FAQs
Why are you doing Bin Health Checks?
Council's Resource Recovery Strategy sets a goal to reduce contamination in yellow lid bins from 22% (as at 2022) to 10% by 2040.
Studies have shown that providing personalised bin behaviour feedback to households, through a bin tagging program, is an effective intervention to:
- Improve recycling quality (reduce contamination in yellow lid bins), and
- Increase quantity of recycling (improve loss of recyclables into red lid bins).
Many other Queensland Councils, including Townsville, Mackay, and Cairns Regional Councils, have successfully implemented ‘bin tagging’ programs to help improve their community’s household bin sorting habits.
Council’s 2025 Bin Health Check Program saw more than 20,000 kerbside bins checked by a team of Bin Health Professionals across the Rockhampton Region. The results were very positive, with most households receiving either a perfectly healthy check or only minor contamination. Check out the results here.
What is a Bin Health Check?
A Bin Health Check is a simple ‘lift the lid’ visual health assessment of household bins. The Bin Health Check team member will visit your bins on your scheduled collection day (prior to collection service) to carry out a quick check to:
- See if your recyclable items are placed loose and clean into your yellow lid recycling bin,
- Spot if there is any contamination in your yellow lid recycling bin, and
- Scan for lost recyclable items in your red lid general waste bin.
While they are there, they will also:
- Provide feedback to your household by attaching a bin health tag onto your yellow lid bin, and
- Leave information and resources to help your household get your recycling sorted.
Please note that the Bin Health Check team member will not touch the contents of your bins to make their visual bin health assessment.
It’s now easier than ever to sort your waste! Find out more by visiting the Rockhampton Regional Waste and Recycling website pages.
What feedback is provided on the Bin Health Tag?
Each household's bins will be evaluated with a health rating. A tag on the handle of your bin will provide your bin’s health rating with customised feedback, and a useful recycling information and resources pack will be found on your bin lid.
Your bin tag will indicate one of these four options:
Many items are recyclable but not all of them belong in your yellow lid recycling bin.
Contamination is a term used to describe any item that isn't supposed to be in your yellow lid bin. Contamination causes many issues for recycling including damaging machinery, reducing the quality and value of recyclable material, increasing processing costs, and risking the health and safety of staff.
Find out more about the yellow lid bin on Rockhampton Regional Waste and Recycling website pages.
Where will Bin Health Checks happen?
The Bin Health Check team will visit residential properties within Council’s declared bin collection areas, receiving a weekly red lid general waste bin and fortnightly yellow lid recycling bin collection service.
1,000 households will be randomly selected to participate in the program on their normal recycling collection day.
Check your bin collection day by using our handy ‘search your bin day’ tool.
When will Bin Health Checks happen?
Bin Health Checks will start in September 2026 and continue through October 2026, weather and project constraints permitting.
The Bin Health Professional will check your household bins while on your kerb on your scheduled collection day (prior to collection service). To assess your bins prior to collection service, the Bin Health Check team may hit the streets as early as 5am.
The 1,000 households randomly selected to participate in the program will receive a total of three bin health checks, across three fortnightly recycling services.
Check your bin collection day by using our handy ‘search your bin day’ tool.
Do I need to do anything before my bins are checked?
No! Simply place your household bins out for collection on your scheduled bin collection day.
It will help to make sure your household recycling is sorted!
Put these household items in your yellow lid bin:
- Glass bottles and jars
- Paper and cardboard
- Steel tins
- Aluminium cans and aerosols
- Accepted plastic containers (numbered 1,2,4,5)
Help your household recyclables get sorted at the Material Recovery Facility by placing them loose and clean into your yellow lid bin.
- Keep lids off
- Keep it clean
- Keep it loose
- Make sorting simple
If you think you have your household bins sorted, enter the BINfluencer Competition for your chance to win one of six prizes!
It’s now easier than ever to sort your waste! Find out more by visiting the Rockhampton Regional Waste and Recycling website pages.
Do I need to do anything after my bins are checked?
After the Bin Health Check team visits your bins, you will find a Bin Health Tag and recycling resource pack on your bin.
Simply:
- Remove Bin Health Tag from the bin handle and resource pack from your bin lid and take them inside.
- Look at the feedback you’ve received on your Bin Health Tag.
- Put feedback into action in when sorting your household items into your yellow lid bin.
To help your household get recycling sorted:
- Use your resources to talk to other members of your household about what to put in your yellow lid bin and how to keep lids off, keep it clean, keep it loose and make sorting simple.
- Put your recycling resources in a prominent place, like your fridge or notice board, as handy household reference guides.
- Use the QR codes on your resources to find out more about recycling!
Here are some helpful links:
Who is delivering the Bin Health Check Program?
Rockhampton Regional Council is delivering and coordinating the Bin Health Check program, through the Waste and Recycling Unit. This includes:
- Working with local contract partners EnviroCom to resource the on ground Bin Health Check Professionals,
- Working collaboratively with Bin Collection Truck Drivers to coordinate Bin Health Checks prior to bin collection occurring,
- Providing Bin Health Check feedback tags and resource packs to every household in our Region receiving a bin service, and
- Monitoring and responding to results of the Bin Health Check program.
How will results from the Bin Health Check program help/be used?
As part of the Bin Health Check, the team member inputs the information provided on your Bin Health Tag into a dashboard to keep track of the:
- Number of Bin Health Checks that have been completed,
- Health rating provided on your Bin Health Tag, and
- Feedback checkboxes provided on your Bin Health Tag.
Once collated, this important information will:
- Help provide a regional snapshot of our local bin behaviours - clearly identifying how we can improve recycling quality (reduce contamination in yellow lid bins), and increase quantity of recycling (improve loss of recyclables into red lid bins),
- Help in the development of customised educational resources and targeted communication campaigns,
- Help develop recycling contamination reduction responses, and
- Help improve bin collection service efficiencies.
The Bin Health Check program is a key initiative to help Council's Resource Recovery Strategy’s goal to reduce contamination in yellow lid bins from 22% (as at 2022) to 10% by 2040.
Find out more about becoming a zero waste community on the Rockhampton Regional Waste and Recycling website pages.