  • Computers (such as monitors, tablets, printers, scanners, keyboards and mice)
  • Telecommunications equipment (such as faxes, mobile phones and cordless phones)
  • Small household appliances (such as toasters and microwaves)
  • Electrical and electronic tools (such as sewing machines, drills, electric mowers and electric toys)
  • Entertainment equipment (such as cameras, game consoles, video players, recorders, portable music players and stereos)
  • E-cigarettes and Vapes
  • Bluetooth speakers and headphones
  • Remote controlled and ride-on toys
  • E-scooters, E-bikes and hoverboards
  • Electric toothbrushes and shavers
  • Vacuum cleaners (cordless, hand-held and robotic)
  • Wearable devices (such as smart watches, trackers and medical aids)
  •  

All e-waste is banned from landfill. If you want to get rid of e-waste, you’ll need to take it to an e-waste drop off location or recycling facility so it can be dismantled and re-manufactured.

Almost all components of e-waste can be recycled. E-waste contains non-renewable materials such as copper, nickel, tin, zinc and aluminium, but also hazardous materials including lead, mercury, cadmium and lithium. By recycling e-waste these materials are recovered and used to make new products.

Where to recycle e-waste

There are lots of facilities that accept e-waste throughout Adelaide; some accept e-waste for free and others charge a small fee. It’s important to know that some sites also only accept TVs and computers through the National TV and Computer Scheme.

Daws Road Recycling Centre, 76-78 Daws Road, Edwardstown

Campbelltown Works Depot, 6 Newton Road, Campbelltown

Adelaide Waste & Recycling Centre, 181 Morphett Road, North Plympton

Heathfield Resource Recovery Centre, 2 Scott Creek Road, Scott Creek

NAWMA Resource Recovery Centre, Bellchambers Road, Edinburgh North

Find your closest Unplug and Drop site

Search for electronic recycling drop off locations

Fluorescent globes and energy saving bulbs

You can’t put light globes in any of your bins at home and you can't put them out for hard waste collection.
You can get rid of end-of-life globes at the counter of any Mitre 10 or True Value hardware stores for free. This includes compact fluorescent lamps, fluorescent tubes, incandescent gloves and halogen lamps, tubes and bulbs from residential properties. These globes will be recycled, which will help stop the mercury in some globes from harming the environment.
The closest Mitre 10 and True Value hardware stores are:

Gas bottles

You can’t put gas bottles in any of your bins at home and you can't put them out for hard waste collection.

You can take empty gas bottles to any 'Swap and Go' location and replace them at cost with a gas bottle that’s been filled correctly and checked by technicians. Head here for 'Swap and Go' locations. Many hardware stores and service stations offer a similar service.

You can dispose empty gas cylinders at:

Glass

Got glass items you need to get rid of? Here’s what to do:

  • Window panes, photo frames, mirrors, oven-proof glass: Take these to your local waste and recycling depot or a licensed transfer station.
  • Small amounts of broken glass: Wrap it securely and place it in your blue general waste bin.
  • Broken drinking or wine glasses: Wrap them in paper and dispose of them in your blue general waste bin.
Hazardous waste

You can’t put hazardous waste in any of your bins at home and you can't put them out for hard waste collection.

Green Industries SA has opened some metropolitan locations to help you get rid of your hazardous waste.  Visit Green Industries SA for a list of locations and what materials they accept.

Lids

To recycle your lids, follow these simple rules:

  • Plastic bottle lids can be left on plastic bottles and placed in your yellow recycling bin.
  • Larger plastic lids that are fist size or credit card size can be placed lose in your yellow recycling bin.
  • Steel lids should be put inside steel cans before being placed in your yellow recycling bin.
  • Aluminium lids can be placed inside aluminium containers or wrapped in alfoil/aluminium trays that are fist size before being placed in your yellow recycling bin.

Don't forget to remove lids from beverage containers before you take them to the recycling depot for 10c deposit.

Mattresses and sofas

You can use our hard waste collection service, which accepts mattresses and sofas for free. Each household gets one collection per (financial) year for:

  • one general hard waste collection
  • one mattress and/or ensemble collection

Book your hard rubbish or mattress collection here.

For a fee, you can get rid of unwanted mattresses and sofas at:

Mobile phones

Close to 100% of the components of mobile phones, accessories and batteries can be recycled.

These Council sites accept old mobile phones, or visit Mobile Muster for other locations,

Oils

You can’t put oil in any of your bins at home and you can't put them out for hard waste collection. You can take these to:

Opticycle

Old glasses and contact lens blister packs can be taken to:

  • Optical by National Pharmacies - Cumberland Park (contact lens cases)
  • Optical by National Pharmacies - Blackwood (contact lens cases)
  • Specsavers – Mitcham (eye glasses and contact lens cases)
Paint

You can safely get rid of dry paint in your blue landfill bin.

Harden paint at home by leaving the lid off or by adding a paint hardener from a hardware store. Tap the hardened paint out of the tin and place it in the blue landfill bin. You can then recycle your empty, dry paint tins in your yellow recycling bin.

Liquid paint can be recycled for free through the Paintback program. See below for Paintback locations or visit their website.:

Pharmaceuticals and medicines

You can either get rid of old pharmaceuticals and medicines at local chemists or take them to a Household Hazardous Waste Depot.

Plastic bread tags

We’ve placed a container in the foyer of the City of Mitcham Civic Centre for you to drop off plastic bread tags.

We recycle the bread tags at Transmutation, a local recycler based in Robe SA, who use the funds to buy wheelchairs for children in South Africa.

Polystyrene

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is a common plastic that can't be recycled through your yellow recycling bin. This doesn’t mean that pure, clean polystyrene can’t be recycled, though. Specialised machines can turn expanded polystyrene foam into a material that can be used to make items such as photo frames, coat hangers and outdoor furniture.

You can recycle household quantities of clean, white, rigid polystyrene packaging foam for free when you take it to:

Printer cartridges

The plastic, metals and inks contained within printer cartridges can be recycled into new products. You can take printer cartridges to Planet Ark's retail drop off points throughout SA.

Sharps

If you have a medical condition that needs sharps, such as diabetes, you can participate in our sharps exchange program. You can arrange for a yellow sharps container to be exchanged for another at no cost just call us on 1300 133 466. This is for residents only.  Yellow sharps containers can also be purchased from most chemists or Diabetes SA call 1300 198 204. For more information contact your supplier of medication.

We can accept yellow sharps containers or other hard thick plastic containers with secure lids (eg. laundry liquid containers). We cannot accept other plastic containers like juice or water bottles. Sharps containers can also be disposed of at most chemists.

Businesses will need to contact a commercial waste contractor to dispose of their pharmaceutical waste, including sharps.

Smoke alarms

You can put domestic smoke alarms in the blue landfill bin because the small amount of radioactive material in smoke alarms isn’t a health hazard, and doesn’t put anyone involved in waste handling at risk.

Not all commercial or industrial smoke alarms can go in the blue landfill bin, so if you have one of these to get rid of, give the Radiation Protection Branch from the EPA a call on 8204 2004.

Soft plastics and plastic bags

From May 2026, you can drop off your clean and dry soft plastics at dedicated soft plastic recycling bins located at the front of all metropolitan Woolworths stores across South Australia.

These soft plastics will be recycled into new products, including building materials and food-grade packaging, helping to support a circular economy through a partnership with Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia (SPSA).

If you can’t access one of these drop-off locations, place soft plastics in your blue landfill bin only. Never place soft plastics in your yellow recycling bin or FOGO (green) bin.

Remember to look for ways to avoid and reduce plastic packaging by using reusable and refillable bags and containers where possible. Many supermarkets and bulk food stores now offer plastic packaging-free options.

Don't forget some soft plastic products are certified compostable and can go in your FOGO (green) bin. Look for the AS 4736 Australian Standard ‘seedling’ logo on the packaging. These products are designed to break down in commercial composting facilities. Compostable fruit and vegetable produce bags are one example.Seedling LogoLook for the seedling logo printed on compostable bags.
Solar panels - used

Not all solar panels are handled the same way once they are removed so it’s important to ask your installer what happens to them next. Some may send them to landfill. Others might sell them on for reuse. We encourage you to check, so you know where your panels end up.

If you want a guaranteed responsible solution, consider switching to our Community Renewable Program. Panels removed as part of the program are safely recycled through an accredited provider.

Tyres - cars, motorbikes, bicycles

You can't put tyres in any of your bins at home and you can't put them out for hard waste collection. Don’t dump them along roads and reserves – this is illegal.

You can get rid of old tyres for a fee at:

Tyre retailers including Beaurepaires, Kmart Tyre and Auto Service, and Goodyear Autocare may also accept your unwanted tyres.

You can recycle old bicycle tyres for free at 99 Bikes. To find a location near you visit https://www.99bikes.com.au/

X-Rays

You can take old x-rays to:

Submit a request online