Soft plastics, textiles, e-waste and more can now be recycled in the Blue Mountains (Photo: Blue Mountains City Council)
Story by Linda Moon
Most of us have got into the groove around recycling. But what do we do with those tricky items that can’t go in the recycling bin? A local recycling initiative has soft plastics, old undies and socks, broken tech, plant pots and more, sorted.
Key Points:
A new trial recycling program for soft plastics and e-waste has joined the textile, blister pack and plant pot recycling service at two Blue Mountains locations.
Waste contributes to air, soil and water pollution, global warming and negative impacts on wildlife, habitats and human health.
Imagine the weight of 471 Sydney Opera Houses. That’s the total waste Australians generate every year. Plastic is one of the least recycled and most enduring materials on earth.
But, when it comes to plastics and textiles we’re not so good. The vast majority of these are still going into landfill (a mere 13 per cent of plastic is recycled!). In fact, plastic pollution is one of the most pressing issues of our time.
The problem with plastic
Founder of the Plastic Free Foundation and Plastic Free July, Rebecca Prince-Ruiz, explains that the lightweight and durable qualities of plastic make it a huge problem for the environment.
It’s particularly bad for wildlife. Animals regularly get entangled in plastic and consume it. Plastic, which is primarily made from fossil fuels, also leaches chemicals into the environment which proliferate up the food chain, causing problems to human and animal health.
Children from the United States of America fight against plastic pollution in Berkeley, California. From the United Nations Exhibit: Plastic Is Forever. (Photo:Jacqueline Elbing-Omania).
If that wasn’t bad enough, plastic has a tendency to travel and has a very lengthy lifespan (most plastic will out-live you and I). It can take anywhere from 20 to 500 years to break down, according to the United Nations exhibit Plastic Is Forever. Even then, it doesn’t decompose altogether, but breaks into smaller and smaller bits that pollute the environment.
And, while the Great Pacific Garbage Patch might seem far away, plastic pollution is also a problem in our Blue Mountains creeks, parks and bushland.
Plastic can last from 20 to 500 years if not forever. Do the world a favour and keep it out of the environment. (Photo: Blue Mountains City Council)
New recycling initiative has your waste sorted
In a win for the war on plastic and other harder to recycle materials, Blue Mountains City Council is trialing a new option for soft plastic and e-waste recycling. The trial, which started November 13, runs till June 2024. It follows the introduction (earlier this year) of textile, plant pot and blister pack recycling.
Household quantities of these can all be dropped off at the Katoomba Resource Recovery and Waste Management Facility. Keeping it easy, the facility serves as a one-stop drop for the recyclable materials and more. And if you’re a Blue Mountains resident, it’s free!
According to Rebecca Scarpin, Waste and Resource Coordinator at Blue Mountains City Council, all the materials are recycled through contractors. “There’s a lot of checking and due diligence done to make sure it’s being recycled,” she says, addressing public concerns around the effectiveness of recycling.
So what can you drop off?
Soft plastics
‘Soft’ plastics are anything that doesn’t bounce back into its original shape when it’s scrunched into a ball in your hand, Rebecca explains.
It includes bubble wrap, plastic film, cereal box liners, the packets and wrappers of products like confectionary, bread, chocolate, chips, frozen foods, pasta, noodles and pet food, re-sealable plastic bags, grocery bags, cling wrap, fruit netting bags, plastic sachets, snap-lock bags and document sleeves.
How are the soft plastics recycled? Blue Mountains City Council has partnered with RecycleSmart, who will collect the soft plastics and e-waste items from the Katoomba and Blaxland facilities. Soft plastics will then be transported to APR Plastics for processing into feedstock oil, which enables it to become plastic packaging again.
Hard plastics and plant pots
What about hard (rigid) plastic, then? It will continue to go into your yellow kerbside recycling bin, Rebecca says. Rigid plastics include plastic containers from your kitchen, bathroom and laundry.
Plant pots and labels are not considered a rigid plastic from the kitchen, laundry or bathroom and shouldn’t be placed in the kerbside bin. As part of improvements to recycling Rebecca and her team have been working on, the resource recovery and waste management facilities now have a dedicated drop off cage for the pots.
Plant pots like these now have a drop-off point at the Resource Recovery and Waste Management Facility. (Photo: Linda Moon.)
Blister Packs
Another form of plastic you can’t put in your recycling bin is blister packs (for medicines and supplements). “These are part plastic, part foil, which makes them more difficult to recycle,” Rebecca says. There are now also specific bins for blister packs at the waste facility.
What about e-waste?
E-waste is unwanted or unusable electronic items: most things with a cord that plug into the power.
It includes entertainment equipment (like DVD players, digital cameras and musical instruments), computers and accessories, phones, electric power tools, extension cords and power boards, small household appliances, household and personal items such as lamps, vapes, clocks and electric toothbrushes. Toys that light up or make sounds are also considered e-waste. For the full list, click here.
E-waste is collected by RecycleSmart, then disassembled, sorted, and individual waste streams are recovered for recycling into new products.
Examples of e-waste. (Photo: Linda Moon)
That’s not all! There’s a new textile recovery bin.
You can also drop off clothing, hats, shoes and accessories like belts, plus Manchester, including towels, sheets, cushions, pillows and blankets, plus soft toys and outdoor soft furnishings.
As with the other recyclable materials, these must be in household quantities only.
The average Australian buys over 14 kilograms of new clothing a year. Most of this ends up in landfill according to a 2022 report.
A new life for your stuff. Dropped off textiles are recycled or upcycled or sent for repair or reprocessing as industrial cloths and products like flooring and rugs. (Photo: Blue Mountains City Council)
The sites are always manned by staff whose job it is to provide direction, support and advice, Rebecca says. Staff will direct you to the bins for blister pack, soft plastic, e-waste, PP5 plastic, textiles and other recycling options as needed.
The service is free for Blue Mountains residents, and is limited to household quantities of each type of recyclable only. For more info on what you can drop off at the resource recovery and waste facility, check out the Katoomba and Blaxland sites and the Blue Mountains City Council A-Z of Waste and Recyling.
The Katoomba facility is open:
8am to 4pm Monday to Friday
10am to 2pm Saturday
Closed Sundays, Good Friday and Christmas Day
Blaxland is open:
8am to 4.45pm 7 days a week
Closed Good Friday and Christmas Day
Katoomba Resource Recovery & Waste Management Facility. Manned by staff who can help you.(Photo: Blue Mountains City Council)
Take Action:
Get organised: Set up containers for sorting and storing your e-waste, soft plastic and so on. Make a date in your diary to drop off your stuff.
Spread the news: Tell your friends and family about the new recycling services. Share this story!
Get the non-plastic alternative: start using more eco-friendly alternatives to plastic. You can find these at local health food stores, the Blue Mountains Food Co-op, online and more.
This story has been produced as part of a Bioregional Collaboration for Planetary Health and is supported by the Disaster Risk Reduction Fund (DRRF). The DRRF is jointly funded by the Australian and New South Wales governments.
Our new Planetary Health Newsletter includes the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium, School Holiday Workshops, today`s Planetary Health Bushcare, a story about a Men`s Group in Lawson, a workshop on Designing Your Future Home, and information on how to prepare for Bushfire Season with Council`s chipping service. You can read it here: https://bit.ly/3TkWGRj (link in profile) #planetaryhealth #peace #peacesymposium #bluemountains #schoolholidayworkshops #hope #solutions #mensgroup #katoomba...
The Community Tree Planting Day for the Glossy Black Cockatoo is on this Saturday 5 July near Cowra! Learn more about how you can help grow connected landscapes to save the Glossy Black, including more about the Community Tree Planting Day, by fast forwarding to 48mins in our video "Falling in Love with Glossy Black Cockatoos" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCERdF21Ud0&t=2075s
Register your interest to join everyone at the Tree Planting Day here:
Join us for this fabulous workshop: Designing Your Future Home on Saturday 19 July (10am-12 noon) Create a Healthy, Comfortable and Energy-Efficient Home
Join local Passive House Designer Karina Rafailov from Earthy Haus for a relaxed, interactive, and inspiring workshop. Whether you’re planning a new build or thinking about a renovation, this session will empower you with the knowledge to create a home that’s healthier for your family and kinder to the planet.
Places are strictly limited in this hands-on workshop so bookings essential here (link in profile): https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/workshop-designing-your-future-home-tickets-1417752157869
As an increasing number of people are being affected by winter viruses, we’re offering a free session of Tai Chi and Qigong on Saturday 5 July in the warmth of our beautiful Frogs of the Blue Mountains exhibition. Places are limited so book in early here (link in profile): https://bit.ly/40fnGW2 Learn more about these Chinese medicine movement practices in the video interview with Virginia Field on our YouTube channel (link in profile) and read about how Chinese medicine helped her overcome illness as a young woman in our story: Healing Body, Mind and Spirit with Tai Chi and Qigong here (link in profile): https://www.katoombalocalnews.com/tai-chi-and-qigong/
If you’re interested in learning how to propagate native plants and are keen to help our bush regenerate, the Bushcare Seed Collectors meet on the second Tuesday of the month. Check out how they cook Banksias to release their seed and learn more about the group, and native seed collecting, in Katoomba Area Local News here (link in profile): https://www.katoombalocalnews.com/bushcare-seed-collectors/
If you’d like to join the group, contact the Bushcare officer Tracy Abbas on 4780 5623 or email [email protected]
Littlejohni, the Rare and Endangered Northern Heath Frog, photographed in Woodford!
When the Frogs of the Blue Mountains exhibition opened at the Planetary Health Centre in March it featured photos of 20 different local frogs. We were thrilled, however, when Andy Klotz and other members of the Hawkesbury Herpetological Society recently managed to photograph another frog in Woodford: the rarely seen and endangered Litoria littlejohni, also known as the Northern Heath Frog or Orange-bellied Tree Frog. We’ve added a photo of that frog to the exhibition and created a new Frogs of the Blue Mountains video in which you can listen to its call on our YouTube channel. We interviewed Andy to learn more about the Littlejohni and how they managed to find its small local population. You can read this story in Mid Mountains Local News (link in profile). #biodiversity #bluemountainsfrogs #northernheathfrog #litorialittlejohni #bluemountains #woodford #planetaryhealth #hawkesburyherpetologicalsociety...
Our newsletter is now out! Read about how you can contribute to @bluemountainscitycouncil`s Biodiversity Conservation Strategy; watch our video on Falling in Love with Glossy Black Cockatoos; see the new photos of the rare Northern Heath Frog; watch how the Bushcare Seed Collectors cook banksias to release their seeds; learn more about Tai Chi and Qigong, the Chinese medicine movement practices; and take part in our next workshop on Designing Your Future Home with Passive House Designer Karina Rafailov from @earthy_haus
Read it here (link in profile): https://bit.ly/40e4GHr
Our video on Falling In Love With Glossy Black Cockatoos is now up on our Planetary Health YouTube channel (sorry, it`s too big to share here but there`s a link in our profile).
Jayden Gunn finishes his presentation by saying:
"Care is like a snowball. The more people you tell the bigger the snowball gets, and the further it goes. And the more we know, the more we care. And the more we know, the more we`re able to help."
The video is of our fabulous Forum on Growing Connected Landscapes for the Glossy Black Cockatoo, and includes presentations by Jayden Gunn, BirdLife Australia, Amanda Foxon-Hill from Mid Lachlan Landcare, and STEM teacher Samantha Bowden from Glenbrook Public School. There`s a link with the video on how to register for the Community Tree Planting Day in Goologong on 5 July (and it`s also in our profile). Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCERdF21Ud0&t=13s
Today we`re enjoying eating ripe medlars! Medlars are attractive cold climate fruit trees that were popular in Medieval gardens. They`re one of the few fruits that can be harvested in late Autumn and eaten in early Winter when they`re fully ripe. This is a great time of year to plant them for a future harvest. Check out our short video on how to eat them! #coldclimategardens #ediblegardens #medlars #growyourown #planetaryhealth #bluemountains...
We`re thrilled to share that last night @BlueMountainsCityCouncil`s Planetary Health Centre won the Innovative Leadership Award (Population Under 150K) in the 2025 NSW Local Government Excellence Awards. What a great end to World Environment Day! 🌏 This award celebrates how local government can lead transformative change for a more sustainable future. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard with us to make our vision a reality. You can read more about what we`re doing at our website (link in profile): http://www.bluemountainsplanetaryhealth.com.au/ @ph_alliance #planetaryhealth #worldenvironmentday #localgovernmentleadership #nswlocalgovernmentexcellenceawards...
Blocking out a couple of hours a week to step off the treadmill and give ourselves time to nurture our relationship with the earth and ourselves, is one way to keep our creative spirit and ‘lust for life’ alive. If you haven’t done so yet, one opportunity over the next week is to spend some ‘slow’ time in the 2024 Wynne Prize exhibition at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre before it closes on 15 June. Read more in Katoomba Area Local News here (link in profile): https://www.katoombalocalnews.com/the-2024-wynne-prize/ @bluemountainsculturalcentre @artgalleryofnsw #wynneprize #landscapes #bluemountains #katoomba #artexhibition #planetaryhealth...
Recognising how violence and war impact the health of the planet, the Blue Mountains Planetary Health Initiative has become a member of the Blue Mountains Peace Collective. On Sunday 25th May, we attended a presentation by Dr Keith Suter on Making Peace in the World Today at the Leura Uniting Church. In this powerful presentation Dr Suter questions why we learn about war rather than successful peace negotiations! View the video of his presentation below and read our full story in Katoomba Area Local News here: https://bit.ly/3Fl4WgQ (link in profile)
Linda Moon has lived in the upper Blue Mountains since childhood and is a freelance writer for Australian media. A qualified naturopath, permaculture designer, mother and former student of social work, her passion is building local community, gardening, mental, emotional, social, housing and environmental health – all of which are linked!
Last week around 160 first year medical students were introduced to Planetary Health and Dharug culture at the Planetary Health Centre, with presentations by Professor Lynne Madden from Notre Dame, Lis Bastian from the Planetary Health Centre and Dharug man Chris Tobin.
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