Opt in to food and green waste
Council collects the food and green waste bin every two weeks. It's an opt-in service, so you need to fill in the online form to order yours.
Food and green waste makes up 40 per cent of the average garbage bin, where it's sent to landfill when it doesn’t need to be.
Sign up now to join the 14,500 other households in Stonnington that have a green waste bin. We'll turn your green waste into compost and mulch used by Victorian farms to grow nutritious food.
Get a food and green waste bin
For household owners
Council collects the food and green waste bin every two weeks. It's an opt-in service, so you need to fill in the request form below to order yours.
Order a food and green waste bin
For renters
If you rent, only owners and owners corporation agents can change your waste service. This is because there is a cost added to the rates notice, which the owner pays.
If you live in a house with a private outdoor space, there are some things you can do:
- Compost at home and use the compost in your garden. You can get a discounted compost bin or worm farm from Compost Revolution.
- Ask your landlord to get a food and green waste bin.
If you live in an apartment building, you also have a few options:
- Ask your owners corporation to get shared food and green waste bins. Your building can only do this if you already use Council bins.
- Apply to join Council's Apartment Composting program(PDF, 643KB). This program provides apartment buildings with up to three compost systems or worm farms for FREE, subject to OC approval. This is a great option if your building has a shared outdoor space. Download the letter of support(PDF, 127KB) and complete the application form.
- Give away your green waste to neighbours through Sharewaste. Find someone nearby who composts or keeps a worm farm. Good for buildings that don’t have Council bins or a shared space.
What goes in a food and green waste bin
Each council collects slightly different things in their green waste bin.
In Stonnington, we collect:
- all food scraps and leftovers, including dairy, meat and bones
- egg shells
- uncoated wooden toothpicks, skewers, chopsticks and cutlery
- human and animal hair
- certified compostable caddy liners
- small amounts of paper, like newspaper, tissues, napkins, shredded paper and paper bags
- garden pruning, weeds, leaves, bark and grass clippings
- cut down branches and logs.
Do not put these in your green waste bin:
- animal droppings, pet waste and kitty litter
- any plastic, including packaging
- bioplastics (plastics made from natural resources such as plates made from sugar cane)
- garden hoses and pots
- stickers and labels
- oyster shells
- liquids, like cooking oils or sauces
- nappies, including compostable
- sand or dirt
- tea bags and coffee pods
- tree stumps and large branches
- treated or painted timber.
Find what goes in your food and green waste bin
Kitchen caddies and liners
You can pick up a free kitchen caddy and liners from our Customer Service Centres.
This is only available for people who have a Council food and green waste bin.
A caddy is a small bin that can sit on your kitchen bench, making it easy to collect food scraps to put into your bin later.
You can put kitchen caddy liners into your green waste bin. Liners you can use include:
- newspaper
- paper towel or napkins
- compostable lime green caddy liners (look for the code AS4736 on the packaging). You can pick these up for free from our Customer Service Centres or buy from a supermarket.
What happens to my green waste?
Bio Gro is the composting company that processes Stonnington's food and green waste. It's sorted and shredded, then mixed with green waste from other councils and businesses. It's then processed into mulch and compost.
Our gardeners use the compost in Stonnington's parks and reserves, to keep them healthy. The compost is also put to work on farms, vineyards and orchards across Victoria to grow food for our tables.
You can even buy Bio Gro compost from your local nursery to use in your own garden. It helps with soil health and your plans will use water and nutrients better. It’s the circular economy in action!