Detox Your Home collections
Never put hazardous household chemicals in your rubbish bin or pour them down the drain
Throwing hazardous household chemicals in your rubbish bins is dangerous. They can explode, catch fire, leak, or mix with other substances—posing serious risks in your bin, the collection truck, or at sorting facilities.
Pouring chemicals down the drain may pollute waterways and make rivers and beaches unsafe for swimming, contaminate our water supply, and harm wildlife and vegetation.
Safely dispose of your hazardous household chemicals at our Detox Your Home events
Drop off accepted hazardous household chemicals at our free Detox Your Home events, staffed by trained chemists.
If your item isn’t accepted, check other safe disposal options.
2026 events
We will release the 2026 schedule of events early in the year.
Read tips on storing hazardous chemicals safely until you are able to safely dispose of them.
Before the event
- Only bring accepted items.
- The maximum acceptable weight or size of a single container is 20 kg or 20 L. This is for lift-related occupational health and safety reasons of our chemists.
- Label items clearly:
- Use the original packaging if possible.
- If repackaged, write contents with a permanent marker.
- Label unknown substances as 'Unknown'.
- Bring chemicals in disposable containers that you can leave behind – decanting is not permitted at the event site.
- Place items in your empty car boot or tray.
Read our tips on how to safely manage hazardous household chemicals.
At the event
- Follow event signage and directions provided by event and council staff.
- Stay in your car – our trained event staff and qualified chemists will unload items for you.
- It takes 10 to 15 minutes for our team to service each car.
Accepted items
If you have items not listed below, see our advice on safe ways to dispose of other common hazardous household items.
Cleaning
- Acids and alkalis, including spirit of salt, bleach, rust remover, and hydrochloric acid
- Aerosol cans (empty cans can be put in your recycling bin)
- Oven cleaner
Cosmetics
- Nail polish remover
Garden and pool
- Fertiliser
- Fuel (old lawn mower/power tools fuel)
- Weed killers/herbicides
- Insect sprays and pesticides
- Pool chemicals, including liquid pool chlorine and pool salts
Garage
- Brake fluid
- Coolant
- Fuels, including petrol, diesel and kerosene
- Machine oil and lubricant
- Rat poison
- Transmission fluid
- Turpentine, thinners and paint strippers
- Wood preservatives and finishes
Hobby materials
- Photographic chemicals
- Wood preservatives and finishes
Kitchen and camping
- Butane gas canisters
- Hand sanitiser
- See cleaning products above
- Insect sprays
Items found at home with these symbols
