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.
Join Andris Heks, Yogic Psychotherapist, winner Best Actor, Blue Mountains, for his workshop to laugh as you never laughed before, as part of a movement to globalise people-bonding cheerfulness through kookaburra laughter contagion as an antidote to distressing world divisiveness.
Purchase your ticket here: https://events.humanitix.com/kookaburra-laughter-workshop
View the trailer and the GoFundMe page here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/globalise-unconditional-love-through-kookaburra-laughter
Key event information: - When? 10:15AM - 2:30PM, Sunday 4 October 2026 (1st day of Daylight Saving - 1 hour forward) - Where? Blue Mountains Planetary Health Centre, 33-39 Acacia St, Katoomba, NSW, 2780 - Fee? $60 or what you can afford - Note: please bring your own lunch
What to expect: - Learn how to stay cheerful for good - Learning the funny, human emulated, communal kookaburra laughter and meditation - How communal kookaburra laughter promotes bonding even amongst strangers - The awesome native treasure of the laughing kookaburra phenomenon - Why Kookaburra Yoga is the ‘most excellent of Yogas` - How communal kookaburra laughter contagion boosts the subtle and gross national product - How you could contribute to the kookaburra laughter contagion
This event is supported by Blue Mountains Planetary Health.
Purchase your ticket here: https://events.humanitix.com/kookaburra-laughter-workshop...
Come along to the Planetary Health Centre this Saturday for the next Skill Share Saturdays event!
This weekend`s agenda:
8:30AM - 10AM | Learn how to use your sewing machine class with Sherlie McMillan
8:30AM | Planetary Health Cafe open, serving Good Fat Pastry and Whisk and Pin
9AM - 10AM | Tai Chi and Qigong class with Virginia Field
10AM - 12PM | Learn how to grow WITH the Upper Blue Mountain permaculture workshop with Leni from Alchemy Farms
10AM - 3PM | Fashion Upcycling Workshop with Sherlie McMillan
10:30AM - 12PM | Learn to make focaccia from scratch with Laura Zucchetti (no experience needed)
1:30PM - 4:30PM | Planetary Health Bushcare with Karen Hising
For more information and to purchase a ticket, please visit the website: https://events.humanitix.com/skill-share-saturdays-at-the-planetary-health-centre...
Plate to Planet: Blue Mountains Food Security Fair 2026
📣HEADLINE SPEAKER📣
Our headline speaker is Julian Cribb AM – a renowned Australian science writer, journalist and author who has spent more than 50 years communicating science, agriculture, climate and global sustainability issues. He is the author of several influential books, including The Coming Famine (2010), Food or War (2019) and How to Fix a Broken Planet (2023), which explore the future of food systems, planetary health and humanity`s long-term survival.
He is widely recognised as one of Australia`s leading voices on global food security and sustainable development.
To register for his talk, and view the rest of the program, visit the website: https://events.humanitix.com/blue-mountains-2026-food-security-fair...
At our next Skill Share Saturdays event on Saturday 5th September, join Laura Zucchetti at 10:30am to learn how to make focaccia from scratch!
Come along for a 90 min class where you`ll mix, rest and stretch your own focaccia dough from start to finish, guided every step of the way. You’ll take home your dough to bake on the day in your own oven.
Sign up to this session, and view the other offerings on the day via this link: https://events.humanitix.com/skill-share-saturdays-at-the-planetary-health-centre...
Plate to Planet: Blue Mountains Food Security Fair 2026
We are pleased to announce that the program and registration for Plate to Planet: Blue Mountains Food Security Fair 2026 is now live!
Follow this link to view the program and register your place: https://events.humanitix.com/blue-mountains-2026-food-security-fair
Key information:
When? Saturday 10 October, 9AM - 4PM
Where? Blue Mountains Planetary Health Centre, Katoomba
Who is it for? Families, gardeners, enthusiasts, community groups and businesses, anyone looking to learn about how to be more resilient through local and sustainable food systems.
What to expect? Talks, workshops, demos, market stalls, family activities, music, food
Is there a cost? Entry to the Fair and Markets is free. Talks and workshops are ticketed (both free and paid) and have limited capacity, so please register in advance.
Program highlights:
🌏Headline talk: The age of renewable Food – Julian Cribb AM 🎋Wild edibles foraging workshops – Diego Bonetto, Eat More Weeds 🏞️The importance of bioregions in uncertain times – Rowe Morrow, Permaculture Matters 🥒Home canning and food preservation workshop – Kirsty Berté, Permaculture Hawkesbury Valley 🏡Designing your own Permaculture Property – Leni Nyssen, Alchemy Farms 🍃Utilising what’s in front of you – Uncle Lex, The Ganya Shed 🪱How to worm farm - BMCC 🎸Live music by Olivia Dustmann 🌾Community crop and seed swap
Tickets are limited so please register your place now: https://events.humanitix.com/blue-mountains-2026-food-security-fair
We are also seeking stallholders for the event. If you are a grower, retailer, community organisation or business that would like to get involved, please reach out to [email protected]!...
Thank you to everyone that joined us at the Planetary Health Centre on Saturday for the first of our Skill Share Saturdays program!
The Centre was a hive of activity all day, and we heard from @alchemyfarms_permaculture, the @ediblegardentrailbluemountains team and Andy Mann. Also thanks to Sherlie McMillan from Greater Blue Mountains Rotary for teaching the Fashion Upcycling workshop, and Virginia Field for the Tai Chi and Qigong class.
The next event will be held on Saturday 1st August - you can register your place here: https://events.humanitix.com/skill-share-saturdays-at-the-planetary-health-centre
🖐Get involved!
Do you have a skill, program or interest that promotes planetary health that you`d be willing to share with members of the local community? We are looking for more workshop and session hosts for our future events.
Join us at the Planetary Health Centre in Katoomba on the first Saturday of every month for Skill Share Saturdays!
Our July program includes: - What to grow in a Blue Mountains climate - Eating for Earth - Tai Chi and Qigong - Fashion upcycling and clothing reuse workshop - How to get involved with the Edible Garden Trail
You are also welcome to bring any surplus seeds or produce for our Crop Swap, or wind down in the Planetary Health Cafe (until 2pm).
If you have a skill that you want to share, or any questions or queries, please contact [email protected]
Visit the website to view the full program of events and register your place.
Join Andy Mann, a 23 year old Lawson local, for their Eating for Earth session 🌏
Eating for Earth is a judgement-free plant-based educational workshop that all types of eaters are encouraged to attend. There will be a presentation about the environmental impact of diets, a discussion section, and best of all, food! The food will be fully plant-based.
Andy wants to help inform our passionate community about how we can better reduce dietary environmental impact.
The session will run from 11AM - 12PM on Saturday 4th July.
Other sessions include: - What to grow in a Blue Mountains Climate - Fashion Upcycling - Tai Chi and Qigong - Bushcare on the Planetary Health site - How to get involved with the Edible Garden Trail
To register your place, visit our website: https://events.humanitix.com/skill-share-saturdays-at-the-planetary-health-centre...
We’re excited to announce the second Blue Mountains Food Security Fair, taking place in Katoomba in October 2026.
This annual event will bring together growers, thinkers, makers, and community members to explore one of the most important challenges of our time: how we grow, share, and sustain food in a changing world.
Across the weekend, we’ll be exploring themes including: - Healthy soil and regenerative systems - Food and human health - Plant-based food futures - Home and community food resilience - Water-sensitive and climate-adapted growing - Indigenous food knowledge and systems - School food systems - Australia’s food procurement - Global food security challenges Expect a dynamic program of inspiring speakers, practical workshops, and hands-on experiences designed to leave you informed, empowered, and connected.
Key information Date: Weekend of 10th October 2026 Location: Blue Mountains Planetary Health Centre, Katoomba, NSW We’ll be announcing speakers and program details soon.
We are also inviting expressions of interest from individuals and organisations who would like to contribute to the program, host workshops, run a stall or partner with us.
Do you struggle making the most of your veggie garden all year round?
Join Leni from @alchemyfarms_permaculture on Saturday 4th July for her Permaculture Workshop: Learn how to grow WITH the Upper Blue Mountains seasons, rather than battling against them.
During the two-hour session, you`ll cover crop selection for different seasons, what to grow from seeds vs seedlings, frost and wind protection, and nurturing your soil with a seasonal cycle.
Register for this and other sessions as part of our Skill Share Saturdays program via this link: https://events.humanitix.com/skill-share-saturdays-at-the-planetary-health-centre...
From Saturday 4 July, we are opening up the Planetary Health Centre for our monthly Skill Share Saturdays program: https://events.humanitix.com/skill-share-saturdays-at-the-planetary-health-centre
Throughout each day, you can expect to find a variety of sessions focused on restoring the health of the planet, in terms of the environment, community and economy.
Sessions at the first event include:
- What to grow in a Blue Mountains climate - Plant-based eating - Tai Chi and Qigong - Fashion Upcycling and clothing reuse workshop
You are also welcome to bring any surplus seeds or produce for our Crop Swap, or wind down in the Planetary Health Cafe (until 2pm).
Visit the website to view the full program of events and register your place: https://events.humanitix.com/skill-share-saturdays-at-the-planetary-health-centre
Registrations essential.
We are also inviting expressions of interest from individuals and organisations who would like to contribute to the program - please reach out to [email protected] if you are interested!...
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!
In Katoomba, a grassroots litter-picking group tackles rubbish before it reaches our water supply. Their story shows how local environmental action, fueled by community connection, can drive meaningful change for planetary health.
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