Drop off your bulky polystyrene for recycling

Published on 23 June 2025

Polystyrene can be recycled, but not through your yellow-lid bin, meaning it is often lost to landfill, where it can break down into smaller pieces and blow into the local environment.  

Drop your polystyrene off to us during July and August and our partner Foam Muncher will recycle it, ready to be used in new products including things like railway sleepers and insulation.

We can only accept clean, dry, white, rigid polystyrene for recycling at the following three locations and dates during Plastic Free July: 

• Tues 29 July, 10am-1pm – outside Woolworths Double Bay
• Thurs 31 July, 12pm-3pm – 7 Fletcher Street (Council Depot), Woollahra 
• Saturday 2 August, 10am-1pm – Gunyah Hall, Old South Head Road, Watsons Bay 

We cannot accept: soft/bendy foamy polystyrene, packing peanuts/beanbag beans, dirty, wet, coloured, containing tape/labels/ink, polystyrene stuck to cardboard or other materials and other forms of polystyrene used for packaging food (ice cream tubs, meat/fruit trays etc.) These need to go in your red-lid bin. 

Read more about recycling options for other tricky items and our quarterly Recycle It Saturday drop off events - the next one is coming up on Saturday 23 August.