Short answer: in NSW there is no single statewide ban like Victoria's, but that does not make it OK. Council bin rules commonly exclude electronics, the Protection of the Environment Operations Act puts a duty of care on how waste is disposed of, and for businesses the data on old devices brings the Privacy Act into play. Here is what the law actually says, and the free ways to do it properly.
You should not, and in many cases you effectively cannot. NSW does not have a single statewide e-waste landfill ban the way Victoria does. Instead, three layers of rules apply: most councils exclude electronics from kerbside bins under their waste policies; the Protection of the Environment Operations Act creates a duty of care over waste disposal, with significant penalties for unlawful dumping, especially for businesses; and any device that held personal or business information carries Privacy Act obligations to destroy that data. The practical answer for households and businesses alike is the same: keep electronics out of the general bin and use the free, legal channels below.
The confusion is understandable, because the rules genuinely differ by state. In Victoria, it has been illegal to put e-waste in any household bin or landfill since 1 July 2019. NSW took a different path: rather than one blanket ban, it regulates through the POEO Act's duty-of-care framework and through each council's bin rules. The end point is similar, electronics do not belong in general waste, but the legal mechanics are different, and plenty of articles online get this wrong. For what counts as e-waste in the first place, see our guide to what e-waste is.
The same question gets a different legal answer depending on where you are.
| Jurisdiction | The rule |
|---|---|
| NSW | No single statewide consumer ban. The Protection of the Environment Operations Act establishes a duty of care over waste, with significant penalties for unlawful disposal and dumping. Council kerbside bin rules commonly exclude electronics, and businesses face the higher bar: documented, lawful disposal channels are expected. |
| Victoria | Banned outright. Since 1 July 2019 it has been illegal to put any e-waste, meaning anything with a plug, battery, or cord, into household rubbish or landfill. Items must go to designated drop-off points. |
| Elsewhere | Several other states and territories also restrict e-waste going to landfill through their own schemes and policies. Wherever you are, check your council's rules; the safe assumption Australia-wide is that electronics do not go in the general bin. |
A household tossing one phone in the bin is unlikely to be prosecuted. A business disposing of computers and drives through general waste is a different matter: the POEO duty of care applies to commercial waste decisions, and the Privacy Act requires personal information that is no longer needed to be destroyed or de-identified, with penalties for serious breaches reaching into the tens of millions. The full business picture is in our NSW e-waste laws guide for business.
Keeping e-waste out of the bin costs households little or nothing.
Your council runs e-waste drop-off days or community recycling centres; find the nearest via Planet Ark's Recycling Near You. TVs and computers are recycled free under the national scheme, and Officeworks' Bring It Back stations take computers, phones, printers, accessories, and batteries at no charge.
Batteries in kerbside bins cause fires in trucks and facilities. Use dedicated battery bins instead; the national B-cycle scheme's drop-offs include Bunnings and other retailers.
Whatever channel you use, deal with the data before the device leaves you. A factory reset is a reasonable baseline for personal devices; business equipment needs certified data destruction, because deletion alone leaves data recoverable.
For business volumes, the lawful route is a certified provider that collects under chain of custody, destroys data to the NIST 800-88 standard, recycles in line with AS/NZS 5377, and issues serialised certificates, your evidence that the duty of care was met. ITC provides free e-waste collection across Sydney for qualifying volumes.
The scale of the problem behind the bin rules. Figures from named public sources.
Quick answers to the most common versions of this question.
NSW has no single statewide ban like Victoria's, but most council bin rules exclude electronics, and the Protection of the Environment Operations Act creates a duty of care over waste disposal with significant penalties for unlawful dumping, particularly for businesses. The practical answer is to treat e-waste as not bin-eligible and use a council drop-off, retailer program, or certified recycler.
Yes. Since 1 July 2019 it has been illegal in Victoria to put any e-waste, meaning anything with a plug, battery, or cord, into household rubbish or landfill. E-waste must go to a designated drop-off point instead.
No, anywhere in Australia. Batteries in kerbside bins are a fire risk in collection trucks and sorting facilities. Use dedicated battery drop-off bins, available through the national B-cycle scheme at retailers including Bunnings.
Two exposures. Environmentally, the POEO Act duty of care carries significant penalties for unlawful waste disposal. On the data side, the Privacy Act requires personal information that is no longer needed to be destroyed or de-identified, and devices in a bin still hold recoverable data, so binning computers can constitute a data breach risk as well as a waste offence.
Households: council drop-off days and community recycling centres, free TV and computer recycling under the national scheme, and Officeworks Bring It Back stations. Businesses: ITC offers free collection across Sydney for qualifying volumes, with certified data destruction included.
Working electronics should not be binned either, but they have better options: resell, donate, trade in, or for business fleets, secure wiping and resale through a buyback program. Recycling is the right channel only once a device is genuinely at end of life.
ITC collects, securely destroys data, and recycles business electronics across Sydney and NSW, with serialised certificates at every stage.
