Community recycling centres
The Community Recycling Centres (CRCs) accept some common chemicals and electronic waste that you can drop off for free. No proof of residence is required.
Community Recycling Centre in Leichhardt
Address: 50-54 Moore Street, Leichhardt
Opening hours: Saturday and Sunday, 7:45am to 11:30am, and then 1pm to 3:45pm.
Community Recycling Centre in St Peters
Address: 15-17 Unwins Bridge Road, St Peters (entry at rear, through Bolton Street)
Opening hours: Saturday and Sunday, 8am to 1pm.
Accepted items at both locations
Only household quantities are accepted - 20kg or 20 litre maximum container size. If item is leaking wrap in a plastic bag and place in a container.
Problem waste
- Gas bottles
- Fire extinguishers
- Paints
- Fluorescent globes and tubes
- Car and household batteries
- Motor and cooking oil
- Smoke detectors
- Aerosols
Chemicals other than listed above will not be accepted. You can drop those for free at our Household Chemical and E-waste Events in St Peters or at a Chemical CleanOut event in another Council area that permits residents from every local government area.
Electronic waste
- Computer and TVs
- TVs and monitors
- DVD player and sound equipment
- Electric heaters
- Check our list of accepted items to find out all the items you can drop off
Council recommends deleting any personal data from your devices before dropping them off for recycling.
Partnership with CirclePaint at the St Peters Community Recycling Centre
Council passed a resolution to create a pilot project with Circle Paints to support the transition towards a circular economy (keeping resources in use as long as possible). The project will increase reuse of unwanted paints dropped off by the community, making it ‘circular’ by encouraging artists involved in our Perfect Match street art project to buy and use these paints instead of buying brand new.
Got excess paint you no longer need, or paint that’s been sitting in your garages and sheds for ages you need to get rid of? Drop it off for free on weekends at the St Peters Community Recycling Centre so someone else can make good use of it.
Paints meeting the quality criteria will be separated for reuse through Circle Paints. Good quality water-based paints will be available for purchase online at half the price of major retail stores. Paint not meeting the required quality criteria will be recycled through the NSW EPA Problem waste process.
Inner West is leading the way! This project is the first of its kind, with other council areas showing interest in coming onboard in 2025.
What will happen to the problem waste?
- Paints – are mixed with other waste solvents and used as an alternative to fuel in cement kilns. The metal containers are recycled.
- Gas bottles – are retested, restamped and entered into the hire industry; damaged bottles are punctured and recycled as scrap metal; the residual gas is captured for reuse.
- Used oils – are processed to become a lubricant.
- Lead acid batteries – are sent to recyclers where the lead, acid and plastic are recovered and recycled.
- Fluorescent tubes and globes – they contain mercury. Recyclers crush the tubes to separate the phosphor powder from the glass. They feed the powder through receiving containers, where it is filtered to capture fugitive mercury emissions. The mercury is then separated by distillation and sold for a range of industrial uses. The remaining glass and metals are also recycled.
What will happen to the e-waste?
E-waste that is dropped off at our locations is collected and recycled. Hazardous components are removed from e-waste and other commodities in the items such as steel, copper and aluminium are processed to be sold into market to make new products. The hazardous components that are removed are either processed further by our contractor or sent to facilities in Australia, where they are processed further, and handled appropriately. No whole units are exported or sent overseas for processing. The contractor monitors and audits all of the destinations where commodities are sent.
The Community Recycling Centres are an initiative of Inner West Council and the NSW EPA.