Your options for waste disposal

Council offers a free hard waste service to all Hume residents, including residential ratepayers and those renting homes. Book two free at-home collections of hard waste each year. Find out more by visiting our book a hard waste collection page.

Council manages two tips in the local area, located in Sunbury and Campbellfield. Go to our visiting the tip page to find out how to make the most of your free tip passes, check out tip locations, opening hours and tip fees and charges.

Hume Clean Days are available to help you recycle electronic items, mattresses, whitegoods, tyres and couches. This is in addition to your yearly at-home hard waste collections and tip passes.

Next Hume Clean Day:

• Saturday 5 June 2021 (location to be determined)

The following items are accepted for free:

• Mattresses
• Couches
• Tyres
• Whitegoods (including fridges, washing machines and dryers)
• E-waste (including televisions, computers, printers, DVDs, CDs, speakers, sound equipment, DVD players, video recorders, mobile phones, household appliances)

Rules for Hume Clean Days

• A limit of 15 items from the above list will be accepted per household.
• Proof of Hume residency (such as drivers licence or rates notice) is required when dropping off goods. 
• Single-axle trailer, double axle-trailer, car boot, van, station wagon, 4WD or utility tray (ute) only.
• No trucks or commercial quantities accepted.

You can recycle your e-waste for free at any time by visiting Council's tips in Campbellfield and Sunbury.

You can also dispose of mobile phones, batteries, DVDs and x-rays at Council's Recycling Stations located at Broadmeadows Library, Craigieburn Library and Sunbury Library.

A number of companies also have environmental initiatives and allow for recycling of certain kinds of e-waste:

• Recycle up to five items of selected e-waste at participating Officeworks stores. Accepted items include desktop computers, laptops, computer mice, monitors, printers, scanners, multifunction printers, keyboards, computer power supplies, printed circuit boards, motherboards, network cards, disks and CD drives. Nearby participating stores include Campbellfield, Coburg and Airport West.
• Recycle AA, AAA, C, D and 9V sized batteries (rechargeable and non-rechargeable) at ALDI stores. 
• Mobile Muster has drop-off points in many different stores including phone stores and op-shops, find a drop-off point near you.
• Enable Australia in Broadmeadows recycles IT equipment for use as a social enterprise to directly support work skills activities for local disadvantaged job seekers.

If the items are still in working order, you could also donate, sell or give the items away to either friends and family or by posting them on a Buy, Swap, Sell website, Facebook groups, Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace.

Hume's Recycling Stations are located indoors at the Hume Global Learning Centres in Broadmeadows, Craigieburn and Sunbury.

You can drop off the following for recycling:

• Mobile phones and cameras
• Batteries
• DVDs, CDs, video tapes and floppy disks (you can even drop in the cases, and
• X-rays.

Items are securely collected by our contractor and the data protected by removing and destroying personal information on X-Rays while phones are restored to factory settings.

If you are concerned for your privacy, please remove personal information prior to placing your items in the Recycling Station.

Items placed in the Recycling Stations are reused and upcycled where possible. If items can’t be repurposed they are recycled.

One person's trash can be another person's treasure. You can avoid placing reusable items in your general hard waste by participating in one of the following options:

• Donate items in good working condition to your local charity store, or arrange for the charity to collect your items.
• Sell or donate your unwanted items on social networking sites such as Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree.
• Post a notice up at your work or on community notice board advertising your item(s).
• Post your items on a reuse website such as Freecycle.
• Hold a garage sale and enjoy the social perks of meeting locals.

Enable Australia offers a free drop off service for e-waste at their Broadmeadows Recycling Centre, Monday to Friday 9am - 4pm. The following items can be dropped off free of charge:

• Computers
• Laptops
• LCD monitors
• Printers
• Keyboards, mice and cables
• Server and networking equipment
• Phones

 Kids off the Kerb also offer a free collection service for whitegoods including:

• Fridges and freezers
• Washing machines
• Dryers
• Microwaves
• Dishwashers
• Ovens
• Stoves
• Hot plates
• Cook tops
• Rangehoods
• Column heaters (oil based)
• Split cooling systems

To book a collection or purchase refurbished whitegoods call Kids off the Kerb on 9982 5600.

Diabetes Australia can pick up unwanted clothing, toys and small household items for resale in Savers Stores. All proceeds go towards funding Diabetes Australia's health and welfare programs.

Over 40 per cent of the garbage in Hume’s red bin is food and garden scraps. These scraps end up in landfill where they create harmful greenhouse gases and pollute our environment. There’s a better way!

Reduce your food waste

Did you know that the average Victorian household throws away over $2,000 worth of wasted food per year? You can save money and the environment by taking some simple steps like planning your meals and making a shopping list, storing your food well and using your leftovers to create delicious new meals. 

Visit Love Food Hate Waste and Food Know How for handy resources and to learn more about how you can save food and money.

Composting and worm farming

You can turn your food scraps into nutrient rich compost for your garden. Council has partnered with Compost Community a free education program to make it easy for you to recycle your food waste.

Hume residents can access a 70 per cent discount on compost bins, worm farms and bokashi systems.

To access discounted prices, all you have to do is:

1. Join Compost Community
2. Read about what composting system might be best for your household
3. Order your product and will be delivered free.

Discounted products are only available to Hume residents (home owners and renters). One composting system is available per household.

A limited number of products and discounts are available per year. This offer will be unavailable when this number is reached.

To learn more about composting and worm farming visit the how to guide.

A free tree mulching service is available to all Hume residents to dispose of tree branches.

When and where are mulching days held?

What can I bring to tree mulching days?

A maximum of four cubic metres of clean, freshly cut, tree branches will be accepted for mulching. You will also need to bring proof of Hume residency, such as your rates notice or drivers licence, to participate in the service.

What is not acceptable for mulching?

The following materials will not be accepted for mulching: bricks, concrete, plastic bags, dry timber, wire, grass clippings, thorny plants, roses, vines, palm trees, Yuccas, bracken, succulents or pots.

Commercial quantities of materials will not be accepted. Up to four cubic metres (four small trailer loads) can be taken to each mulching day per household. Trucks and trailers with garden maintenance or mowing advertising will not be accepted.

What other services are available for disposing of green waste?

We provide a kerbside organics bin for green waste disposal and operate two tips in Campbellfield and Sunbury that accept green waste for a fee.

Does Council have mulch available to residents?

Mulch may be taken home at the conclusion of each mulching day. Mulch will be available between 2.45pm - 5pm (2.45pm - 6pm during daylight savings hours) at the Maffra Street depot and Sunbury depot locations. For all other locations (Tullamarine Reserve, Greenvale Recreation Centre, Craigieburn Service Depot) mulch will be available from 2.45pm on the day of mulching and will remain at the site for approximately one week. Alternatively, you can leave the mulch for Council to utilise for our parks and reserves.

You can also purchase recycled organic products as part of the Healthy and Sustainable Gardens Program supported by the Metropolitan Waste Management Group, Sustainability Victoria and CORE. A list of these retailers, together with more information about recycled compost and mulch products, can be viewed on the Metropolitan Waste Management Group website at www.mwrrg.vic.gov.au.

Council is committed to creating a clean and tidy city - and we need your help. You can help us clean up dumped rubbish, litter and graffiti by reporting it as soon as you see it.

Report an issue

Dumped rubbish, litter and graffiti make an area look untidy and uncared for. Studies have shown that small crimes, such as littering, can lead to more serious crimes if left unattended.

Graffiti on private property

Maintaining your property and removing any litter and graffiti quickly sends a message that you are proud of your property and reduces any recognition time for the graffiti.

Council provides free graffiti removal kits for residents to help clean up small areas of graffiti. To obtain a kit, visit a Customer Service Centre or complete a graffiti removal kit application form and return it to a Customer Service Centre with proof of Hume residency. Please note that kits cannot be mailed out. There are two types of kits available -  for sensitive surfaces, such as painted walls and fences, and brick and masonry surfaces.

For larger areas of graffiti, Council has a graffiti removal trailer that targets hot spots such as parks, playgrounds, shop fronts, buildings, fences and laneways. 

Council offers many options to dispose of hard waste for free, including at-home hard waste collection and tip passes for every residential rate payer and those renting homes.

If you require a skip bin, the company you hire must apply to Council for permission to place bins on the carriageway or nature strip. Council's Policy is based on the VicRoads Code of Practice for the Placement of Bins on Roadsides.

For domestic waste, a casual permit fee of $51.84 per bin for each placement is payable. Download the Skip Bin Permit Application Form(PDF, 146KB). 

Building site waste containers (including skip bins) will require an Asset Protection Permit to occupy a road as part of building works or a building site under Part 4 of the Hume City Council General Local law No. 1. Enquiries should be made with Building Control Services.

The applicant is required to fully comply with Council's Shipping Containers and Waste Skips Policy(PDF, 208KB) .

Penalties for not complying with the Local Law may include an on-the-spot infringement of $200, or if warranted the company may be summonsed to appear at a Magistrates Court where the maximum penalty may be up to $2000.

Bins that do not comply with Council's Policy and that have been placed in a dangerous situation will be impounded by Council and all costs involved will be charged to the bin owner.

To request a new litter bin or smokers pole, please send your request to us in writing via email contactus@hume.vic.gov.au or call us on 9205 2200.

Please include the location and reason for installation in your request. All requests for litter bins and smokers poles will be reviewed and you will be contacted with the outcome of the review. 

Sustainability Victoria hosts free household chemical collection days. Register for this free event online or call 1300 363 744. A full list of upcoming Detox Your Home collections is available on Sustainability Victoria's website.

Transportation and disposal of asbestos is controlled by the EPA.

Go to the EPA website to find out about:

• asbestos identification
• asbestos removal
• asbestos disposal.

Find out the the what, when and how of your bin collection, including what rubbish goes in which bin, by visiting the What rubbish goes in my bin? page.