Council’s Waste and Minimisation team is available for recycling education and waste reduction program development in primary schools, kindergartens, and childcare centres in East Gippsland. They can assist with waste audits and recycling education and have access to several resources from Sustainability Victoria to help with educational tools such as posters and bin stickers. Waste audits are an essential part of a school’s path to understanding their waste and recycling processes and form a base line for improvements and minimising waste to landfill.

Dirtgirlworld Get Grubby‍

The Get Grubby program is a sustainability program for children’s centres and school. Council has purchased a 2-year subscription to the program and are offering all childcare, family daycare, home schools and primary schools in East Gippsland FREE access to this leading sustainability resources for kids.

Led by 50 videos not shown on TV, the program stars dirtgirl, scrapboy and Costa the Garden Gnome.

The course is delivered online and includes videos, music, outdoor and indoor activities; and encourages kids to explore the big world outside. Many of the topics are timed to coincide with key sustainability events such as World Environment Day and National Recycling Week.

With an emphasis on fun, this ‘edutaining’ program is sure to be a hit with our centres and primary schools as they join thousands of kids around Australia to become confident planet-dwellers with the confidence to create worm farms, grow food, recycle, reduce plastic and waste, and be water and energy wise.

Contact the Waste team at Council for our unique code and then go to our Get Grubby login page to get started in your Get Grubby Adventure!

ResourceSmart School

ResourceSmart School is a free program offered by Sustainability Victoria that supports schools in sustainability and environmental educations.

It is regarded as a best practice framework for whole school sustainability and guides you to include sustainability into the curriculum and school operations, indeed into the whole school community while saving resources and money for the school.

The program consists of 5 modules: Core, Biodiversity, Energy, Waste and Water.

Councils Waste and Recycling Education Officer can support schools through the Waste Module of the ResourceSmart Program so please get in touch once you have joined and completed the Core Module. The ResourceSmart Schools Facilitator for Gippsland will assist with all other modules and general information about the program.

Contacts: wasteeducation@egipps.vic.gov.au

ResourceSmart Schools contact: schools@sustainability.vic.gov.au

Council has several publications available for information and waste education purposes. The resources focus on recycling right and creating awareness around better household recycling practices thereby reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.

The resources listed below are all available from Council’s customer service centres and libraries.

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Waste Wise – the East Gippsland Household Waste and Recycling Guide

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For recycling information and links to all available waste and recycling streams the shire offers simply click on the Waste Wise image >>>
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• The booklet is available here or collect a hard copy from any of Council’s service centres.
• You can also collect a fridge magnet from any of Council’s service centres - a visual reminder to recycle and providing a QR code linking to our A-Z Waste guide.

• Our service centres also have bin stickers to go on your general waste bin and recycling bin - so you know what goes where.

To support our recycling education efforts Tambo Waste trucks have been wrapped in new prints matching our printed material, keep an eye out for them on the road!

The development of these resources was made possible by a grant from Sustainability Victoria Circular Economy Household Education Fund and reflects our commitment to actively encourage, promote, and support best practice waste management in our communities. Through ongoing education and collective efforts like this, we can work towards a more sustainable future for East Gippsland.

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Materials Recovery Facility

Take a virtual tour of the Bairnsdale Materials Recovery Facility, run by Tambo Waste. This is where your recycling goes to once it leaves your kerbside bin or transfer station.
Check out the Materials Recovery Facility video.

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East Gippsland Shire residents and visitors can enjoy a 10c refund for eligible cans and bottles at various sites throughout the region.

The operators of the CDS in our area, Return-It, offer different types of refund options at selected locations.

Depot: Tambo Waste has partnered with Return-It to become a container deposit depot. The facility, at 56 McMillan Street Bairnsdale, is equipped with a high-speed counting machine that can count containers in bulk. Customers can receive either a cash refund, electronic refund to your chosen bank account or donate to a registered donation partner.

Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs): These self-service return points are conveniently positioned near supermarkets and in public spaces across Victoria, making recycling even more accessible to the public. Refunds at RVMs are available in the form of EFT, PayPal, or donation.

Over-The-Counter (OTC) Refund Points: Located within local businesses and organisations, these points count containers and provide a refund upon delivery.

The conditions or drop off may differ, and so it is advisable to contact them prior to arrival. All deposit locations can be found using the interactive map on the CDS Vic website.

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Detox Your Home – East Gippsland event

Got unwanted chemicals at home? Let’s detox!

The Detox Your Home program is coming to East Gippsland, giving you the chance to safely dispose of common household chemicals – for free.

Event details

📅 Saturday 25 October 2025
🕘 9.00 am – 1.00 pm
📍 East Gippsland Livestock Exchange

This is a free, safe and environmentally responsible way to clear out harmful household products that don’t belong in your bin or down the drain.

What you can bring

A wide range of household chemicals will be accepted, including:

• Household cleaners
• Pool chemicals
• Pesticides and herbicides
• Paint strippers and solvents
• Fluorescent tubes

👉 See the full list of accepted items on Sustainability Victoria’s website.

Why it matters

Hazardous chemicals can cause serious harm to:

• Our environment
• Wildlife
• Human health

By taking part, you’ll help protect our waterways, wildlife, and community – making East Gippsland safer and cleaner.

How to take part

✅ Registration is required
Book your spot now through Sustainability Victoria.

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Who’s behind Detox Your Home?

Detox Your Home is run by Sustainability Victoria in partnership with East Gippsland Shire Council. The events are a free and convenient service for safe disposal of unwanted household chemicals. Common products such as weedkiller, pesticides, cleaning chemicals, cosmetics, and cooking oil are all materials harmful to the environment and should not be placed in kerbside bins or poured down sinks.

Each Detox Your Home event collects around 4 tonnes of hazardous chemicals keeping them out of landfill and waterways and making homes safer.

The events are staffed by expert chemists who identify and sort the chemicals for safe transport back to a licensed facility in Melbourne where they are processed for reuse or safe disposal. Chemicals collected are processed and recovered or recycled wherever possible. If they cannot be reused in any way, they are safely disposed of.

Detox your Home events are funded by state government through Sustainability Victoria on a year-to-year basis.

For more information and to book for this year’s event visit, Detox Your Home

Looking after and extending the life of our clothes is the first step in reducing waste. With over 21,000 kerbside collection bins across East Gippsland Shire, approximately 1,300 tonnes of textile waste still end up in landfill each year, with a further 300 tonnes disposed of by charities that sell used clothing.

A stitch in time can make a big difference. By repairing, reusing and repurposing textiles – before recycling or disposal – we can better follow the waste hierarchy and extend the life of valuable materials.

Consider donating unwanted goods to local op shops throughout East Gippsland. They rely on generous donations of clean, saleable clothes, shoes and accessories to raise money for local worthy projects.

To divert textiles from landfill, Council is supporting a textile recovery service at the Bairnsdale Landfill.

Residents can dispose of clean textile waste for FREE.

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Worm farm

Having a worm farm in the garden or backyard is a fun and easy way for anyone to participate in sustainable practices and help to reduce organic waste that would otherwise end up in landfill. Worm castings (a.k.a. worm poop) are rich in nutrients and serve as a natural fertiliser for plants, promoting healthy growth and increased yield. Pop your kitchen organics in the worm farm and reap the rewards.

Compost bin

Another great option is to start composing your kitchen organics in a compost bin. It’s easy to compost even if you have a limited outdoor space as they won’t take up much room in your courtyard or small garden. You can gather organic materials such as fruit and vegetable scraps and coffee grounds in a container in your home. Empty the container into the compost bin outdoors, layering the materials with dry materials like leaves or straw. Keep the compost moist and turn it regularly until it is ready to use.

Garden mulch

As the colder weather approaches and the time for garden pruning is near, it’s time to think about what to do with all your twigs and leaves. Why not try mulching your garden waste at home?

Just gather organic materials like leaves, grass clippings, and small twigs. Shred or chop the material into small pieces and spread it evenly over the soil. Allow it to decompose and nourish the soil.

Mulching will help improve soil health, retain moisture, and reduce weed growth thereby reducing the need for chemical fertilisers while promoting healthy plant growth. Home mulching decreases the amount of waste that decomposes in landfills, which can produce methane gas and contribute to climate change. Mulching is an easy and sustainable way to minimise household waste.

Council has produced a Home Composting Guide to help you manage your organics garden waste at home. Hard copies are available from all Council’s customer service centres.

The East Gippsland Secondhand Guide helps residents look after what they already have, while making it easy to buy and donate secondhand across the region. The guide brings together seconhand dealers, op shops and community markets, showing how everyday choices can reduce waste, save money and support local communities. Buying secondhand keeps quality items in use for longer, reduces demand for new products by prioritising reuse before recycling or disposal.

Across East Gippsland there are many opportunities to donate unwanted items and buy secondhand, from clothing, furniture and homewares to books, tools and household goods, including at local community and grassroots markets. Donating good quality items helps divert valuable materials from landfill while supporting charities, community groups and market stallholders. Choosing to buy secondhand can save money and give these items a second life, keeps resources circulating locally, and strengthens a shared culture of repair, reuse and practicality – proving that a stitch in time really can make a difference.

There are also online markets place options for buying and selling items such as Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace and community Buy Swap and Sell pages. Garage sales are often listed on community notice boards and local papers.

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