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Plastic Bags Recycling Hotline

Plastic Bags

Plastic Checkout Bags in the The Hills Shire Council area

Keep plastic bags out of your home recycling. Plastic bags can cause big problems when placed in your kerbside recycling bin.

Take plastic checkout bags to participating supermarkets for recycling.

Plastic checkout bags can be taken to participating supermarkets such as Coles, Woolworths, Franklins or Safeway for recycling. They cannot be placed in home recycling bins. Recycling contractors collect the plastic bags in bulk from participating retailers. The bags are then compacted into large heavy blocks ready for further processing and conversion into raw material to make recycled plastic products.

Reusable woven polypropylene bags (the 'green bags'), cotton and string bags can be washed to prolong their life. At the end of their life they can be taken to second hand stores if they are in good condition, or some materials may be useful as cleaning rags. Bags made from cotton, calico, hemp or bamboo fibres can also be composted a the end of their life.

Plastic checkout bag recycling drop-off locations near you include:

Bi-lo - Telopea

Telopea Shopping Centre
Cnr Benaud Place & Evans Road
Telopea NSW 2117

Coles - Carlingford

Carlingford Court Shopping Centre
801-819 Pennant Hills Road
Carlingford NSW 2118

Woolworths - Carlingford

Carlingford Court Pennant Hills Road
Carlingford NSW 2118

Coles - West Pennant Hills

556 Pennant Hills Road
West Pennant Hills NSW 2125

Coles - North Rocks

North Rocks Shopping Centre
318-336 North Rocks Road
North Rocks NSW 2151

Franklins - North Rocks

Westfield Shopping Centre
328-336 North Rocks Road
North Rocks NSW 2151

Coles - Winston Hills

Winston Hills Mall
Cnr Caroline Chisholm Drive & Langdon Road
Winston Hills NSW 2153

Woolworths - Baulkham Hills

Cnr Old Northern & Olive Streets
Baulkham Hills NSW 2153

Woolworths - Norwest

1 Woolworths Way
Bella Vista NSW 2153

Woolworths - Winston Hills

Winston Hills Mall
Caroline Chisholm Drive
Winston Hills NSW 2153

Bi-lo - Castle Hill

Castle Towers
Cnr Pennant & Felton Streets
Castle Hill NSW 2154

Coles - Castle Hill

Castle Towers Shopping Centre
Cnr Old Castle Hill & Northern Road
Castle Hill NSW 2154

Food For Less - Castle Hill

Castle Towers Shopping Centre
Old Northern Road
Castle Hill NSW 2154

Franklins - Castle Hill

Castle Mall Shopping Centre
2-16 Terminus Street
Castle Hill NSW 2154

Coles - Baulkham Hills

Norwest Marketown
Norwest Boulevard
Kellyville NSW 2155

Coles - Kellyville

Wright's Road
Kellyville NSW 2155

Franklins - Rouse Hill

57 Windsor Road
Rouse Hill NSW 2155

Woolworths - Kellyville

48 Wrights Road
Kellyville NSW 2155

Woolworths - Dural

494-500 Old Northern Road
Dural NSW 2158

Franklins - Singleton

Singleton Plaza
John & Gowrie Streets
Singleton NSW 2330

Ritchies - Singleton

159 John Street
Singleton NSW 2330

Woolworths - Singleton

Gowrie Street Mall Gowrie Street
Singleton NSW 2330

Coles - Bega

Cnr Parker & Carp Streets
Bega NSW 2550

Woolworths - Bega

106 Auckland Street
Bega NSW 2550

Coles - Windsor

210-220 George Street
Windsor NSW 2756

Woolworths - Windsor

Windsor Town Shopping
Kable Street
Windsor NSW 2756

Franklins - Riverstone

Riverstone Marketown Shopping Centre
3 Markettown
Riverstone NSW 2765

About plastic checkout bags

  • 20 million Australians still use over 3.9 billion plastic checkout bags a year. That’s 10 million a day!
  • A person's use of a plastic checkout bag can be counted in minutes - however long it takes to get from the shops to their homes. However, plastic bags can take between 15 and 1,000 years to break down in the environment.
  • Many marine and terrestrial animals are killed by plastic bags that escape from landfill. The best solution to this problem is to use reusable bags that prevent you using plastic bags in the first place.

Recycling plastic checkout bags

  • Plastic bags cannot be placed in council recycling bins.
  • Over 200,000 plastic checkout bags are dumped in landfills every hour.
  • Only 3% of Australia's plastic bags are currently being recycled, despite recycling facilities being available at major supermarkets and retail outlets listed above.

For more info:

  • Another way to reduce this problem is to avoid plastic bags in the first place.
  • Use reusable bags for your shopping. Most reusable bags can be washed to prolong their life.
  • Check out Planet Ark's plastic bags reduction website.