Litter

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!

Make an active contribution to reducing litter in our beautiful beaches, waterways and parks.

Through the Picitup Program, individuals or groups volunteer in their own time to remove litter from public areas, and record what they collect.

Recording valuable information about the amounts and types of rubbish found in different locations helps us understand where the litter might come from, so we can continue to work together to find ways to reduce litter happening in the first place.

How it works

1. Request and arrange collection of your free Picitup Kit via email. The kit includes a bag, gloves, hand sanitiser and a pad of data collection sheets.
2. Get collecting! Take your kit out and start picking up any litter you find – especially the small items and fragments of plastics like bottle lids, bread tags etc. A good idea is to keep the kit in your car.
3. Record what you collect – either after your clean up (or during if it is easier). You will need to enter the data online or you can download the AMDI Data Collection app.  Note: You will need to register the first time you use the system.
4. Stay clean. Be sure to clean your hands thoroughly after handling rubbish. If your bag gets dirty hose it off with water between each use.

The Picitup Program supports the Australian Marine Debris Initiative which is coordinated by Tangaroa Blue Foundation, and is designed to encourage and support individuals and community groups who do litter clean-ups.

If all we do is clean up, then that's all we'll ever do.

For more information on the Picitup Program, email or call us on 4227 7111.

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.