Most Sydney offices run bins nobody has reviewed since move-in day. How to match general waste, recycling, and organics bins to your actual headcount, from a Surry Hills studio to a Barangaroo floor.
Offices throw out the same things every week: paper, boxes, kitchen scraps, and a thin stream of genuine rubbish. Most Sydney offices still pay too much for it, because the bins were set up on move-in day and never looked at again. The fix is unglamorous: match the bins to what you actually produce, keep the recycling clean, and check the price against your address rather than a citywide guess. The quote flow does the last part in about two minutes, and a vetted local provider services and invoices you directly.
Three streams, all wheelie bins collected weekly as standard:
Under 20 staff (a Surry Hills studio, a Pyrmont startup, a suburban practice): one 240L general and one 240L recycling. If the general bin lid closes easily every week, you are done.
20 to 60 staff (typical corporate tenancies in North Sydney, Parramatta, Chatswood): one 660L general and one 660L recycling. Heavy deliveries push the recycling to 1100L before they justify a second bin.
60+ staff or a full floor (Barangaroo, Martin Place, Macquarie Park): 1100L general plus 1100L recycling, and a 120L or 240L organics bin if there is a proper kitchen. Volume beyond that means additional bins emptied on the same weekly stop, not a scramble for extra pickups.
Co-working and serviced offices are the exception: waste is usually the operator's job, priced into your membership. If you are the operator, size for the whole floor and treat the kitchen like a small cafe's: it produces most of your weight. If bins run half empty for a month, drop a size. Our right-sizing guide for low-volume offices covers the weekly-cadence maths.
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Get your exact priceFlatten cardboard. Unflattened boxes are mostly air, and air fills a recycling bin faster than anything else. A flattened-boxes rule is the cheapest capacity upgrade available.
Keep coffee cups out of recycling. Takeaway cups are plastic-lined and contaminate the load. Cups go in general waste; only the clean, empty ones marked recyclable belong anywhere else. Contaminated recycling is collected as general waste and priced accordingly, which quietly erases the saving. The contamination guide has a printable yes/no list.
Question the general bin. Paper, boxes, bottles, and cans usually make up most of an office's output. When they ride in the general bin you pay the premium stream for material the cheaper stream would take. Cutting your general waste bin down a size is the single biggest saving most offices can make.
Managed buildings set the physical constraints: bin room access hours, goods-lift bookings, and where bins stage on collection morning. Ask building management before you book, and mention the building type in the quote so the provider plans access correctly.
On regulation: NSW's food organics mandate targets food businesses (cafes, restaurants, supermarkets and similar), not typical offices. Unless your office runs a commercial kitchen at scale, your obligations are the ordinary ones: no commercial waste in council street bins, and recycling kept clean enough to actually be recycled.
Enter your address and office size in the quote flow and you will see the exact per-collection price for each bin before you book. Booking is free, there is no markup, and the provider who services your building invoices you directly. For the wider Sydney picture, start with the Sydney commercial bin hire guide.
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Free commercial bin booking across Australia. We match your business with a vetted local provider who services and invoices you directly.
Usually one 660L general waste bin and one 660L commingled recycling bin, both collected weekly. Add a 120L or 240L organics bin if the kitchen feeds most staff daily. If the general bin is half empty each week, drop to 240L.
No. Flattened cardboard goes into the commingled recycling bin. If you receive daily deliveries, size the recycling bin up to 660L or 1100L rather than letting boxes overflow into general waste.
Generally no. The mandate that started 1 July 2026 targets food businesses such as cafes, restaurants, and supermarkets, phased by waste volume. A standard office is not captured, though an organics bin still cuts general waste weight and cost.
Providers work to the building's dock windows and bin room rules, typically early morning. Check access hours with building management and mention the building type in your quote so the schedule is planned around it.
More resources to help you choose the right bins, schedules, and services.
Adelaide cafes can book a dedicated organics bin alongside general waste, cardboard and recycling. Why food scraps are the expensive part of your bin, and how to size an organics service that pays for itself.
The City of Adelaide asks businesses to keep flattened cardboard out of general waste and runs CBD cardboard collections and laneway hubs. Here is what that guidance means and how a dedicated cardboard bin fits.
Most Adelaide offices need less bin than they pay for. How to size by headcount, when a recycling or cardboard bin earns its place, and what to check before booking in a shared building.
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