Adelaide has roughly a dozen transfer stations and landfill sites scattered from Wingfield in the north-west to Pedlar Creek down south, and the fees vary by hundreds of dollars for the same trailer load depending on where you go and what’s in it. The cheapest general-waste site for most metro residents is Wingfield at around $235 per tonne, but if your load is mostly clean fill, green waste or scrap metal, smaller suburban sites like Heathfield, Edinburgh or Salisbury will work out a lot cheaper — sometimes free.

This is the guide we wish existed when we were first quoting jobs around Adelaide. We do this for a living and still ring ahead before unusual loads, because fees move every July, mattresses jumped again recently, and what one site takes free the next one charges $80 for.

Quick comparison: Adelaide transfer stations at a glance

Site	Run by	General waste (approx)	Best for
Wingfield Resource Recovery	NAWMA / private operators	$235–$280/tonne	General mixed, large loads
Edinburgh (Salisbury)	City of Salisbury	$35 min, ~$240/tonne	Northern residents, green waste
Heathfield Resource Recovery	Adelaide Hills Council	$30 min car, ~$255/tonne	Hills residents, green waste free
McLaren Vale	City of Onkaparinga	$30 min, ~$245/tonne	Southern Vales
Pedlar Creek	City of Onkaparinga	$30 min, ~$245/tonne	Southern coast, Sellicks/Aldinga
Lonsdale (Southern Region Waste)	SRWRA	$250/tonne, $30 min	Commercial, southern metro
Tea Tree Gully Waste & Recycling	City of Tea Tree Gully	Resident-only voucher system	North-east residents only
Mount Barker Transfer Station	Mt Barker DC	$35 min, ~$250/tonne	Hills and Mt Barker area

Prices last reviewed mid-2026. All sites charge a minimum fee even if your load is tiny, so combining trips is almost always worth it.

Wingfield — the default for most Adelaide tip runs

Wingfield is the centre of gravity for Adelaide’s waste industry. It sits off Hanson Road in the north-west and is where most commercial rubbish trucks tip, including ours when we’re working anywhere from the CBD out to Norwood, Prospect or Walkerville.

There are actually several operators at Wingfield. The main ones the public can use are:

NAWMA Resource Recovery Centre — accepts general waste, green waste, mattresses, e-waste and scrap metal
Integrated Waste Services — commercial-focused but takes domestic loads
ResourceCo — construction and demolition waste, concrete, brick, soil

General waste pricing sits around $235 to $280 per tonne with a typical minimum charge of $30 to $40. A single-axle trailer of mixed household rubbish usually weighs in at 250 to 400kg, so expect to pay $60 to $120 plus surcharges for any mattresses, tyres or fridges in the load.

Hours: Most Wingfield gates open 7am to 4:30pm Monday to Friday, 7am to 4pm Saturday, and 9am to 4pm Sunday. Some commercial gates close earlier — ring ahead if you’re aiming for a late-afternoon tip.

Heads up: Wingfield enforces strict load-covering. If your trailer or ute tray isn’t tarped and tied down, EPA can fine you $375 on the spot and the site won’t accept the load. We’ve seen it happen in the queue.

Southern Adelaide: McLaren Vale, Pedlar Creek and Lonsdale

If you’re south of Darlington, driving to Wingfield is a poor use of your morning. You’ve got three solid options closer to home.

McLaren Vale Waste & Recycling Depot on Tatachilla Road takes general waste, green waste, scrap metal and e-waste. Onkaparinga residents get cheaper rates with a council voucher. Without one, expect around $245 per tonne general, $90 per tonne green waste, and free e-waste drop-off.

Pedlar Creek Resource Recovery Centre is the better choice if you’re down at Aldinga, Sellicks or Maslin. Same Onkaparinga pricing, but you skip the trip up Main Road.

Southern Region Waste Resource Authority at Lonsdale is mostly a commercial site but takes domestic loads. Around $250 per tonne, $30 minimum. Useful if you’re in Marion, Brighton or Glenelg and need to be in and out fast — their queues move quicker than Wingfield’s on a Saturday.

Eastern and Hills: Heathfield is the gem most people miss

Heathfield Resource Recovery Centre, run by Adelaide Hills Council, is one of the best-value sites in greater Adelaide if you’re east of the freeway. General waste runs around $255 per tonne with a $30 minimum car-boot rate, but the standout feature is free green waste drop-off for Adelaide Hills residents (with proof of address) and very cheap rates for non-residents.

If you’re in Stirling, Mount Barker, Hahndorf or anywhere down through Bridgewater and Aldgate, Heathfield will save you both fuel and money compared to dragging a trailer down to Wingfield.

Hours: 9am to 4:30pm Monday to Saturday, 11am to 4:30pm Sunday. Closed public holidays.

Mount Barker District Council also runs a small transfer station off Bald Hills Road that’s handy for the eastern fringe — fees similar to Heathfield but with a more limited list of accepted items.

Northern Adelaide: Edinburgh and the Tea Tree Gully voucher system

Edinburgh Recycling and Waste Centre (City of Salisbury) is the go-to for anyone in Salisbury, Mawson Lakes, Paralowie and surrounds. General waste around $240 per tonne, $35 minimum. Free e-waste and free scrap metal drop-off makes it excellent value if you’re cleaning out a garage that’s accumulated old appliances and offcut steel.

Tea Tree Gully Waste & Recycling Depot is different from every other site on this list — it’s resident-only and runs on a council voucher system rather than open weighbridge pricing. Tea Tree Gully ratepayers get free or heavily discounted tips a few times a year. If you don’t have a voucher and aren’t a TTG resident, you can’t use it. For non-residents in the north-east, Edinburgh or Wingfield are your alternatives.

What every Adelaide tip charges extra for

These items attract surcharges at virtually every metro tip, regardless of your overall load weight:

Mattresses — $30 to $50 each (sometimes $70 for king-size). Recycled separately under the EPA’s product stewardship scheme.
Tyres — $8 to $15 per car tyre without rim, more with rim or for 4WD/truck tyres
Gas bottles — $15 to $25 each; some sites refuse them entirely if not empty
Fridges and freezers — $30 to $60 for degassing
Asbestos — only accepted at a small number of sites (Wingfield, Inkerman, Northern Adelaide Waste Centre), must be wrapped and labelled, prices from $300 per cubic metre
Car batteries — usually free, occasionally a small fee
Paint and chemicals — most tips don’t take these; use the EPA’s free household chemical drop-off events instead

If your load has three or four of these mixed in, the surcharges can easily double the headline tip fee. That’s the maths people miss when they assume DIY is cheaper.

Free drop-off categories worth knowing

Several Adelaide sites take these items at no charge:

E-waste (TVs, computers, screens, printers) — free at Wingfield, Edinburgh, Heathfield, McLaren Vale, Pedlar Creek under the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme
Scrap metal — free at Edinburgh, Heathfield, and most NAWMA sites (sometimes they even pay you for large clean loads)
Cardboard — free almost everywhere if separated and flat-packed
Polystyrene — Heathfield and a few NAWMA partners take it free, but it must be clean white EPS
Mobile phones — free recycling bins at most council customer service centres

If you’re doing an appliance clean-out or garage cleanout, pre-sorting metal and e-waste before you go can knock 30 to 40% off the total tip fee.

Charged by weight vs charged by volume — which is cheaper

Every metro Adelaide transfer station charges general waste by weight (per tonne, with a minimum). Some smaller council sites and most regional ones charge by volume (per cubic metre or per trailer load).

The rule of thumb we use:

Heavy, dense loads (concrete, soil, brick, plasterboard, wet timber) — go to a weight-based site only if the load is small. For big demo loads, a flat-rate volume site or a dedicated C&D recycler like ResourceCo is cheaper.
Light, bulky loads (mattresses, couches, garden waste, polystyrene, cardboard) — weight-based pricing destroys you on volume sites. A trailer of green waste might weigh 200kg but fill 2 cubic metres. Pay by weight.
Mixed household rubbish — weight-based is almost always cheaper at metro tips.

When DIY actually saves money — and when it doesn’t

We’re a rubbish removal business, so you’d expect us to say DIY is never worth it. It often is. Here’s our honest read:

DIY makes sense when:

You already own or can borrow a trailer (no hire cost)
The load is one trip, well-sorted, and under 500kg
You live within 20 minutes of a transfer station
There are no surcharge items (or only one or two)
Your time is worth less than $50/hour for the half-day it’ll take

DIY costs more than booking us when:

You need to hire a trailer ($80 to $120 for the day)
The load needs two or three trips
You’ve got mattresses, fridges, tyres or e-waste mixed in (surcharges stack fast)
The job involves lifting heavy furniture or hard rubbish you can’t shift alone
You’re doing a renovation cleanup with plasterboard, timber and tile offcuts (heavy + bulky + surcharges)
It’s a deceased estate or full house clear (volume + emotional load)

For a typical 2-cubic-metre garage cleanout with one mattress and a fridge, the DIY maths usually lands around $180 to $250 once you add trailer hire, fuel, tip fees and surcharges. We’d do the same job for $290 to $390 fully loaded, removed and tipped — and you don’t lift anything or spend your Saturday in a queue at Wingfield.

Our take: If you’ve got the trailer, the time and a clean light load, do it yourself. If any of those three things is missing, it’s almost always cheaper to ring someone.

A few practical tips before you head to the tip

Ring ahead if your load includes anything unusual (asbestos, gas bottles, oversized timber). Sites refuse loads at the gate and you’ve wasted the trip.
Bring cash and card. Some smaller sites still don’t take card, and EFTPOS goes down regularly.
Strap and tarp every load. EPA spot fines are $375 and they patrol the routes into Wingfield.
Go mid-week. Saturday morning queues at Wingfield, Heathfield and Edinburgh can be 30+ minutes.
Keep your receipt. If you’re doing rental property work or claiming on insurance, the weighbridge ticket is your only proof.

Need it gone without the trip?

If you’d rather skip the tip-run logistics — load weighing, tarp tying, surcharge maths — that’s what we do every day across Adelaide metro, from Burnside and Unley through to Henley Beach and the northern suburbs. Give us a call on 0480 845 643 for a flat price over the phone, or send a couple of photos through our contact form and we’ll quote within the hour. We cover the tip fees, the surcharges and the lifting in one number.

Whatever you choose — DIY or pickup — we hope this saves you a fruitless drive to the wrong site.

Adelaide Tip Fees & Transfer Stations: Locations, Prices, Opening Hours