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Community recycling hubs

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Brisbane residents can drop off hard-to-recycle household items at over 50 Council community recycling hubs.

What is a community recycling hub?

Community recycling hubs help Brisbane residents to recycle items that cannot be placed in a household recycling bin.

Trial hubs

Our 3 trial hubs are designed for residents to drop-off multiple household items.

These hubs are located at Chermside Library, Downfall Creek Bushland Centre, and Karawatha Forest Discovery Centre.

The trial will measure each hub for its ease of use, amount collected and recycling options for the materials.

Resource recovery centres

A variety of items can be accepted for recycling at Council's 4 resource recovery centres.

Recycling hubs

The majority of other recycling hubs can only accept select items for recycling.

If you wish to recycle additional items, they will need to be dropped off at either a trial hub or a resource recovery centre.

Where are the community recycling hubs?

Community recycling hubs can be found in over 50 locations, including trial hubs and resource recovery centres.

Check our map below for hub locations and what is accepted at the hubs.

What can be recycled

Each location accepts different items. Not all items can be dropped off at all locations. Check our map of hub locations and find what is acceptable for drop off at locations near you.

The following batteries are accepted for recycling at resource recovery centres and some hubs:

  • button batteries
  • household batteries AA, AAA, C, D, 9V, 6V
  • rechargeable batteries.

The following types of batteries are only accepted at the resource recovery centres:

  • lithium, lead acid car batteries
  • power bank batteries
  • solar batteries.
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Tape the terminals (ends) of your batteries to prevent risk of fire.

Put your dead batteries in a glass container and keep out of reach of children.

Keep mobile phone batteries inside your phone and deposit at a mobile phone drop off location.

Additional drop off locations

Check the B-cycle website for your nearest battery battery drop off point. 

Blister packs are accepted for recycling at some of the hubs.

Ensure to empty medicine from blister packs before disposal.

If you have expired medicine, check with your local pharmacy as they can often accept expired medicine for safe disposal.

Blu-ray discs, DVDs and CDs are accepted for recycling at some hubs.

You can keep them in their plastic cases when placing in the collection box.

Cosmetic packaging items accepted for recycling at some of the hubs.
  • Compact, setting powder and loose powder
  • Concealer tubes and sticks
  • Eye liner pencils
  • Eye shadow and blush containers
  • Eyebrow pencils, gel and powder
  • Face moisturiser, day and night creams
  • Hand cream and body lotion
  • Lip gloss, liner, lip sticks and lip balm tubes
  • Liquid and powder foundations
  • Make-up remover and cleaner
  • Mascara
  • Nail polish, varnish and nail polish remover
  • Nail treatment and nail creams
  • Perfume bottles
  • Self-tanning products
  • Setting spray
  • Toner

Cosmetic and skin care packaging must be empty before recycling.

Cosmetic items not accepted

  • Shampoo, conditioner and soap bottles (these can go in your household recycling bin) 
  • Scissors, tweezers and shaving razors

Mobile phones, mobile phone chargers and accessories are accepted for recycling at most of the hubs.

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Keep batteries inside your mobile phone. Remember to wipe personal data from devices before recycling.

Small e-waste items are accepted for recycling at some of the hubs.
  • Alarm clocks
  • Charger cords and electrical cables
  • Computer cables, mouse and accessories
  • Digital cameras
  • Electric toothbrushes
  • Electronic games, consoles and toys
  • Headphones and earphones
  • Small hairdryers and hair straighteners
  • Small stereos, speakers and radios
  • Smart watches
  • Torches/flashlights
  • Wi-Fi modems.
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Make sure to wipe your personal data from applicable devices.

Batteries should be removed (e.g. AAA batteries from a remote).

Some rechargeable e-waste can have embedded batteries that cannot be removed safely (e.g. an electric toothbrush). Place such items in e-waste recycling as is for collection.

Large e-waste

Larger e-waste items like laptops, computers, keyboards, and TVs, can be dropped off for recycling at any resource recovery centre for recycling. Visit E-waste recycling for more information. 

X-rays are accepted for recycling at some of the hubs.

If an x-ray is larger than the opening of the collection box, use scissors to cut the x-ray in half before depositing it in the collection box. 

Frequently asked questions

All recyclable items are sorted into their different waste streams then collected by Council’s contractor or participating recycling partners.

Each material goes through a separate recycling process, which may include processing the items back to their foundation elements, like plastic and steel, before these raw materials are used to create new products.

  • Blister packs are put through mechanical recycling processes to separate the aluminium foil from the plastic blister. Learn more via the Pharmacycle website.
  • Cosmetic packaging is sorted into plastics, metals and glass and the processed products are used in building materials. Learn more via the Close the Loop website.
  • CDs and DVDs are sent for plastic recycling to be made into plastic pallets. Learn more via the SPC eCycle website.
  • E-waste is broken down to recover metals and hard plastics. Learn more via the SPC eCycle website.
  • Mobile phones are processed to extract glass, aluminium and valuable metals. Learn more via the Mobile Muster website.
  • X-ray films are put through chemical recycling process to recover silver and plastic. Learn more via the Ecocycle website.

Collect acceptable recyclable items from your household, making sure they are clean and empty before visiting your closest recycling hub location.

Only household quantities are accepted at the recycling hubs with a maximum of 20 items per category able to be dropped off at one time.

Items must go inside the correct recycling box and must not be placed outside of the correct recycling box or left outside the site or location.

If you have waste from a business and want to recycle more, find out about recycling business waste. 

Many retailers accept hard-to-cycle items such as batteries, pens and markers, ink cartridges, toys, and gardening tools. Council’s resource recovery centres also accept other recyclables.

Download the Brisbane Bin and Recycling App or visit Planet Ark Recycling Near You or Recycle Mate website to find more information and recycling options.

Both vapes and e-cigarettes are not accepted in the recycling hubs.

You can drop off household quantities of vapes or e-cigarettes for free at our resource recovery centres.