Rubbish Dump Guide: Where to Take a Load in Sydney and What It Costs
Last updated: September 2026
Fewer Sydney tips are open to the public than most people assume. Two networks take household loads directly: Kimbriki at Ingleside, and Cleanaway's six former SUEZ sites across Artarmon, Auburn, Belrose, Rockdale, Ryde and Lucas Heights. Budget $500 to $630 a tonne, plus a minimum charge of $45 to $130 that applies even to a small load.
Why there are fewer public tips than you'd think
Some of Sydney's best-known waste sites are not actually open to a member of the public turning up with a trailer. Bingo Industries' Eastern Creek site, often assumed to be a default Sydney "dump," only takes inert, non-putrescible waste, typically from commercial, construction and industrial sources. It does not take ordinary household rubbish.
The operator name a lot of older guides still use is out of date, too. SUEZ no longer runs any Sydney tips. In 2021, Cleanaway bought SUEZ's Sydney waste assets outright: the putrescible landfill at Lucas Heights, the non-putrescible landfill at Kemps Creek, and the transfer stations at Auburn, Artarmon, Belrose, Rockdale and Ryde. The ACCC cleared the sale in December 2021, and those sites have run under Cleanaway's own pricing and branding since.
That leaves two genuine networks a Sydney household can turn up to directly: Cleanaway's six sites (the old SUEZ network), and Kimbriki, the independently-run Resource Recovery Centre at Ingleside on the Northern Beaches. Some councils also run their own weekend transfer stations for residents, on a smaller scale than either.
What it actually costs to dump a load
Gate fees get quoted wrong online more than almost any other figure in this industry, because they're reset every financial year and vary by site and by what's in your load. Here's what the operators themselves currently charge, effective from 1 July 2026.
Cleanaway (Artarmon, Auburn, Belrose, Rockdale, Ryde, Lucas Heights):
- Dry material (general household junk, furniture, timber, mixed paper, plastic, glass, metal): $604.02 a tonne at Artarmon, Rockdale, Ryde and Lucas Heights; $562.22 a tonne at Auburn; $598.27 at Belrose.
- Putrescible waste (anything containing food): $630.77 a tonne at all six sites.
- Minimum charge: $120.87 to $129.93 depending on site and waste type, before the per-tonne rate even starts applying.
Kimbriki (Ingleside):
- Mixed waste: $505 a tonne, for residents and non-residents alike, but the minimum charge differs.
- Minimum charge: $45 for a load up to 100kg for Northern Beaches or Mosman residents (with proof of residency); $60 for everyone else.
- Green waste: free up to 300kg a day for residents; $295 a tonne for non-residents and trade, with a $30 minimum.
Both operators' prices already include GST and the NSW EPA's waste levy, which is the single biggest reason gate fees keep climbing. The levy on Sydney metro landfill rose to $180.20 a tonne from 1 July 2026, up from $174.20 the year before, and it's built straight into what these sites charge per tonne.
A council-run alternative exists in some areas and is usually cheaper, but comes with real limits. Inner West Council's Weekend Transfer Station at Leichhardt, for example, charges $81 for a full load of bulky waste and $56 for a pre-sorted mixed load, well under Cleanaway or Kimbriki's per-tonne rates. But it's residents-only with proof of address required, weekend-only, and it does not take general household rubbish, soil, bricks, concrete or asbestos at all. Check your own council's waste page before assuming yours runs one, or what it will and won't take.
Minimum charges catch people out
This is the detail most price lists bury, and it's the reason a small trailer load can end up costing almost as much as a much bigger one. At Cleanaway's sites, the minimum charge for dry material runs from $120.87 to $129.93 and applies before the per-tonne rate takes over, so a load well under 200kg still pays close to $130. At Kimbriki, a 20kg bag of general rubbish and a 95kg boot-load both cost a resident the same flat $45, because both sit under the 100kg minimum-charge threshold. If your load is genuinely small, the minimum charge is often the entire bill, not a discount on it.
What tips won't take, and why
Asbestos isn't a blanket no, but it's far more restricted than most other waste. NSW law requires it to go to a landfill specifically licensed to accept it, and you're expected to phone ahead and confirm before you arrive. Of Cleanaway's six Sydney sites, only Kemps Creek and Lucas Heights take it; Artarmon, Auburn, Belrose, Rockdale and Ryde do not. Kimbriki does accept small quantities, but only double-wrapped and sealed in heavy-duty builders plastic, in parcels no heavier than 20kg, and you'll need to fill out a form first for anything over 100kg or 10 square metres.
Gas bottles and fire extinguishers are usually accepted but capped. Kimbriki takes up to 10 valveless canisters free per customer per day, or two with-valve bottles or extinguishers up to 9kg each. Cleanaway charges $4.69 per kilogram of container capacity, with a two-cylinder daily limit. Neither will take an LPG car cylinder.
Liquids are excluded from the general dry-material stream entirely at Cleanaway's sites. A load with liquids in it gets rejected or reclassified, not just surcharged.
Tyres are charged per item rather than per tonne: $31 each at Kimbriki (up to eight, with or without rims) and $73.63 each at Cleanaway (up to five, rims removed first).
Is it actually cheaper than a removal service?
It depends on the load. For a genuinely small job, a boot or a single trailer of general household junk, doing the tip run yourself is the cheaper option. Even at Cleanaway's higher minimum charge, you're paying under $130 plus fuel and your own time, and nothing beats that on price. Where the maths flips is everything else: a load that needs a second trip because it didn't fit, a ute you don't own and have to hire for the day, a Saturday morning gone to queueing at the weighbridge, or anything heavy enough that lifting it yourself isn't realistic. The honest comparison isn't "tip versus removalist" as a blanket rule. It's your own time and vehicle against the minimum charge, for the specific load in front of you.
If the maths doesn't favour a tip run for what you've got, a same-day rubbish removal service skips the queue, the vehicle problem and the lifting. See household rubbish removal.
