Council Kerbside Cleanup Northern Rivers: Who Does It
If you've moved up from Sydney or across from Melbourne, you're used to dragging the old couch to the nature strip on council cleanup week and watching it disappear. It doesn't work like that here. There is no council kerbside cleanup in Ballina, Lismore, Byron or Kyogle Shire, and leaving stuff on the footpath is illegal dumping with fines up to $4,000 in Byron. Only two Northern Rivers councils collect bulky waste from the kerb at all, and both have limits. Here's the full picture, checked August 2026.
Does Ballina, Lismore or Byron do a council kerbside cleanup?
No. Ballina Shire, Lismore City, Byron Shire and Kyogle Council do not run a kerbside bulky-waste collection, scheduled or on-call. Richmond Valley (Casino, Evans Head, Coraki) shows no sign of one either. Instead, Lismore, Byron and Kyogle hand out tip vouchers and expect you to self-haul; Ballina gives nothing at all. Tweed Shire and Clarence Valley are the only two councils in the region with an on-call kerbside pickup.
Council by council
Ballina Shire (Ballina, Lennox Head, Alstonville, Wollongbar, Wardell): no kerbside collection and no tip vouchers. Council's waste pages list bins, the tip and an A to Z guide, and that's it. An old council Facebook post from around 2020 mentioned an annual bulk collection; nothing on the current site backs that up, so treat it as gone. Your only free option is the boot of your own car to the Ballina tip, where household waste is $34.60 per 100 kg. Details on the Ballina tip page.
Byron Shire (Byron Bay, Mullumbimby, Ocean Shores, Brunswick Heads, Bangalow): no kerbside collection. Council replaced it with two $50 waste vouchers per rateable property each financial year, plus a free 8x5 courtesy trailer you can borrow on weekdays (pick up 8.30am, back by 2pm, you need your own tow vehicle, and it's GPS-tracked). Council is explicit that dumping on the nature strip is illegal, with fines to $4,000.
Lismore City (Lismore, Goonellabah, Nimbin): no scheduled kerbside bulky collection. Council issues two $82 waste vouchers per household per financial year, from a pool capped at 5,000 a year, with a 30-day expiry.
Kyogle Council: no kerbside collection, one $50 waste voucher per rateable property per year. And right now that voucher is hard to use, because the Kyogle landfill has only been accepting small household quantities since Cyclone Alfred damaged it in 2025, no furniture or bulky items.
Richmond Valley (Casino, Evans Head, Coraki, Woodburn): nothing found. The website has bin collection options but no bulky or clean-up page, and no voucher scheme.
Tweed Shire (Murwillumbah, Kingscliff, Pottsville, Tweed Heads): yes. Two on-call kerbside collections per household per financial year, up to 2 cubic metres each, and you can combine both into one 4 cubic metre pickup. Red-bin households only, units go through strata, book online or on 02 6670 2400. It's a rolling schedule and demand spikes at end of financial year and Christmas.
Clarence Valley (Yamba, Maclean, Iluka): yes. One free on-call collection per household per year, up to 2 cubic metres, booked online through the contractor and collected within about three weeks.
What the two council pickups won't take
This is where people get caught. Tweed's on-call service takes furniture, whitegoods, mattresses, TVs, small appliances, bikes and toys, but refuses renovation waste, rubble and soil, carpet and rugs, fencing, green waste, glass, tyres and car parts, hot water systems, gas bottles, paint, bean bags, anything longer than 2 metres, and anything that isn't a two-person lift. It also won't service businesses, bulk-bin properties, vacant blocks or caravan parks. Full list on Tweed's on-call kerbside collection page.
Clarence takes furniture, whitegoods, scrap metal, mattresses and bases, and rolled carpet up to 1.5 metres. It refuses green waste, tyres, liquids, batteries, asbestos, building waste, concrete, gas bottles, all e-waste, and anything over 1.5 metres. Details on the Clarence bulky waste collection page.
So even in the two shires that have a pickup, a reno clear-out, a fence, a shed full of mixed junk or a second load in the same year is on you.
What to do instead: your four options
1. Use your voucher and self-haul. If you're in Lismore, Byron or Kyogle Shire and you own a trailer, this is the cheapest route. The voucher covers the gate fee; you cover the ute, the loading and the weekend. How to claim each one is in tip vouchers in the Northern Rivers.
2. Borrow Byron's free trailer. Byron Shire residents only, weekdays only, back by 2pm. Good if you're home during the week and have a tow bar.
3. Hire a skip. Fine for a big reno, dear for a couch and a mattress. Local 2 cubic metre skips have been quoted around $250 plus GST on Byron Facebook threads, and you're paying for the bin whether you fill it or not. We compare the numbers in skip bin vs tip run.
4. Book a rubbish removal crew. That's us. Two people, a trailer, all the loading, tip fees included, sorted for recycling, gone the same day. Single items from $140, quarter trailer $180, half $240, full heaped trailer $330 to $380. We price it in front of you with the quoting app, so the number you see is the number you pay. Prices and what's included are on our rubbish removal page, and you can see the towns we cover on the areas page.
Don't put it on the nature strip
Worth saying twice. Without a booked council pickup, anything left on the kerb in the Northern Rivers is illegal dumping. Byron fines up to $4,000, and Ballina and Lismore rangers do follow up on reports, especially in the tourist towns where a dumped mattress ends up in someone's holiday photos. If it has to go today, the tip is open seven days in Ballina and Lismore (weekend hours in Northern Rivers tip hours), and we're available Saturdays and Sundays.
Council pages we checked: Ballina Shire waste and recycling, plus the Tweed and Clarence pages above. Council schemes change at 1 July, so recheck the date at the top of this post.