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Plastics

Find out more about plastics

Container recycling

Great work Canterbury-Bankstown, you recycled over 8 million plastic bottles and other containers last year. That’s a lot of plastic bottles that will be made into new plastic containers and not sent to landfill.

What happens to them next?

After your yellow recycling bin is collected the truck is emptied at the VISY Smithfield recycling facility for further sorting and processing. Optical sorters use artificial intelligence, cameras and robotics to sort different types of plastics before they are washed and cut down into plastic flakes.

These flakes are then melted down into nurdles, which are the pre-production form of plastic about the size of a pea.

Then they are either made into new clear plastic bottles onsite or the nurdles are shipped overseas for further processing, giving new life to your old plastic bottles.

By recycling correctly at home, you contribute to keeping valuable resources out of landfill and contribute to a circular economy. 

Soft plastics are a type of plastic which are flexible and can be easily scrunched up in a ball. They are used to make many everyday items, such as plastic bags, cling wrap, pasta and chip packets. Some other common soft plastics include:  
 
  • Bread bags
  • Zip lock bags
  • Frozen fruit and vegetable bags
  • Chocolate and lolly wrappers
  • Biscuit packets 
  • Bin liners
  • Cereal bags
  • Produce bags 
  • Bubble wrap
  • Ice block wrappers
  • Mail satchels
     
These types of plastics cannot be put in your yellow kerbside bin. 
All soft plastics and plastic bags belong in the red bin. Despite our best intentions, we all get plastic recycling wrong sometimes. But if enough of the wrong plastic is found in the yellow bin, the whole lot can end up in landfill.
 
We don't accept soft plastics for recycling through any of our services or events.  Unfortunately, due to processing issues, you cannot drop off soft plastics at major supermarkets through REDCycle. 
Soft plastics are usually wrappers and packaging such as bread bags, pasta packets and chip packets.
 
You can usually tell if an item is made by soft plastic by using the scrunch test. If you can easily scrunch it into a ball, it’s probably a soft plastic and needs to go in the red bin.

When plastic bags and other soft plastics are found in the recycling bin they can cause major problems. Plastic bags can become tangled in sorting machinery, which can cause breakdowns and even fires. They mean other materials cannot be recycled. For these reasons, if too many plastics are put in the yellow bin, the whole lot can go to landfill. 

  • Don’t put your recycling in plastic bags that then go in the yellow lid bin. Instead, use a container and drop your recycling loosely into the yellow lid bin.
  • To help the environment further, you can say no to plastic bags altogether. Did you know lightweight plastic bags are banned in NSW? Use a box or reusable bag to hold your groceries instead.
  • Try to reuse soft plastics before putting them in the red lid bin. Give ziplock sandwich bags a quick rinse and re-use them again for snacks. Larger bread bags can be reused as liners for small rubbish bins, such as your bathroom bin.
  • Avoid buying products packaged in plastic wrapping. Shop at local markets or choose packaging that can be recycled easily.