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Apartments, units and townhouses

Information and tips for managing recycling and rubbish for residents who live in apartments, units and townhouses.

Some apartment buildings have private waste and recycling collection service. The items accepted by their recycling processors are different to the items accepted by Yarra's recycling processor.

Some apartments with private waste collections are not eligible for Council hard waste collections.

One way to check if you have a council or private waste service is to check your bins for a Yarra logo.

We recognise that apartment buildings are unique and often have more complex waste management requirements than individual households.

We work in partnership with Owner's Committees to provide the infrastructure and information to support responsible waste management.

What bin is for what?

See our A-to-Z Waste and Recycling Guide for a comprehensive list of how to dispose of most items.

Changes to your bin configuration

If your recycling bins are regularly overflowing, please ask your Owner's Committee to contact us to organise a site assessment.

We can change your bin configurations to ensure you have the right number of bins for recycling, glass, food and organic matter, and rubbish.

Tips for saving space

Your bins are shared with everyone in the building. To help make sure shared bins are not overflowing, please:

  • arrange a hard waste collection for large items
  • flatten plastic bottles, cans and other squash-able containers
  • rip up and flatten cardboard boxes, as they can stick in the bin and take up a lot of space
  • reduce the amount of packaging you are buying and throwing away.

What about hard rubbish collection?

Apartments with private waste arrangements may not be eligible for Council hard waste collections. If you're unsure if your building is eligible, please contact your property manager or body corporate.

Bookings for eligible apartment buildings should be arranged through your building manager, caretaker or Owner's Committee when possible. This helps to ensure compliance with our hard waste guidelines.

If you have difficulty booking through your manager, please contact us.

Building managers and caretakers

To book a hard waste collection for a multi-unit site, please contact us.

If your apartment building is eligible to receive Council hard waste collections, please contact us (email [email protected]. Please include the building's full rated address, a list of items, estimated volume of waste and preferred date/s for collection.

To check if your building is eligible, please refer to your waste management plan or planning permit, or email [email protected]

Food waste, composting and on-site processing options

If you live in an apartment and have limited space for processing food waste, you can consider using a Bokashi bin. This is an eco-friendly composting system designed for use in the kitchen.

You might also consider a compact composting or worm farming system, designed for balconies and small spaces. You can buy these at garden nurseries and environmental supply businesses.

There are also on-site options available. Several Melbourne companies install units in commercial or multi-unit developments which process food waste into a soil additive. This reduces the volume of food waste. For more information contact us.

Resources

The multi-unit development toolkit helps building managers, owner’s committees and residents to set up an effective rubbish and recycling system in their building.

Resources

Bin signage and posters for residents

We can provide posters to help everyone easily identify what you can put in the recycling, glass, food and organic matter, and rubbish bins.

Using the templates below can download, print and laminate them to put in your building's bin room, your apartment or other common areas.

We have translated versions of these posters in Arabic, Greek, Italian, Simplified/Traditional Chinese, Spanish, Somali, Turkish and Vietnamese for you to download and print at home.

We can also provide you with large rigid posters (size A1 or A3) of the Recycling, Glass, Rubbish and Unwanted items posters, as well as stickers to place on your bins.

Collecting signage and posters

Signage can be collected from the Clifton Hill Depot, Monday to Friday, between 9am and 2.45pm. We are located at 168 Roseneath Street, Clifton Hill, about 35 metres west of the entrance to the recycling centre. You do not need to let us know you are coming.

Please note, we are unable to send out posters due to their size.

You can request bin stickers to be sent out to you by completing our online request form or by calling Customer Service on 03 9205 5555.

Subscribe to our multi-unit development newsletter

To help provide timely and relevant information on our waste management service, we have launched a new e-mail newsletter specifically for residents of apartments, units and townhouses.