What happens to my waste?
People living in Cairns and the surrounding regions know “there’s no place like our place”, and keeping it the way it is important to all of us. One way to look after our region is to look after our waste because the less waste we send to landfill the cleaner and greener our environment remains. Landfill refers to the waste we put in the ground, and when we put rubbish into landfill, polluting greenhouse gases (methane) are released. This happens when food and green waste rots under mountains of other rubbish. This puts more energy into our atmosphere and this is starting to affect our climate. In Cairns, our landfill is capped and due to our environmentally sensitive location no more landfill is permitted so we’ve had to find more effective ways to deal with our waste, beyond relying on landfill.
The contents of over 65,000 kerbside yellow lid recycling bins are collected from the Cairns region and delivered to the Materials Recovery Facility in Portsmith. Items are then transported to specialised recycling facilities for processing into new materials.
Did you know that Cairns households place 90% correct items in recycling bins, visit our Know Before You Throw page or use our new Recycle Mate tool to learn ‘what belongs in what’ bin.
Materials Recovery Facility (MRF)
Located in Portsmith, the Cairns 'MRF' is a state of the art facility that processes commingled recyclable materials, from yellow lid bins across the region. It uses a combination of hand sorting, specialised screening equipment and optical sorting to remove waste then sort and bale paper, cardboard, plastic bottles & containers ready for transportation for further reprocessing by manufacturers in South East Queensland. The Facility also incorporates a glass crushing plant which creates a sand substitute for use in local construction projects from glass bottles & jars. To learn more about Council's recycled glass product, download the Crushed Glass Factsheet ( PDF, 1.44 MB ).
The MRF is also the home of a dedicated Resource Recovery Education room known as the Rediscovery Centre – offering a bird’s-eye view of the processing plant, which is complemented by the use of cameras inside the machinery to see up-close how the facility works. Visit our Waste Education page for bookings and more information.
View the video below to learn more about how the Materials Recovery Facility works. Council also offers regional schools and community groups free tours of its Resource Recovery Facilities via the Waste Education program. View Council's Waste Education Page for further information.
The contents of more than 70,000 red and green-lid kerbside waste bins are collected from households across the Cairns region and delivered to the Portsmith Residual Waste Transfer Facility. Here, materials are consolidated and transported to landfill on the Atherton Tablelands.
Since January 2025, the Portsmith site has operated as a bulk waste transfer facility, following a transition from the former composting facility after a fire linked to hazardous materials caused the facility to stop operating.
Council is always looking for new ways to recover resources and reduce landfill. Residents can help by recycling correctly at home, work and school. Did you know around 15% of household waste in Cairns could have been recycled in the yellow-lid bin?
Visit our Know Before You Throw page or use our useful Recycle Mate tool to see what belongs in each bin.
More than just a stepping stone in the journey of waste, transfer stations play a vital role in assisting in the reduction of waste to landfill, by providing residents of the Cairns region with 4 facilities where they can drop off recyclables, reusable materials and general waste for processing.
Portsmith, Smithfield, Gordonvale and Babinda Transfer Stations process over 40,000 tonnes of self-hauled material annually, recovering as much as 72% of material for recycling recovery and reuse.
Items taken to transfer stations by residents include: oils, paints (spray paint cans), gas bottles, fire extinguishers, tyres, medical waste, batteries, smoke detectors, green waste, general household waste and unused household furnishings. Items that are non-recyclable are processed in the Advanced Resource Recovery Facility (ARRF) and are sent to landfill.
Did you know that many common household items can be dropped off for free at Council’s transfer Stations? Visit the Free Waste Drop off or Council’s Waste Transfer Stations for further information.
Just because certain items can’t be recycled in Council recycling bins (or at transfer stations) doesn’t mean they need to end up in landfill. To make sure we are all taking greater responsibility for our waste at home or work, many common hard to recycle household waste items can actually be re-processed via specialist recycling programs available to residents here in the Cairns region.
Participating with these programs may require some extra effort on our behalf, but with more of us taking these small actions each day we are sure to have a big impact on protecting the environment.
Specialist recycling opportunities for Cairns residents:
| Item | Specialist Recycler | Actions to take |
|---|---|---|
| Batteries (Household) | Supermarkets, Electronics Retailers & more Council Transfer Stations and Libraries | Household batteries can be dropped off for free at Bunnings, Woolworths , Coles, IGA Supermarkets, JB Hifi, Good Guys, Cairns Hardware, Battery World and many other stores. Visit 'B-Cycles' Webpage for further information about your nearest drop off point or to learn more about Australian Battery Recycling. Council also offers free household battery drop off at the following locations: Smithfield, Portsmith, Gordonvale, Babinda Transfer Stations, (view Council transfer station information, address and opening hours) or Cairns Libraries Branches (view Cairns Libraries information, address and opening hours). |
| Beauty products | Terracycle | Visit Terracycle's website to view free drop off programs provided by L'Occitane, Garnier, Schwarzkopf, Sephoora, Sukin, Kiehl's, Maybelline, MECCA, MooGoo, Olay. |
| Blister Packs (Pill Packets) | Pharmacycle | Medicinal blister packs and medication dosage aids (plastic blisters with aluminium or paper–aluminium foil) can be returned for recycling at these Cairns pharmacies: * Chemist Warehouse Bentley Village * Chemist Warehouse Cairns * Calanna TerryWhite Chemmart. For additional drop‑off sites nationwide, or to register as a collection point, visit the Pharmacycle website. |
| Bottle tops and caps | Terracycle | Visit Terracycle's website to purchase a postage paid bottle tops zero waste box, setup your own community group/work collection point. |
| Coffee Pods | Nespresso & Terracycle | Recycle your coffee pods easily:
|
| Cassette, CD, DVD discs | Officeworks & Terracycle | Officeworks Cairns will accept drop off of CD & DVD Media, see in store for details. You can also Visit Terracycle's website to purchase a postage paid media storage zero waste box, setup your own community group/work collection point. |
| Cigarette waste | Terracycle | Visit Terracycle's website to purchase a postage paid media storage zero waste box, setup your own community group/work collection point. |
| Drums - Agricultural and veterinary chemical | Agsafe | DrumMUSTER collects eligible non-returnable metal or plastic containers above one litre/kilogram and up to 205 litre/ kilogram in declared content in the packaging of crop production and animal health products used for: agricultural and livestock production. Visit Drummusters website for further information about the program. |
| Fabrics, clothing | Charities and Redcycle | Important note: Clothes in good condition should be donated to local charities, Lifeline, Salavation Army, St Vinnies stores in Cairns. Fabrics/Clothes can be recycled through Terracycle's Farbics Zero Waste Box. |
| Children's Toys | Cairns Toy Library & Participating Big W Stores | Residents can donate clean, good-quality wooden or plastic toys that are in working order and meet Australian safety standards. Please note that plush toys, handmade items, and toys with many missing pieces cannot be accepted. For more details, visit the Cairns Toy Library website. Participating Big W Stores also provide toy donation through the 'Toys For Joy' Program. View BigW's website for further information. |
| Latex & Foil Balloons | Terracycle | Recycle any brand of latex & foil balloons at Gift of the Gab Smithfield, Balloons ETC Earlville or visit Terracycles website for further information. |
| Mobile phones and accessories | Cairns Phone outlets, Officeworks, Council Transfer Stations | Recycle at your local Optus, Telstra, Vodafone and Officeworks stores, search for your nearest Mobile Muster drop off locations in Cairns or take for free to Portsmith, Smithfield, Gordonvale and Babinda Transfer Stations. |
| Oral Care Products | Colgate & Terracycle | Visit Terracycle's website for further information about participating local drop off locations for any brand of oral care products & packaging. |
| Printer cartridges | Planet Ark | Drop off your used or empty laser and inkjet cartridges at all Officeworks stores and participating Australia Post, Cartridge World, Harvey Norman, The Good Guys, JB Hi-Fi, Office National and Office Products Depot outlets. Visit Planet Ark's website for further details. |
| Pet Food Packaging | Terracycle | Drop off locations including Petstock Cairns Stores, Ulysses Veterinary Clinic, RSPCA Cairns, Marlin Coast Veterinary Hospital. Visit Terracycles Website for further information. |
| Paint (Household) | Paint Back Scheme | Council Transfer Stations will accept a maximum of 100 litres in volume per visit, carriered in secured containers no larger than 20 litres. Visit Paintback's Website for the full list of accepted and unaccepted paints. |
| Shoes - Sport and Activewear | Treadlightly Recycling Program | If in poor condition shoes can be disposed of in your waste bin. If in good condition consider donation through local charities. Sports & Active footwear (rubber sole shoes only) can also be recycled through participating local Retailers (as part of the 'Treadlightly recycling program'). Currently participating stores include Athlete’s Foot Cairns, Converse Cairns, Rebel Cairns. |
| Soft plastics | Redcycle | The REDcycle program has temporarily paused. REDcycle regrettably has temporarily paused its soft plastics collection program, effective as of 9 November 2022. REDcycle and its partners are committed to having the program back up and running as soon as possible. For further information visit Redcycle's homepage. |
| Writing Instruments | Officeworks & Terracycle | Officeworks Cairns will accept drop off of writting instruments, see instore for details. Australian School's can also create a free account with Terracycle to setup their own free in-school return program as part of BIC's Best in Class Recycling Program. Visit Terracycle's website for further information. |
| X-rays | Eco-cycle | Cairns residents are able to post x-ray films to Eco-cycle located in Hemant, Brisbane, at the address: 1/1204 Lytton Road, Hemmant, QLD 4174. For further information about x-ray recycling visit Eco-cycle's website. |
* To access more current Know Before You Throw information and additional specialist drop‑off options, use the Sort My Waste page. It’s powered by Recycle Mate, a free and user‑friendly tool available on iOS, Android, and the web.
Virtual tours:
Find out more about what happens to waste and recyclable material in the Cairns region by completing a virtual walk through tour of Council's Resource Recovery Facilities.
The virtual tours are optimised for use in Google Chrome, some features and functionality may not be available in other browsers.
How to use Council's virtual tours:
- Use the bottom left navigation bar to change the viewing angle of the site
- Floor plan allows you to click anywhere in the site
- Explore the site, swiping up, down, left and right
- For desktop or laptop computers: The keypad works best (left, right, bottom and top arrow keys) a mouse also always navigation
- For ipad or tablet, swipe, drag and tap your screen on each scan
- Click on the scans (white circles) to move through the site. If you cannot see a scan, you may not be able to access that location, alternatively, click ahead of the camera to move to a different location
- Hover over the blue icons to view information about the site
Please note for some PC viewers of this virtual tour the menu on the left hand side of the screen will appear blank, simply refresh the page (F5 on your keyboard) for it to appear correctly.
Please note for some PC viewers of this virtual tour the menu on the left hand side of the screen will appear blank, simply refresh the page (F5 on your keyboard) for it to appear correctly.
Last Updated: 8 July 2026
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