Litter

As the weather warms up, we see more people enjoying outdoor spaces across our city - particularly at our beaches, foreshore areas and parks.

Our staff work hard to try and keep these areas well maintained and clear of rubbish. You can help by using bins in public spaces, and taking your litter with you if bins are full.

We also have the following features in place:

Recycling cages

We've installed 100 wire recycling cages, which are attached to bins in public areas. These are used to collect any 10c refund bottles that are eligible for the Return and Earn program.

Using these bins will help cans and bottles be recycled and stay out of landfill.

Recycling bins

Recycling bins are in place at 17 of our local parks from Bald Hill to Wongawilli.

Hot coal bins

Some of our larger parks and reserves have hot coal bins. Please use these where they're available.

Never dump hot coals on the ground or in bushland, as this can be a hazard to other people, and could start fires.

If you're visiting our parks, beaches and other outdoor spaces, there are plenty of bins available, including general waste, recycling, cigarette butt bins and dog poo bag dispensers.

Over the warmer months, we've also added extra bins to some of our busiest areas.

Use the map below to find a bin near you.

Remember, if a bin is full, don't be a tosser - take your rubbish with you!

Let us know if you find rubbish dumped in public areas.

Call us on (02) 4227 7111 or use the button below.

If you see someone littering from a vehicle you can report it to the NSW Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).

Fines starting at $250 can be issued from your reports.

It's easy to make an online report to the EPA. Just have these details handy:

• Registration of the vehicle (including state of registration)
• Location of the littering
• Your location
• The type of litter thrown from the vehicle
• How the litter was deposited
• Date and time.

If you're having a party or holding an event, think twice about including balloons.

We understand that balloons can be fun and festive, but they're also a risk to the environment. A CSIRO study found that balloons are in the top three most harmful pollutants threatening marine wildlife – along with plastic bags and bottles.

Even balloons that are biodegradable can cause litter before they break down.

Under our Single Use Plastics policy PDF, 52.19 KB, we don't use balloons at Council-organised events, and we encourage other event organisers to do the same.

It's also illegal to release 20 or more gas-filled balloons under the Protection of the Environment Operations Amendment (Balloons) Act 2000.

Some more environmentally-friendly decorations you might consider instead of balloons include:

• Bubbles.
• Flags, banners, bunting, kites, pom-poms or streamers.
• Dancing inflatables.
• Candles or LED candles. Make sure any 'real' candles or are properly supervised, and don't use them if there is a fire ban in place.
• Natural items like flowers or decorated rocks.

Whatever you use to make your party or event festive, make sure it doesn't end up as litter!

Cigarette butts are tiny, but they’re really bad news for the environment. Cigarette butts dropped in the street or in our waterways leach toxic chemicals into our soil and water. They can also be dangerous, particularly in bush fire season.

Keep our beaches, natural areas and waterways clean and bin your butt, or carry a pocket ashtray with you.

Council rangers can issue fines to people who litter with cigarette butts.

For more information about how cigarette butts affect our environment, see Keep Australia Beautiful’s website.

Chewing gum dropped on streets is not just gross and annoying – it’s also difficult and expensive to remove.

When you’re out in public, put your used gum in one of our many street bins.

Litter can have a huge negative impact on our oceans and the animals who live there.

To learn more, see the EPA's Marine Litter Campaign.

Fishing line and tackle causes a huge amount of injury to our local sea and shorebirds. It can cause a slow and painful death to birds in some cases.

We’ve installed Fishing Tackle bins at 12 popular fishing locations in our area, thanks to help from Australian Sea Bird Rescue South Coast and West Wollongong Rotary.

Make sure you use these bins when you’re fishing, or take your used line and tackle with you.

Council, The Surfrider Foundation and the Cleanwater Group have teamed up to install 12 ocean-friendly Drain Buddies (pictured below) at key locations around Wollongong Harbour.

Each Drain Buddy is a heavy duty basket which fits into stormwater pits to catch litter, organic debris and sediment while letting water pass through. This stops litter before it reaches the ocean or our beaches.

The litter caught by our Drain Buddies is collected, sorted, analysed and recorded in the Australian Marine Debris Initiative database. This will help us understand what people are throwing away, and where they're littering.  We can then use this information to shape our education programs and campaigns to reduce litter at its source.

Found an abandoned shopping trolley? Here's where you can report it.