How to recycle right these holidays
Published on 10 December 2025
Australian households generate 30% more waste over the Christmas and New Year period. While consuming less is always the best way to avoid waste, we can also do our bit by recycling.
Here are some tips to help you recycle your festive waste correctly and minimise our impact on the environment.
Christmas trees
If you bought a real Christmas tree, it can be left out with your green lid organics bin when you’re finished with it – just leave it neatly next to your bin on your kerb or laneway. It will be collected for recycling on your scheduled service day.
If you’ve invested in a plastic tree, make sure to re-use it every year to ensure its environmental impact is minimised.
Wrapping paper, ribbons and cards
Paper and cardboard can be recycled, so choose this material over plastics or cellophane. Paper and cardboard packaging can go into your yellow lid recycling bin. Try to remove any sticky tape first and put it in the rubbish bin.
Remove any rope, string or ribbons from gift cards, gift bags and wrapping paper as they can’t be recycled. Gift cards made from paper can go in the recycling bin. Hold onto ribbons and gift bags and use them again next year.
Plastic bags and other soft plastics
These CANNOT go into your recycling bin at home, dispose of them in your red-lin bin.
Bottles, jars and drink cans
Please make sure that all your bottles, jars and cans are placed loosely into your yellow lid recycling bin. If you can, rinse them, separate the lids and remove them from plastic bags first.
If you require an extra yellow bin recycling collection, Council is running one extra service on Saturday 27 December ONLY. You must make a booking through the Woollahra Council App using the Request Type: Waste Service Domestic Recycling Extra Service URM. Please present your bin kerbside on the evening of 26 December for this collection on the morning of 27 December.
Disposable plates, cups cutlery and paper napkins
These cannot be recycled. Please choose reusable alternatives instead. If you can't avoid disposable items, make sure you use biodegradable options like paper plates and bamboo or timber cutlery.
Leftover food
This is the biggest cause of festive waste. Get creative with your leftovers and reuse that food to make something new. Visit Love Food Hate Waste for clever recipes using leftovers and tips on food storage.
You can reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and create compost instead, simply by placing your food scraps into your green organics bin instead of your red bin.
In addition to garden organics like grass clippings, leaves and branches you can place any type of food scrap, left over, spoilt or out of date food into your green bin. This can include:
- Fruit and vegetable peels and scraps
- Meat and seafood scraps and bones
- Egg shells and cheese
- Bread, pasta, rice and cereal
- Loose leaf tea and coffee grounds
- Out of date food (processed or fresh)
- Take away food
- Pantry food and left overs
Wormfarms and compost bins are another good option for food scraps. If you don’t already have one, take a look at the Compost Revolution program where Woollahra residents can purchase a worm farm or compost bin for 80% off the RRP.
Unwanted Clothes and Shoes
Many of us make use of the festive season to sort through our wardrobes and delegate old and ill-fitting clothes to the unwanted pile. Take advantage of Council's free pick-up and book a collection.
Items will be passed onto St Vincent de Paul for re-sale in one of their retail stores, or processed to create new textile products like rugs, mats or commercial rags.
Book a Free Collection
Never Bin Batteries!
So many Christmas presents under the tree contain batteries. If you have unwanted household items that contain any kind of battery, please don't bin them. Council offers a FREE e-waste and battery pick-up service so that batteries can be disposed of safely.
Batteries contain toxic heavy metals like lead, cadmium and mercury and can pose a fire hazard if they get damaged or overheat and should NEVER be placed in general waste and recycling bins.
Please help ensure the safety of our staff and the community and never bin batteries, book a free pick-up instead.
Items Accepted:
- All household alkaline batteries eg. A, AA, AAA, C, D, 9V, 6V etc.
- NiMH batteries
- Button batteries
- Rechargeable batteries/easily removable Lithium ion batteries
- Easily removable batteries from power tools etc.
- Car batteries (lead acid)
- E-bike/scooter batteries <5kg
- Vapes
For more information on what can and can’t be recycled, download the Recycle Mate app.
View more information about Council’s waste services.