Old fence and deck disposalFences, decks, pergolas and treated pine in Melbourne’s east

Published 23 October 2026. Updated 23 October 2026. Sources checked 23 October 2026.

Why hard rubbish won’t take an old fence or deck

Every council in the east excludes fencing from hard rubbish, and the timber allowance is a handful of short pieces:

Booking details and the full lists are in each council’s guide: Knox, Maroondah, Monash, Whitehorse, Yarra Ranges and Manningham.

Taking old fence palings and decking to the tip

Three stations in the east have a cheaper rate for clean timber, and all three exclude treated or painted timber from it. Old palings, rails, decking and pergola timber are usually treated or painted, so expect to pay more than the clean-timber rate; Whitehorse charges it as general waste:

Pull nails and hinges out if you want the clean timber rate for untreated offcuts. Hours and addresses: tips and transfer stations in the east.

How to dispose of treated pine

Most old fences, decks and pergolas are treated pine. EPA Victoria says CCA-treated timber (copper chrome arsenate) “has been commonly used” for pergolas, decking, posts, gates and fencing, and that freshly treated timber’s “yellow/greenish colour” fades to grey over time, so an old grey paling may well be treated. EPA Victoria says damaged timber “can also be disposed at landfill”, and that the ash left after it burns can contain up to 10 per cent copper, chromium and arsenic by weight.

So treated pine goes to a transfer station or landfill, without the clean-timber rate, or in a skip booked for building or mixed waste.

• Don’t burn it. NSW EPA’s guidance (New South Wales, not Victoria) is “Never burn treated timber or treated timber waste in outdoor fires, stoves, fireplaces or in confined spaces”, and EPA Victoria said in May 2025 that “Disposal of waste by burning is illegal”, naming treated pine posts among farm waste.
• Don’t give it away as firewood or leave it on the nature strip, where someone may burn it. NSW EPA also says not to mulch it or use its sawdust in compost.
• Don’t put it in a green waste skip. Skip companies’ green waste skips exclude treated, painted and man-made timber.

Fibro fences: check for asbestos first

Some older fences in the east are flat or corrugated fibro sheet. The Australian Government’s asbestos product guide says asbestos cement fencing was made and used “Prior to 1990”, that the panels may be buried up to 600 mm deep, and that the “Super-Six” name was also used for a sheet without asbestos until at least 1992. So the name doesn’t settle it either way.

Asbestos in Victoria says you can’t confirm asbestos just by looking at a material, and to use a licensed asbestos removalist. Weathered fibro can release fibres, so don’t break, cut or water-blast it.

Colorbond and steel fencing

Steel sheet and posts count as scrap metal. Knox, Coldstream, Wesburn, Whitehorse, Monash and Eastern Recycling list scrap metal at no charge, and Montrose takes it free at the weighbridge’s discretion, though none names fencing, so ask when you arrive. Steel posts set in concrete are another matter: break the concrete off, or ask how the station will charge them.

Manningham is the only council whose hard rubbish takes metal fencing (by its A to Z guide). Knox, Whitehorse, Monash and Maroondah exclude fencing whatever it’s made of.

What size skip for an old fence or deck

Ask for a skip for building or mixed waste: the timber is treated, and posts come out with concrete footings. Worked out for a 20 m paling fence 1.8 m high, using our skip bin size calculator’s fence framing and WoodSolutions’ radiata pine densities (550 kg/m³ seasoned, 800 kg/m³ unseasoned), by our arithmetic:

• The timber: about 0.97 m³ solid, about 2.9 m³ thrown in loose, and 530 to 770 kg.
• Concrete footings, if every post comes out with one: about 0.85 tonnes, taking about 0.6 m³ broken up.
• In all: about 3.5 m³ and 1.4 to 1.6 tonnes. That’s within a 4 m³ skip’s space but over its 1.3 t heavy-load limit at Yarra Valley Skip Bins; a 6 m³ skip carries 1.5 t, which a fence with every footing can still exceed, and an 8 m³ skip carries 1.8 t.

So the footings decide the size. Knock the concrete off the posts where you can, or take the footings separately; stack palings and decking boards flat along the floor of the skip.

For your own numbers, the skip bin size calculator has a deck and fence mode, and skip bin weight limits explains what happens over the limit.

Replacing a dividing fence: agree it first

If the old fence is on the boundary, sort it out with your neighbour before it comes down. Under the Fences Act 1968, removing a fence counts as fencing works, and the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria says the cost of “removing the existing fence” can be shared. It also says you need your neighbour’s consent, or to have followed the legal process with a fencing notice, before any work starts: “If you don’t, your neighbour is not legally obliged to pay anything.”

A fallen fence after a storm is the exception: the Centre says urgent repairs can go ahead without notice.

Paying someone to take it down

We found no fencing contractor in the east that publishes a removal price. The Southeast Fencer, a Mornington Peninsula and Frankston fencer, publishes “$12–$20 per metre in Melbourne” for old fence removal, depending on the material, post depth and disposal, and $30 to $60 per post where concrete footings are deep, both excluding GST. Ask whether the price includes taking it away.

Common questions