Waste Transfer Stations
Cairns Regional Council has four transfer stations where residents can drop off items that don’t belong in household kerbside collection bins. Household recyclables can be dropped off for free, along with many other items. View our complete listing of items accepted at transfer stations, items that can be dropped off for free or view the online A-Z of Waste for further disposal information.
You can also pre-plan your next visit to your local transfer station by visiting the sort your load page.
Don’t forget our friendly transfer station staff will be on hand to assist you with any queries you may have and help you recycle and recover more to reduce waste to landfill. For more on our transfer stations click the appropriate icon on the map below.
Operating hours
- Portsmith Transfer Station, 7 days 8:30am to 5:15pm
- Smithfield Transfer Station, 7 days 8:30am to 5:15pm
- Gordonvale Transfer Station, 7 days 8:30am to 5:15pm
- Babinda Transfer Station, 7 days 8:30am to 5:15pm
Payments
Cash and EFTPOS payments (Mastercard or Visa only) are accepted at all Transfer Stations and the Buy Back Shop.
Why sort your load?
You can save time, effort and money by making a few small changes to how you pack your waste and recycling load before visiting our Council Transfer Stations. View the sort your load page to learn how to make the most of your next visit.
Many common household items can be dropped off for free at Council's transfer stations. Find out more below or use Council’s free waste drop-off online tool to find out more.
Council offers 4 free disposal of household green waste periods per year
Portsmith, Smithfield, Gordonvale and Babinda transfer stations offer four free green waste offerings per year, the dates for 2024 are below:
- 6 – 14 January 2024
- 17 – 25 February 2024
- 18 – 26 May 2024
- 17 – 25 August 2024
- 16 – 24 November 2024
Note: this offer is for domestic cars, utilities and/or trailers and light trucks (vehicle weight to GVM four tonnes). Normal rates apply for the disposal of any other waste during this period, including green waste from garden maintenance contractors on behalf of residents.
Household hazardous waste can be dropped off for free in non-commercial quantities of less than 20 litres per visit at Council transfer stations.
This includes:
Chemicals / solvents (less than 20L per visit)
Oil (motor oil and cooking) – domestic only (20L per visit)
Paint (architectural and decorative) 20L per visit (100L via paintbank scheme)
Gas Cylinders (BOC and air liquid gas bottles are not accepted)
Fire extinguishers
Car, household and power tool batteries
Electronic waste – phones, computers, peripherals
Fluro lights and tubes
Please note: Council is changing the way it charges customers for disposal of commercial waste at Portsmith and Smithfield Transfer Stations. A weigh-in/weigh-out system will come into effect from 1 October 2023.
Customers will pay for the exact amount of commercial waste they dispose. Disposal limits may still apply depending on the item.
This weigh-in/weigh-out system will reduce confusion for customers and allow more accurate charges.
Mattress disposal will now also attract a fee of $25 per mattress, and a maximum limit of two per visit.
Payment options:
Cash and EFTPOS payments (Mastercard or Visa only) are accepted at all Transfer Stations and the Buy Back Shop.
View the list of accepted items and fees for disposal at our transfer stations.
Alternatively, you can contact any of the transfer stations through Council's customer service call centre on 1300 69 22 47.
You can set up a commercial account by contacting Council or completing an application.
Commercial waste accounts are available at the Portsmith Transfer Station for disposing green waste. Transactions are saved against their account and monthly invoices are issued for the waste that has been disposed.
Applications for a commercial waste disposal account will be subject to a credit check. Complete and submit the application for credit account for Council waste disposal facility form. Once approved, the account will be added to the requested transfer station and the company will be advised of the approval of their application.
Financial assistance for not-for-profit organisations.
Eligible not-for-profit (NFP) organisations may be able to access relief either in full or part waiver of listed fees relating to venues, licences & approvals, plumbing applications, waste disposal and development assessment.
Further information in relation to the type of assistance available can be found in Council’s financial assistance for NFP Organisations - fees and charges policy. ( PDF, 0.16 MB )
Not-for-Profit Organisation Definition:
Any local association, club, state or national organisation, that holds incorporated status under the Associations Incorporation Act 1981 or is a company limited by guarantee under the 2001 Corporations Act and does not operate for the profit or gain (either direct or indirect), of its individual members, either from ongoing operations or on its winding up.
Recycled glass aggregate is manufactured locally at the Cairns Glass Processing Facility from recycled glass food and beverage bottles and containers collected though kerbside recycling bins and the container refund scheme.
Each year the facility processes over 9,000 tonnes of glass into recycled glass aggregate – the equivalent of recycling around 45 million glass bottles.
For product and sales enquiries, please call 1300 692 247 or email wasteservices@cairns.qld.gov.au
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 Recycle Right page 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.
This time-lapse video shows the new facility, from construction to full operation.
The contents of over 70,000 kerbside red and green lid waste bins are collected from the Cairns region and delivered to the Advanced Resource Recovery Facility (ARRF) for sorting & processing. A more sustainable alternative to traditional waste disposal methods, the ARRF separates waste (residuals) while producing compost material for use in agriculture from our food scraps and small garden waste.
Did you know that over 18% of items placed in waste bins should have been placed in yellow lid recycling bins? Recycling is not able to be recovered when placed in waste. Visit our Recycle Right page to confirm what belongs in the yellow lid bin and let's keep recycling out of the waste bin.
Advanced Resource Recovery Facility (ARRF)
Located in Portsmith and operated under contract by SUEZ Cairns, the Mechanical Biological Treatment Facility (MBT) known as the ARRF uses a combination of mechanical separation of waste to remove contamination along with an enclosed biological composting system to produce compost.
View the video below to learn more about how the ARRF works. Council also offers regional schools and community groups tours of its Resource Recovery Facilities via the Waste Education program. View Council's Waste Education Page for further information.
Further details about the Advanced Resource Recovery Facility. Download a pdf version of this image ( PDF, 0.58 MB ).
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.
To take advantage of 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 |
---|---|---|
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. |
Nespresso Coffee Pods | Nespresso and Terracycle | Nespresso offer recycling options for their pods, simply add a popostage-paidecycling satchel to your next coffee order. Able to hold 180 standard pods, this equates to just over two cents per pod to ensure that these waste items are recycled. View the recycling pod satchel option on Nespresso's website. For non-nespresso recycling options view Terracycle's postage paid zero waste boxes. |
Beauty products | Terracycle | Visit Terracycle's website to purchase a postage paid beauty products zero waste box, setup your own community group/work collection point. |
Household batteries | Council transfer Stations and libraries, battery world | Visit Smithfield, Portsmith, Gordonvale, Babinda transfer stations, (view Council transfer station information, address and opening hours), Visit Cairns Libraries Branches for household battery drop off - (view Cairns Libraries information, address and opening hours) |
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. |
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. |
Cassette, CD, DVD discs | Terracycle | 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. |
Mobile phones andaccessories | Cairns Phone outlets, 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. |
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. |
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. |
*The list above is a snapshot of the common items available for re-processing. Further items (and associated options) are regularly added to the list for reprocessing 'hard to recycle items' in Australia. Be sure to visit Planet Ark's Recycling Near You or Terracycle's websites for the latest updates.
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.
A place where there is treasure to be found all year round.
Opening Hours
The Buy Back Shop is open Wednesday - Sunday from 9am to 4pm. Closed Christmas and New Years' week as well as Easter weekend each year.
Location
The store is located at 35-51 Lyons Street in Portsmith. At the Ray Jones Drive and Lyons Street intersection, proceed onto the southern section of Lyons Street. Turn right at the roundabout and turn left into the entrance of the Buy Back Shop car park.
Direct visitors to the Buy Back Shop no longer have to access it via the Portsmith Transfer Station gate.
Payments
Customers may use cash or EFTPOS at the Buy Back Shop.
Contact us
Please note - we do not accept phone calls for stock enquiries, hold requests or sales. Buyers must come to the Buy Back Shop store in person for information, pricing and to purchase. If you already have an item on hold and wish to cancel it, please phone 1300 69 22 47.
The opportunities are endless when you think about what could be found at the BBS, and the best part about it is, every time you come along, you’ll find something unique that wasn’t there the time before.
- Building materials
- Household appliances and cookware
- Vintage goods, collectables and one off restoration pieces
- Clothing and accessories
- Indoor and outdoor furniture
- Musical instruments, books and games for all ages
- Baby items
- Supplies for parties, weddings and birthday celebrations
- Bicycles and scooters
- Art and decorative pieces
- Tools and items for the shed and garden
And so many more things we can’t possibly list them all.
If you’re doing a spring clean, or just have some unwanted items that no longer fulfil their purpose (or perhaps they’re just not what they once were), instead of throwing them in the bin, drop them off at our Transfer Stations for FREE (conditions apply*).
Give someone else a chance to make use out of something that no longer serves its purpose for you and do the environment a favour while you’re at it. If it comes to us and we think it deserves another chance, it doesn’t go to landfill.
Local support
We receive stock from all over the community where different circumstances allow for unwanted goods to land in our hands as a result of:
- Hotel/venues refurbishments
- De-cluttering the home / business
- “Too hard to fix” basket
- Unloved items
- Events (parties, weddings, birthday celebrations)
At the Buy Back Shop, we find and collect treasures of all shapes and sizes and offer them back to the community to ensure old things get a second chance.
Our staff work endlessly to recover goods that you may not want, but perhaps your neighbour does. We simply place them in our store and wait for the right person to find them a good home.
At the BBS, we figure, ‘why break something that aint broken’ so think twice about disposing of your items and give them a chance to be repurposed.
What are you waiting for? Come down to the Buy Back Shop. You never know what you might find.
*Conditions apply:
- Items for BBS are accepted during the opening hours at Portsmith, Smithfield, Gordonvale and Babinda Transfer Stations and are not accepted directly at the BBS.
- Items accepted for the BBS are FREE to drop off. Customers will be charged for items that are not accepted.
- All items for the BBS are to be assessed by Council staff. It is up to the discretion of staff on site as to what items are accepted at the BBS.
- In all instances, customers dropping off items for the BBS are to report to the pay station. Customers will be directed to the drop off point for the BBS.
- Drop off points differ at each of Council’s Transfer Stations. Please ask the attendant at the pay station for directions.
- All items are sold in an ‘as is’ condition – choose items carefully as they cannot be returned or exchanged.
- Items must be paid for in full prior to removal from site.
- Electrical items have not been tested and cannot be tested on site before purchase.
- Buy Back Shop Gift Vouchers are donated by Cairns Regional Council for promotional purposes and are not available for purchase. Read more on the Buy Back Shop Gift Voucher Terms and Conditions.
Last Updated: 2 February 2024
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