No wood goes in the yellow recycling bin, and only small pieces of garden wood go in a Sydney green bin. Your council sets the size. Hornsby and Northern Beaches take branches up to 75mm thick; Sutherland says a metre long and no thicker than a broomstick. Offcuts and building timber stay out of both.
Last updated: November 2026
Can wood go in the green bin?
Yes, if it grew in your garden and it's thin enough. The green lid bin is for garden organics, so prunings and small branches go in once they're cut down to size. Councils set their own limits. They don't agree.
| Council | Branches the green bin takes | Wood it won't take | |---|---|---| | Hornsby | Twigs and small branches up to 75mm in diameter | Timber, and large branches, logs or stumps | | Northern Beaches | Branches less than 75mm thick | Logs, stumps and branches thicker than 75mm | | The Hills | Bark and branches no longer than 1m and 75mm in diameter | No wood items named on its list | | Sutherland Shire | Sticks and branches no longer than 1m and no thicker than a broomstick | Bamboo, tree stumps and logs | | City of Sydney | Small branches and twigs | Stumps, logs, trunks and branches thicker than 10cm | | Blacktown (food and garden bin) | Small branches and sticks no longer than 100cm | Timber and building materials, large logs and tree branches |
Milled timber is a different story. Hornsby and Blacktown both name timber on the list of things their green bins won't take, and Northern Beaches, Sutherland and the City of Sydney keep building waste out. Offcuts and old decking boards fall on that side of the line, treated or not.
Put prunings in loose. Hornsby and Sutherland both list plastic bags among the things their green bins won't accept.
In both these councils it ends up as compost. Sutherland's green bins go to Cleanaway's Lucas Heights Resource Recovery Park to be processed into compost, and Blacktown sends its food and garden bins to the Eastern Creek Organics facility, where the material becomes compost certified to Australian Standard 4454. A painted offcut has no place in either.
Can wood go in the yellow recycling bin?
No. Inner West Council says its yellow lid bin is only for bottles, cans and containers from the kitchen, laundry and bathroom, plus paper and cardboard. Hornsby's yellow bin list runs along the same lines with nothing wooden on it, and Wollongong closes its list of what must not go in with "any other waste".
Wollongong's recycling is hauled to a materials recovery facility in Sydney, sorted, and sent on to recyclers who turn it back into paper and new containers. There's no stream in that for a length of pine. It just contaminates the recycling.
For what each Sydney bin does take, see our guide to which bins to use in Sydney.
What about treated pine and painted wood?
Both stay out of the green bin. The NSW EPA says treated timber contains chemicals that can be harmful to the environment and to your family's health, and that it should never be burnt or buried.
Paint doesn't turn a board into garden waste, either. It's still timber.
The EPA's page on the safe disposal of treated timber sets out the rest of its do's and don'ts.
How can you get rid of old wood?
That depends on how much there is and what it is.
- A few offcuts. Check your council's red bin list before anything else. Hornsby's list rules out building materials. Where your council allows it, the EPA says a small amount of treated offcuts can go in with your regular rubbish.
- A renovation's worth. Treated timber from a bigger household build or a demolition belongs in landfill, the EPA says, and only a licensed site will do. Ask your council which ones nearby accept it.
- A council clean-up. Sutherland residents get a twice-yearly pre-booked clean-up, and The Hills gives each household two free kerbside collections per calendar year. What timber each council will take differs, so read the list when you book.
- Logs, stumps and thick branches. Northern Beaches asks residents to take these to Kimbriki Resource Recovery Centre. In The Hills, bulky garden vegetation can go out for a clean-up if it's tied in bundles no longer than 1.5 metres that two people can comfortably handle.
- Pallets. If they're still in decent shape, our ways to recycle timber pallets has ideas for giving them a second life. For more on where old wood can end up, see our piece on timber waste and how it's reused.
The numbers behind the rules
- Copper chrome arsenate (CCA), a common timber treatment, is a solution of up to 37% arsenic, and once applied it makes up about 1% of the timber's volume (NSW EPA, page updated July 2021).
- More than 10% of the weight of ash from burnt CCA timber can be heavy metal residue such as arsenic (NSW EPA, updated June 2024).
- 4 out of 5 recycling bins the City of Parramatta looked through held material that shouldn't have been there, from a few small items to almost a quarter of the bin (City of Parramatta, published with its 2018-19 recycling figures).
- Blacktown estimates its food and garden bin keeps around 40,000 tonnes a year out of landfill (Blacktown City Council; the service began in June 2025).
Skip the tip run
If the pile is bigger than a bin, Paul collects offcuts, old decking, fencing and renovation timber from the backyard or the side of the house, and Paul's team does the loading. Book before midday and Paul can usually collect the same day. Get a free quote on timber removal, or see pallet removal for a stack of pallets.
