Muswellbrook Shire Council facilitates two bulky waste collections per year. Each collection is intended to facilitate easy disposal of large and unwieldy items that will not fit in the regular kerbside bins – including metals, electronics and bulky household waste.
There are rules relating to this service to ensure the collection runs as smoothly and safely as possible. Before you stack your waste at the kerb, please ensure you have read and understood all the requirements.
Can your bulky items be repaired, sold or reused? Consider all your options before placing it kerbside! Contact our Sustainability Unit for alternative ideas on how to rethink your waste.
GUIDELINES
- Stack items neatly next to the kerb – DO NOT BLOCK the footpath or road.
- Stack items in separate piles as per approved items list below.
- Keep total waste under 2 cubic metres per household (e.g. the size of a standard ute tray).
- It must be possible for two people to safely lift items.
- Wrap any glass items securely in newspaper and label them “GLASS.”
- Remove all doors and lids from whitegoods. Ensure they are empty.
2025 Collection 1 | 10 March – 28 March 2025
2025 Collection 2 | 25 August – 12 September 2025
Each collection is split into three zones – check your zone for correct stacking dates.
Zone Information
TopIncluding Kerbside Zones: 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B
You are in Zone 1 if your current domestic bins are collected on Mondays or Tuesdays*
Place your waste at the kerb on the weekend of 9 March 2025.
Collections start Monday 10 March 2025.
*Note: Ironbark Ridge, Woodland Ridge and Milpera Drive residences, where kerbside bin collection days have recently changed, will remain in zone 1 for bulky waste collection.
Including Kerbside Zones: 4A, 4B, 5A, 5B
You are in Zone 2 if your current domestic bins are collected on Thursdays or Fridays*
Place your waste at the kerb on the weekend of 16 March 2025.
Collections start Monday 17 March 2025.
*Note: Ironbark Ridge, Woodland Ridge and Milpera Drive residences, where kerbside bin collection days have recently changed, will remain in zone 1 for bulky waste collection.
Including Kerbside Zones: 3A, 3B
You are in Zone 3 if your current domestic bins are collected on Wednesdays
Place your waste at the kerb on the weekend of 23 March 2025.
Collections start Monday 24 March 2025.
APPROVED ITEMS
Bulky waste must be stacked in separate piles:
- Metals: empty whitegoods (remove all doors), car batteries, disassembled bed frames. Metal items are sent to be recycled into steel and other products.
- Electronics: kitchen appliances, televisions, computers and peripheral devices. Electronic items are sent to be disassembled and components recycled.
- Bulky Household Waste: larger items such as unrepairable furniture, old floor coverings, broken glass (wrap in newspaper) and Mattresses may be put out for bulky pickup.
- Mattresses: mattresses will be collected separately for recycling.
THESE ITEMS WILL NOT BE COLLECTED
- Garden organics
- Liquids
- Hazardous chemicals or materials (including barbed wire)
- Foodstuffs
- Commercial or industrial waste
- Tyres
- Commercial building material
- Motor car bodies
- Earth or stone, bricks, rubble or unreasonably heavy or bulky objects
- Unreasonably heavy or bulky objects
- Small items that can go in your red lidded bin for normal collection
- Asbestos
FAQs
TopNo. The bulky waste collection service is provided to domestic residential properties only. Businesses, vacant lots and other property types are not eligible. This is because a portion of the rates charges billed to domestic residential properties pay for the bulky waste collection service. Other property types don’t pay for this service (and unfortunately can’t choose to), so they aren’t eligible for the service.
The easiest way to tell if the property can take part is if it has a green-lidded bin service. This means the property owner is paying the correct charge. There are exceptions to this rule so you can call us on 6549 3700 to check.
Muswellbrook Shire Council facilitates two bulky waste collections per year. Specific dates are advertised above.
There are a few possibilities.
- The waste was not an approved waste type.
- The items were placed at the kerb AFTER the collection start time for that zone. If all your waste is not out on time, you miss out on the collection.
- The items were not stacked in separate piles (listed above). Each approved waste type is treated differently and may be collected by different trucks – so you need to stack waste types SEPARATELY or some items may be missed.
If you followed the rules and think your waste was accidentally missed, there is a short timeframe where you can call JR Richards on 1800 312 933 to check what has happened. Residents are responsible for the waste until JR Richards takes possession, including the lawful removal of anything left on the kerbside once the service is complete.
No. Muswellbrook Shire’s bulky waste collection service runs off a set schedule, so you can’t book a specific collection window or stack waste at the kerb outside the advertised time windows for each zone. Each zone may only stack their large and heavy items on the weekend immediately before their zone’s collection commences.
Yes! However, they must be EMPTY with the DOORS REMOVED.
Full fridges are too heavy to lift and they can’t be recycled when there is food left inside, so they need to be empty before you put them out. Additionally, leaving the doors on the fridge presents a safety risk as people, particularly children, can become trapped inside.
No. Residents at eligible properties have approval to stack compliant items safely on the road verge outside their house ONLY during the advertised time windows. Each zone may only stack their large and heavy items on the weekend immediately before their zone’s collection commences.
Outside approved time windows, it is unlawful to place anything on a footpath or anywhere within the road reserve, and fines/penalties apply.
No. The bulky waste collection is for hard, heavy, BULKY waste items that are too large for kerbside bins. Bagged waste will not be collected – both because it’s not visible (which presents a safety risk) and because it can fit in your red-lidded bin. Also, if the items could blow away in the wind – don’t put them out! It is important to avoid windblown litter.
Options include:
- Consider all reuse, repair, resale and recycle options.
- Store it for the next bulky waste collection. You will need to move the items to an appropriate location on your property until the next bulky waste collection, but we run collections twice per year, so the next one will be around in no time.
- Take it to the Muswellbrook Waste & Recycling Facility or Denman Transfer Station. Normal disposal rules and fees apply.
Residents are responsible for the waste until JR Richards takes possession, including the lawful removal of anything left on the kerbside once the service is complete.
If something wasn’t collected, it usually means it fell outside the bulky waste guidelines (listed above) in some way.
For example:
- Too much waste was put out (2 cubic metres per household)
- It was stacked in the wrong location (e.g. outside a vacant block or on private property)
- It was put out after the zone collection started (i.e. it missed the collection timeframe)
- It was not an accepted waste type (e.g. tyres, green waste, commercial/industrial waste, dangerous materials)
- The waste wasn’t treated correctly (e.g. fridges without doors removed)
If you followed the rules and think your waste was accidentally missed, there is a short timeframe where you can call JR Richards on 1800 312 933 to check what has happened. Residents are responsible for the waste until JR Richards takes possession, including the lawful removal of anything left on the kerbside once the service is complete.
Residents at eligible properties have approval to stack compliant items safely on the road verge outside their house ONLY during the advertised time windows. Each zone may only stack their large and heavy items on the weekend immediately before their zone’s collection commences.
Outside approved time windows, it is unlawful to place anything on a footpath or anywhere within the road reserve, and fines/penalties apply.
Click here to read more about fines, including who to contact to pay or contest an infringement.
The aim of the bulky waste schedule is to have all zones collected by the end of the three-week collection period. However, there are many moving parts to bulky waste collection – so things like staffing levels, equipment breakdowns and weather can all affect the best laid plans. Council will update the community as much as possible if there are delays.
As Muswellbrook Shire Council offers a fortnightly kerbside collection of garden organics through the green-lidded bin, participation in the bulky waste pickup for garden organics was quite low. Low participation rates result in a high cost per premises serviced, and Council resolved at the Ordinary Council Meeting on 20 December 2022 to amend the bulky waste service to remove garden organics from the list of acceptable items.
Garden organics can be disposed as normal in the green-lidded bin, or bulk amounts of garden organics can be taken to the Muswellbrook Waste & Recycling Facility or Denman Transfer Station where standard fees apply as per Council’s Fees & Charges.
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