Expect to pay roughly $500 to $550 per tonne for mixed household rubbish at a Sydney tip in 2026/27, plus a minimum charge of $45 to $60 for small loads. That already includes the NSW Government's $180.20 per tonne metropolitan waste levy, the main reason Sydney fees run higher than regional NSW.
Last updated: August 2026.
What determines the cost
Two things stack on top of each other every time you take a load to a Sydney tip. The first is the NSW Government's waste levy, a fixed charge per tonne that every facility in the Sydney metropolitan area has to pass on. For the 2026/27 financial year that levy sits at $180.20 per tonne, up from $174.20 the year before. The second is the facility's own gate fee for handling, sorting and land use, which sits on top of the levy and varies from one operator to the next.
Waste type changes the total more than almost anything else. General mixed household rubbish attracts the full levy and a high per-tonne rate because most of it heads to landfill. Materials that recycle easily, like clean concrete, brick or garden waste, cost far less per tonne because the facility can recover value from them. Sorting your load before you arrive, taking concrete separately from general rubbish, for example, is usually the single biggest way to cut what you pay at the gate.
Tip facilities and skip bin operators also price rubbish differently. Tip facilities charge by the tonne with a set minimum charge for smaller loads. Skip bin operators instead charge a flat price per bin size, from around $470 for the smallest bin, regardless of exactly how full it ends up. Neither is automatically cheaper: a small, well-sorted load usually costs less as a per-tonne tip fee, while a bin filled over several days of work is often simpler to budget as a flat price.
Sydney tip fees by waste type (2026/27)
At Kimbriki Resource Recovery Centre on Sydney's Northern Beaches, one of the region's resource recovery centres, the current 2026/27 price list charges:
- General household or mixed waste: $505 per tonne, with a minimum charge of $60 for loads under 100kg (or $45 for Northern Beaches and Mosman Council residents).
- Green waste and garden clean-up material: $295 per tonne, $30 minimum under 100kg, for non-residents and trade customers. Northern Beaches and Mosman Council residents get one free load up to 300kg per day (car, station wagon, ute, family van or trailer only, annual limits apply), with anything over that charged at the $295 rate.
- Concrete and brick: $33 per tonne, with a one-tonne minimum.
- Mattresses: $60 each. Getting rid of a mattress specifically? See our mattress tip cost guide for mattress-only pricing and donation or recycling options.
- Asbestos: $600 per tonne, $15 minimum under 20kg, and it must be double-wrapped in heavy builder's plastic in 20kg parcels before the facility will accept it. Not every tip takes asbestos, and it should never go in with general waste, so check with the facility or your council before you load it.
Every facility sets its own rates on top of the state levy, so treat these figures as a real, current Sydney example rather than a universal quote. It's worth checking a facility's own price list, or ringing ahead, before you load the car.
What you can drop off for free
Not everything at a Sydney tip costs money. At Kimbriki, scrap metal is accepted free of charge, along with mobile phones (up to 10 per customer), household and lead-acid batteries, TVs and computers including printers and peripherals, paint (up to 100 litres per transaction), motor oil (up to 50 litres), flattened cardboard and paper, and clean clothing in good condition for donation. Pulling these out of a mixed load before a tip run doesn't just avoid landfill, it can shift what's left below a facility's minimum charge threshold, which is often where the real saving is.
Why Sydney tip fees are higher than other areas
Sydney sits inside the NSW EPA's Metropolitan Levy Area, and that area reaches well beyond Sydney itself: the Illawarra and Hunter councils, Wollongong, Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Cessnock among them, plus the Central Coast, are all inside it. The boundary isn't simply a distance-from-Sydney line, either. The Blue Mountains, right on Sydney's western edge, sits in the cheaper Regional Levy Area instead, so check which area a facility is actually in rather than assuming from the map. Facilities inside that area pay the $180.20 per tonne levy on every load, while the NSW Regional Levy Area further out pays $103.80. That levy is set by the NSW Government specifically for these NSW areas, which is one reason a Sydney gate fee won't line up with a quote from a facility outside the Metropolitan Levy Area, in another region or another state. The levy isn't static either. It rose from $174.20 to $180.20 per tonne between 2025/26 and 2026/27, in line with the Consumer Price Index, so a figure that was accurate last year may already be out of date.
A real DIY tip run cost example
A single trailer load of general household rubbish, roughly 300 to 400kg, usually lands on the minimum charge rather than the full tonne rate. At Kimbriki that's $60 for non-residents, or $45 for Northern Beaches and Mosman residents. Fill a small truck closer to a full tonne of mixed waste and the full $505 per tonne rate applies, before fuel, a van or trailer hire, and your own time loading and unloading are counted. For a renovation or a full clean-out running to two or three tonnes, the tip fee alone can climb past $1,000, and that's before transport is factored in at all.
A garden clean-up changes the maths again. If you're a Northern Beaches or Mosman resident, a single trailer load of green waste under 300kg can be free at Kimbriki once a day, rather than sitting on the $30 minimum charge like general waste does. It's the clearest example of why sorting your load before you leave the house, rather than tipping everything in as one mixed pile, is usually worth the extra ten minutes.
Skip bin hire vs a tip run vs paid removal
A skip bin makes sense for jobs that run over more than a single day, like a renovation or a full garage clear-out, where you want a bin sitting on the property rather than making repeat trips to the tip. Matt's Skip Bins, a Sydney operator, publishes indicative pricing of $470 for a 2m³ mini skip, $650 for a 3m³ to 4m³ medium bin, $980 for a 6m³ large bin, and $1,180 for an 8m³ to 12m³ extra large bin, with mattresses charged at $80 and tyres at $40 to $80 each as separate specials.
A one-off tip run suits a single load if you already have a suitable vehicle and the time to queue, load and unload yourself. A paid rubbish removal service suits jobs where you don't want to lift, sort or drive anything yourself. It's also priced against the volume of rubbish you have rather than a fixed skip size, so you're not paying to hire a bin bigger than what you end up filling.
Ready to skip the queue at the tip?
Paul's Rubbish Removal quotes on the volume of rubbish you actually have, not a fixed skip size, with a free, no-obligation quote and same-day collection if you book before 10am. Get a free quote or call 0407 125 125.
FAQ
How much are tip fees in Sydney?
General household waste runs about $505 per tonne at Kimbriki's 2026/27 rate, with a minimum charge of $45 to $60 for loads under 100kg. That figure already includes the NSW Government's $180.20 per tonne metropolitan waste levy. Rates vary by waste type and by facility, so treat this as a real current example rather than a fixed number that applies everywhere.
What's the cheapest way to get rid of rubbish in Sydney?
Waste type matters more than most people expect. Concrete and brick cost $33 per tonne and green waste $295 per tonne at Kimbriki, against $505 per tonne for general mixed waste, and Northern Beaches and Mosman residents can tip a load of garden waste under 300kg for free once a day. Sorting your rubbish into these categories before a tip run, or before booking a skip or a removal service, is usually the single biggest lever on the final cost.
What is a tipping fee?
A tipping fee, also called a gate fee, is what a waste facility charges to accept a load. Sydney facilities typically price it per tonne with a set minimum charge for smaller loads. In the Sydney metropolitan area, part of that fee is the NSW Government's waste levy, currently $180.20 per tonne, which the facility passes on as part of its gate fee.
Do all Sydney tips charge the same price?
No. Kimbriki alone charges a lower minimum charge to Northern Beaches and Mosman Council residents ($45) than to non-residents and trade customers ($60) for the same mixed-waste load. The state levy underneath is set centrally, but each facility sets its own gate fee and resident concessions on top of it, so it's worth checking a facility's own price list before you load the car.
Can I take rubbish to the Sydney tip for free?
Some items are free even at a facility that charges for general waste. Kimbriki accepts scrap metal, mobile phones, household batteries, TVs and computers, paint, motor oil, cardboard and clean clothing for donation at no charge. Separating these from general rubbish before a tip run is the easiest way to bring the bill down, since only the non-recyclable portion of the load attracts the per-tonne rate and the state levy.
