The short answer
Paint is free to drop off at Paintback sites and the Whitehorse and Monash centres. Old BBQ gas bottles can be swapped at a Swap’n’Go cage even when expired, or left at a tip for about $22 to $24. Car tyres cost $14 to $50 each at the tips, depending on the tip and whether the rim is on. Clean white polystyrene is free at the Monash centre for residents. Paint and gas bottles can’t go in a skip; tyres only for an extra charge.
Tyres
EPA Victoria classes waste tyres as reportable priority waste and says “It’s an offence under the Environment Protection Act 2017 and local laws to burn or dump waste tyres”. Whole tyres can’t go to landfill, so they’re collected and charged separately. Each tip’s price:
Car and 4WD tyres at the tips in the east
| Facility and tyre | Published price | Who publishes it |
|---|---|---|
| Monash centre, resident: car tyre, off the rim | $14.00 | City of Monash |
| Monash centre, resident: car tyre, on the rim | $22.00 | City of Monash |
| Knox Transfer Station: car tyre | $19.00 | Knox Transfer Station operator (GST included) |
| Knox Transfer Station: light truck or 4WD tyre | $27.00 | Knox Transfer Station operator (GST included) |
| Whitehorse centre: car or motorcycle tyre | $21.00 | Whitehorse City Council (levy and GST included) |
| Whitehorse centre: car tyre on the rim | $31.00 | Whitehorse City Council (levy and GST included) |
| Whitehorse centre: 4WD tyre | $30.00 | Whitehorse City Council (levy and GST included) |
| Montrose: car tyre | $50 | Montrose Transfer Station (GST and levy included) |
Per tyre, as each facility publishes it for 2026–27; Monash doesn’t state GST, and its prices are for residents and ratepayers with proof of address. Checked 12 October 2026.
Manningham is the one council whose hard rubbish takes tyres: up to 4 car tyres (not 4WD or truck tyres) with a standard collection. Knox, Maroondah, Whitehorse and Yarra Ranges list tyres among the things their hard rubbish won’t take. In a skip, tyres are an extra: $35 each at Yarra Valley Skip Bins, and $40 off the rim at ASAP Bin Hire.
Paint
Liquid paint can’t go to landfill, in a skip or in your bins. Paintback, the industry’s take-back scheme, accepts “up to 100 litres per visit stowed in containers of up to 20 litres”, free, at its drop-off sites. In the east:
- Whitehorse centre, Vermont South: free, up to 100 litres of the products Paintback accepts.
- Monash centre, Notting Hill: free for residents and ratepayers, up to 100 litres.
- Knox Transfer Station: lists “Paint (less than 50 litres)” at “$8.00 per container litre”. Ask before you go.
- Montrose Transfer Station: doesn’t accept paint.
- Manningham’s Waste Drop Off Day (Saturday 17 October 2026, residents who register): up to 10 litres.
Empty, dry tins are different: Knox, Maroondah, Whitehorse and Manningham take empty paint tins with the lids off in hard rubbish. Solvents, thinners and other chemicals go to the state’s free Detox Your Home events, not Paintback.
Gas bottles
A gas bottle can explode if it’s crushed in a garbage truck, even when it seems empty. Elgas says “Never dispose of a gas bottle (gas cylinder) in a regular waste bin”, and skip companies ban them or charge extra, so leave them out. Your options for a 4 kg or 9 kg barbecue bottle:
- Swap it: Elgas says Swap’n’Go “accepts expired or out-of-date gas bottles at no extra charge, when you swap” a 4 kg or 9 kg bottle.
- Council drop-off days: Maroondah’s free e-waste day on Saturday 24 October 2026 (registration needed) takes gas bottles up to 9 kg; Manningham’s Waste Drop Off Day on 17 October takes them too.
- The tip: Knox Transfer Station charges $22 per BBQ gas bottle; Monash $23.00 and Whitehorse $24.00 for bottles up to 9 kg. Montrose doesn’t take BBQ gas bottles.
Polystyrene
Polystyrene isn’t hazardous, just bulky: a few boxes of TV and appliance packaging can fill a wheelie bin. Where it can go:
- Monash centre: clean, white, rigid packaging is free for residents up to 0.5 m³; above that, $16.00 per m³.
- Manningham hard rubbish: takes polystyrene with flattened, tied cardboard.
- Knox Transfer Station: charges it as “low density waste” with insulation and plastic wrap: $406.50 for a ute or small trailer.
- A general waste skip: polystyrene packaging from a move or a clean-out can go in with everything else. Break it up so it doesn’t take the room of a couch.
Plasterboard
Plasterboard offcuts and old walls are renovation waste: none of the councils in the east take plasterboard in hard rubbish, but it can go in a builders skip. EPA Victoria’s conversion figure for stockpiled plasterboard is 0.22 tonnes per cubic metre, so it fills a skip by volume long before it reaches the weight limit. The exception is fibro: old cement sheet that might contain asbestos never goes in a skip (see asbestos disposal).
Common questions
Can tyres go in a skip bin?
Only where the skip company agrees, for an extra charge: $35 each at Yarra Valley Skip Bins and $40 off the rim at ASAP Bin Hire. Whole tyres can’t go to landfill, so they have to be separated. Tips in the east take car tyres for $14 to $50 each.
Where can I dump old paint for free?
At a Paintback drop-off site (up to 100 litres a visit, in containers up to 20 litres), the Whitehorse Recycling and Waste Centre in Vermont South, or, for Monash residents, the Monash centre in Notting Hill. Montrose doesn’t accept paint.
How do I get rid of an expired gas bottle?
Swap it: Elgas says Swap’n’Go accepts expired 4 kg and 9 kg bottles at no extra charge when you swap. Or take it to a council drop-off day or a tip, where it costs $22 to $24. Never put it in a bin or a skip.
How do I get rid of a lot of polystyrene?
Take clean white packaging to the Monash centre (free for residents up to 0.5 m³, then $16.00 per m³), put it out with Manningham hard rubbish, or put it in a general waste skip with the rest of a clean-out.
Can plasterboard go in hard rubbish?
No council in the east takes plasterboard in hard rubbish. It goes in a builders skip, or to a tip as building waste.
Where this information comes from
The rules and prices on this page come from these published pages, checked on 12 October 2026.
- EPA Victoria: waste tyres · State regulator guidance, updated 10 April 2025
- EPA Victoria: wastes a landfill can’t accept (A05b) · State regulator permission conditions, updated 14 May 2025
- City of Monash: Recycling and Waste Centre accepted items and fees · Council fees, 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027
- Knox Transfer Station: gate prices · Transfer station gate prices as of 1 July 2026, GST included
- Whitehorse Recycling and Waste Centre: items accepted at a charge · Council fees 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, including levy and GST
- Whitehorse City Council: items accepted free · Council list of free items at its centre
- Montrose Transfer Station: fees and hours · Operator fees as of 1 July 2026, GST and landfill levy included
- Manningham Council: book a hard rubbish collection · Council page with the accepted and refused lists
- Manningham Council: Waste Drop Off Day · Council event page, Saturday 17 October 2026
- Maroondah City Council: electronic waste · Council page on the free e-waste collection days
- Knox City Council: hard rubbish collection · Council page on booked collections and what they exclude
- Whitehorse City Council: hard waste · Council page, including its advice for unit and apartment blocks
- Yarra Ranges Council: hard rubbish · Council page on the annual hard rubbish collection
- Paintback · Industry paint take-back scheme
- DEECA: Detox Your Home · State program page, updated 22 July 2026
- Elgas: gas bottle disposal and recycling · LPG supplier’s guidance, last modified 3 June 2026
- EPA Victoria: Waste Mass Balance Guideline (Publication 2040), Table 3 · State regulator guideline, January 2022; conversion factors for commonly stockpiled waste, tonnes per m³
- Yarra Valley Skip Bins: skip bin hire prices · Skip hire business, Dixons Creek (Yarra Ranges); price table by size, waste and weight limit, no visible date, GST not stated
- ASAP Bin Hire: Bayswater skip bins · Skip hire business, Kilsyth; main “Our skip bins” table (the page also shows a second, different price guide), GST not stated