An old water tank is four different disposal jobs depending on what it's made of: corrugated galvanised steel has real scrap value, poly tanks are bulky and low-value, concrete tanks are usually broken up rather than removed whole, and fibreglass is the hardest of the four to place. Before any of that, check the tank and its stand for asbestos cement if the property was built before 1990. Asbestos-cement water tanks were a common fitting before that date, and SafeWork NSW recommends a licensed professional handle any amount of it. Last updated: September 2026.
Check for asbestos before you do anything else
Most old water tanks are steel or plastic and carry no asbestos risk. The exception is a tank that's itself asbestos-cement (fibro), or a stand, base slab or surrounding shed wall built from it, on a property built before 1990. Asbestos-cement water tanks were commonly installed as header tanks in the roof spaces of older houses, manufactured up until 1990, and asbestos cement sheeting more generally was manufactured between the 1940s and 1987.
You can't tell whether a material contains asbestos just by looking at it. A licensed asbestos assessor is the only way to confirm it. If it turns out to be asbestos, the rule is strict: a licence is required to remove any amount of friable asbestos, or more than 10 square metres of non-friable (bonded) asbestos, and a licensed professional is recommended for any amount of non-friable asbestos as well, because of the risk of disturbing it. It's illegal to put asbestos waste in a kerbside bin, and illegal to put it in a skip bin that isn't approved to hold it. Fines run up to $7,500 for an individual and $15,000 for a company, and up to $1,000,000 if the matter goes to court.
This isn't a general rubbish removal job. If asbestos is confirmed or even suspected, the next call is a licensed asbestos assessor or removalist, not a skip bin and not a scrap metal run. asbestos.nsw.gov.au and safework.nsw.gov.au both list licensed contractors by area.
Corrugated galvanised steel: the most common old tank
A corrugated galvanised steel tank is the most common old water tank on a Sydney property, and it has the simplest end point: scrap metal. Once it's empty, it goes into the same stream as other household steel scrap: hot water tanks and white goods are named acceptance items at Sydney scrap metal yards too. A galvanised tank that's rusted through, dented or missing its base is still scrap steel by weight; corrosion doesn't change what a scrap dealer is buying. The stand underneath is usually a separate structure (timber frame, steel frame or brick piers) and gets assessed on its own terms rather than as part of the tank. Anyone thinking about the other side of the scrap trade may wonder whether buying junk at junkyards is worth it.
Poly tanks: bulky, and not a kerbside item at any size
A poly (polyethylene) tank looks like the easier problem: it's light for its size compared with steel. But bulk, not weight, is what rules it out of ordinary waste streams. Council bulky item and kerbside clean-up collections cap what they'll take by size as well as weight. City of Sydney's own collection excludes anything over 1.5 metres long or 100kg that two people can't lift, and a domestic poly tank (most start around 1,000 to 5,000 litres) is well past that on size alone, regardless of what it weighs empty. Polyethylene is technically a recyclable plastic, but it has little scrap value in practice: there's no cash market for it the way there is for steel, and kerbside recycling is built for bottles and containers, not tank-sized pieces. Cutting a poly tank down into panels is sometimes done to fit it into a smaller collection, but the tank whole isn't a kerbside or clean-up item at any size.
Concrete tanks: usually broken up, not removed whole
An old in-ground or partly-buried concrete tank is rarely removed in one piece. Concrete tanks are typically built in place (cast, or built up from besser block and rendered), which makes getting one out a demolition job rather than a lift-and-carry one. The usual approach is to break it up where it sits, which turns a tank removal into a rubble and demolition waste job rather than a tank job. The broken concrete itself carries no particular hazard, but the same asbestos check applies to any cement sheeting lid, cover or lining fitted to it before treating the rubble as ordinary waste.
Fibreglass tanks: the awkward one
Fibreglass is the least common of the four and the hardest to place. It isn't scrap metal, so a scrap dealer has no reason to take it, and it isn't the kind of plastic municipal recycling is set up for either: fibreglass is a composite of resin and glass fibre, not a single recyclable material, which is exactly why general recyclers won't touch it. In practice, a fibreglass tank usually ends up as general waste rather than a recycling stream, which makes it the material where a same-day rubbish removal collection is the more realistic option over hunting for a specialty recycler.
Before it moves: what's actually inside it
A tank that's been standing for years is rarely empty. Water sits in the bottom of most disused tanks along with sediment and sludge, and that has to be drained or pumped out before the tank can safely be lifted or cut up. The weight adds up fast: a litre of water weighs a kilogram, so even a modest few hundred litres of leftover water and sludge is a serious weight before the tank itself is touched.
Once it's empty, access is usually the bigger constraint, not weight. Water tanks are rarely installed somewhere convenient: down the side of a house, behind a garage, or at the back of a block past a narrow side gate that a trailer or a two-wheeled trolley won't fit through. A tank that would be simple to remove from an open driveway can take considerably longer to get out from behind a fence line, and that access, more than the tank's size, is usually what decides how long the job actually takes.
How to get rid of an old water tank, step by step
- Work out what it's made of. Steel, poly, concrete and fibreglass all go different ways from here, and a pre-1990 fibro or asbestos-cement tank goes a very different way again.
- If there's any chance it's asbestos-cement, or the stand or base looks like fibro sheeting, stop. Get a licensed asbestos assessor to check it before anything is touched, moved or cut.
- Drain what's inside. Sludge and standing water need to come out before the tank is light enough, or safe enough, to move.
- Check access from the tank to the street. Side gates, stairs, fence lines and trailer clearance decide how the job actually runs, more often than the tank's size does.
- Book the right disposal stream: scrap metal collection for steel, a rubbish removal service for poly or fibreglass, a demolition or rubble service for broken-up concrete, or a licensed asbestos removalist if step 2 applies.
The facts
- Asbestos-cement water tanks were commonly installed as roof-space header tanks in Australian homes, manufactured up until 1990.
- Asbestos cement sheeting generally was manufactured between the 1940s and 1987.
- A licence is required to remove any amount of friable asbestos, or more than 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos.
- Fines for illegal asbestos disposal run up to $7,500 for an individual, $15,000 for a company, and up to $1,000,000 through the courts.
- City of Sydney's bulky item collection won't take anything over 1.5 metres long or 100kg that two people can't lift.
Getting rid of it
Once you know what you're actually dealing with, whether that's confirming it's plain galvanised steel or ruling out asbestos altogether, most of what's left is moving something heavy and awkwardly placed off the property. If it's steel, poly or fibreglass and it's been cleared of any asbestos risk, scrap metal and junk removal takes the tank along with anything else being cleared out of the same yard or side access in one visit. For a confirmed or suspected asbestos-cement tank, that's a licensed asbestos removalist's job.
