It depends on how much you’ve got and how much of the work you want to do yourself. Your lime-green bin and your council’s verge collection are already paid for through your rates. A DIY run to the tip costs around $100 a load once you’ve hired a trailer. A green waste skip is about $280 to $750 for a week, and you do the loading. Paying someone usually costs more than doing it yourself, but they do the cutting, loading and tip run for you, and the price comes down to the job.
Here’s how each option works in Perth’s northern suburbs, with prices and council rules checked in September 2026.
First, picture a cubic metre
Skip sizes and council collection limits are worked out in cubic metres, which is hard to picture when you’re looking at a pile of prunings. A cubic metre is about four full 240-litre wheelie bins. Count your pile in wheelie bins and you’ll know what size skip you need, or whether it fits in a 3 m³ verge collection.
1. Your lime-green bin: already paid for
For clippings, leaves, weeds and small prunings, your garden organics bin is the cheapest option there is, because it’s covered by your rates. Joondalup and Stirling households have one as standard, collected fortnightly, and many Wanneroo and Swan homes have one too.
Keep it to the small stuff. Joondalup won’t take anything bigger than 300 mm in the bin, and Wanneroo’s limit is a metre long and 6 cm thick. No plastic bags.
2. Council bulk verge collection: also already paid for
All four northern-suburbs councils run a bulk green waste collection off the verge. It’s free, but it runs on the council’s timetable rather than yours, and each council has its own rules.
| Council | How often | The rules |
|---|---|---|
| Joondalup | Once a year, scheduled by area | Branches over 150 mm thick cut into 300 mm lengths. Palm fronds are fine. No soil, sand, rubble, treated timber, pallets, sleepers or bagged waste. |
| Wanneroo | Once a year, and you book it | Up to 3 m³. Nothing over 1.5 m long or 30 cm wide. No lawn or lawn clippings, raked leaves, soil, rocks, large stumps or bagged waste. |
| Stirling | Every nine months, scheduled by area | Branches up to 1.5 m long and 30 cm thick. Nothing in bags. Loose leaves and weeds go in your lime-green bin. |
| Swan | Up to twice a year, and you book it (shared with bulk junk collections) | Up to 3 m³ each time. Nothing over 1.5 m long or 300 mm wide. No lawn clippings, soil or large stumps. |
The catch is timing. Joondalup and Stirling collect on their own schedule, and even the booked collections only come once or twice a year, so a pile can sit on the lawn for months. And anything that breaks the rules gets left behind.
3. Take it to the tip yourself
Green waste is cheap to tip in the northern suburbs, as long as you pick the right place.
- Wangara Recycling Facility (70 Motivation Drive, Wangara): $24 for a car, or $40.50 for a ute or a car and trailer (up to half a tonne). Joondalup and Wanneroo residents get four free green waste drop-offs a year with their council vouchers. It’s open weekends and public holidays only, 8am to 4.45pm.
- Recycling Centre Balcatta (City of Stirling): $28.30 for up to 300 kg of tree prunings, then $90 a tonne. Stirling ratepayers’ tip passes cover up to a tonne of clean garden waste for free.
- City of Swan recycling centre, Malaga: free green waste drop-off for Swan residents, Thursday to Sunday (no grass clippings).
- Tamala Park (Mindarie Regional Council): green waste costs the same as general waste here, at $291.50 a tonne with a $29.15 minimum. For garden waste it’s rarely the cheap option.
Add a trailer (a 6×4 cage trailer hires for about $50 for four hours or $60 for the day) and a load to Wangara comes to around $100, or around $60 if you’ve got a voucher.
Keep the load clean, though. Mix in timber, junk or soil and it’s no longer green waste: at Balcatta, a mixed load costs $51 for up to 300 kg and $315 a tonne after that.
One more Perth rule: the whole metro area is a shot-hole borer quarantine area. Branches and wood thicker than 2.5 cm mustn’t be taken out of the metro area, and there are extra limits between zones inside it. So take your green waste to a council facility rather than out to a rural block, and cover the load. Lawn clippings aren’t affected.
4. Hire a green waste skip
A skip is handy for a big weekend clean-up where you’re doing the cutting yourself. In Perth, green waste skips run from about $280 for a 2 m³ mini skip to about $750 for a 9 m³ bin, for a week’s hire. A 4 m³ skip typically costs $370 to $610.
Read the fine print before you fill it. Some skip companies won’t take grass, weeds, palm fronds, roots or sand in a green waste skip, and there are size limits too. One Perth company won’t take any branch over a metre long or 40 cm thick.
5. Pay someone to take it away
This is the one option without a set price, because every pile is different. A quote comes down to how much there is, what it is, how far it has to be carried, and whether it’s still on the plant and needs cutting down first.
What you’re paying for is the work you’d otherwise do yourself: the cutting, the loading, the trailer, the tip run and the tip fees. When you compare quotes, check what’s included. Some removalists quote a rate per cubic metre and add loading time on top; others include the loading.
It’s the easiest option when the waste is heavy or awkward, you haven’t got a trailer, or it still needs cutting down.
What pushes the price up
- How much there is. Volume is the biggest factor, whoever you use.
- What it is. Palm fronds, stumps and turf are heavy or slow to deal with. Soil and rubble aren’t green waste at all: council verge collections won’t take them, and neither will some green waste skips.
- Mixed loads. Throw junk in with the prunings and the whole lot can be charged as general waste, which costs more.
- Access. A pile beside the driveway is quicker to load than one behind the house and down a side path.
- Cutting. If it’s still on the hedge or tree, it has to be cut down and cut to size before anyone can take it.
So which is cheapest?
| Your situation | Usually the cheapest way |
|---|---|
| Clippings, leaves, weeds and small prunings | Your lime-green bin |
| A big pile of prunings, and your verge collection is coming up | Council verge collection |
| You’ve got a trailer, a free weekend and a voucher | A run to Wangara, Balcatta or Malaga |
| A big clean-up you’re doing yourself | A green waste skip |
| Heavy, awkward or still on the plant | Someone who cuts it, loads it and takes it away |
Rather not spend Saturday at the tip?
If the green waste is coming from a job, like a hedge that’s got away from you, pruning, a garden clean-up or an overgrown block, the easiest way is to have it gone in the same visit. That’s how our green waste removal works: we cut it, load it and take it away, palm fronds and old turf included, so nothing’s left sitting on your verge.
Send us a photo and we can usually quote on the spot. Call 0422 337 609 or get a free quote.
Green waste questions Perth homeowners ask
Where can I get rid of green waste for free in Perth?
Your lime-green bin and your council’s bulk verge collection are already paid for through your rates. On top of that, Joondalup and Wanneroo residents get four free green waste drop-offs a year at Wangara, Stirling ratepayers’ tip passes cover up to a tonne of clean garden waste at Balcatta, and City of Swan residents can drop green waste off for free at the Malaga recycling centre.
How much does it cost to dump green waste at the tip?
At Wangara it’s $24 for a car and $40.50 for a ute or a car and trailer (up to half a tonne). Balcatta charges $28.30 for up to 300 kg of tree prunings. Tamala Park charges green waste at its general waste rate: $291.50 a tonne, with a $29.15 minimum.
Can grass clippings go out for the verge collection?
Usually not. Wanneroo and Swan don’t take lawn clippings on their bulk verge collections, and Stirling wants loose leaves and weeds in the lime-green bin. Clippings go in your garden organics bin.
How much is a green waste skip bin in Perth?
About $280 for a 2 m³ mini skip, up to about $750 for a 9 m³ bin, for a week’s hire. A 4 m³ skip typically costs $370 to $610. Check what’s allowed first, because some won’t take grass, palm fronds or sand.
Is soil or turf green waste?
Not as far as councils are concerned. Soil, sand and rubble aren’t accepted on bulk green waste collections, and Wanneroo won’t take lawn either. We’ll take old turf away as part of a garden job, but bulk soil needs a skip or an earthmoving service.
How do I book a bulk green waste verge collection?
In Wanneroo and Swan you book it online through the council website, and Wanneroo also takes bookings on 9405 5000. Joondalup and Stirling schedule theirs by area, so check your date on the council website.
Prices and council rules checked 28 September 2026. Councils update their fees each July, so it’s worth checking before you load the trailer.
