Rubbish Removal Forster: Skip Bins vs Pick-up

Your options for rubbish removal in Forster

In short: For a big clean-up, a skip bin is usually the simplest way to remove household or garden waste. For a load or two, the Tuncurry Waste Management Centre may be enough, and council's yearly bulky waste collection can take some furniture and whitegoods.

Most Forster households have three ways to get rid of more rubbish than fits in their bins:

1. A skip bin, delivered to your driveway and taken away when you're done.
2. Taking it to the tip yourself, at MidCoast Council's Tuncurry Waste Management Centre.
3. MidCoast's bulky waste collection, one free booked pick-up a year for eligible households.

Which one makes sense depends on how much you have, what it is, and whether you have a trailer and the time to do the runs.

Option 1: a skip bin

In short: A skip suits jobs with a lot of mixed rubbish, heavy waste or many trailer loads of garden waste, because you load it at your own pace and it's taken away in one go.

A skip sits on your driveway (or on the street with council approval) for an agreed hire period. You can fill it over a few days, and you don't need a trailer, a ute or anyone to lift heavy items. Skips can take things the bulky waste collection won't, such as bagged household rubbish, garden waste, soil, bricks and renovation waste, as long as you choose the right bin and tell the operator. They can't take asbestos, gas bottles, batteries, tyres or chemicals in a normal load. See what can go in a skip and the size guide.

For a deceased estate, a house move or a big shed or garage job, see our clean-outs guide.

Option 2: the Tuncurry Waste Management Centre

In short: If you have a trailer and only a load or two, you can take rubbish to council's Tuncurry Waste Management Centre yourself. Sorting your load can lower what you pay.

MidCoast Council's Tuncurry Waste Management Centre is at Midge Orchid Road (formerly Tip Road), Tuncurry. Council's 2025–26 brochure lists it as open 8am to 4pm every day. All of council's waste centres are closed on Christmas Day and Good Friday. It has a weighbridge, so you pay by the weight of your load, and a MidCoast Reviva reuse shop. Council says asbestos is only accepted at its Taree and Gloucester centres, not at Tuncurry.

Council's "sort and save" approach means recyclables you separate before you arrive are charged less or nothing. Council lists free drop-off for domestic customers of household recycling (the same items as your yellow bin), clean scrap metal, household batteries, some e-waste, and good-condition items the gate staff accept for the reuse shop. Unsorted loads are charged at the general waste rate.

Option 3: MidCoast's free bulky waste collection

In short: Eligible households get one free booked bulky waste collection each financial year. It takes furniture, whitegoods and scrap metal, but not household rubbish, garden waste or building materials, and the pile has a size limit.

MidCoast Council lets eligible households book one free bulky waste collection per financial year at a time that suits them, and extra collections can be booked at a cost. Council's contractor confirms the collection week after you book. You put items out on the Sunday before that week, on the nature strip where your wheelie bins go, sorted into two piles: metal and whitegoods, and general and electronic waste.

• Size limits: the total pile can't be bigger than a standard 7' x 4' trailer (about 2.1 m x 1.2 m), and each item must be under 30 kg. Smaller items like clothing and general household rubbish aren't collected.
• It takes: furniture, lounges, tables, foam mattresses with no springs, floor coverings, small appliances, e-waste such as TVs and computers, and scrap metal and whitegoods (with doors and latches removed).
• It won't take: wire-spring mattresses and bed bases, building and demolition materials, concrete, bricks, panes of glass, tyres and car parts, commercial waste, and hazardous waste such as paint, chemicals and asbestos. Council says one unacceptable item may mean the whole pile is rejected.

When you book, council says you can also drop off up to two mattresses (or one mattress and one bed base) free at your nearest Waste Management Centre.

What about my kerbside bins?

In short: Your bins are for everyday rubbish, recycling and garden clippings, not clean-ups.

MidCoast Council's standard service is a red-lid landfill bin collected weekly and a yellow-lid recycling bin collected fortnightly. Homes in the green waste collection zone also have a green-lid garden organics bin, collected fortnightly, for grass clippings, prunings, branches, leaves and weeds. Rural households have red and yellow bins only. Council says a green bin can't weigh more than 75 kg.

So which is easier?

In short: Pick a skip for big, mixed or heavy jobs. Use the tip or council's bulky collection for small amounts of the waste they accept.

• A skip bin usually makes sense for a full clean-out, a renovation, a big garden or shed job, heavy waste, or when you don't have a trailer or the time for several tip runs.
• The Tuncurry Waste Management Centre suits one or two trailer loads, especially if you sort out the free recyclables first.
• The bulky waste collection suits furniture, whitegoods and scrap metal that fit in one trailer-sized pile.

Want to compare? Request a free skip quote and weigh it up against the other options.

Frequently asked questions

Ready to book? Request a free quote. See also clean-outs or go back to the Forster skip bins homepage.

Where this information comes from

• MidCoast Council: Book a Bulky Waste collection
• MidCoast Council: 2025–26 waste fees, charges and opening hours brochure (PDF)
• MidCoast Council: Find a waste facility
• MidCoast Council: What goes in each bin
• MidCoast Council: Waste and recycling FAQs (bin services)

Council services, hours and rules change. Check with the council or facility before you rely on them. Checked 27 October 2026.