How to Recycle Soft Plastics
In late 2025 Circular Plastics Illawarra volunteers supported Council drop-off events for soft plastics in Albion Park, Towradgi and Kiama. The events were organised by the Illawarra Shoalhaven Joint Organisation (ISJO).
We surveyed many of the people who dropped off their soft plastics to one of the events to gather community feedback, and by end of December we’d received 164 responses. A report on the survey can be downloaded here.
Understanding how to recycle
One of the survey questions was ‘Were there any soft plastics you were unsure could be recycled?’. While most people were reasonably confident that they knew how to recycle, many problematic items were mentioned.
We chased up some answers for you to help with future collections:
Chip packets and other ‘silver lined’ packaging – YES
Zip lock bags – YES. If it has a hard plastic zipper, please cut this off.
Net fruit bags – YES. If it has a small metal closure, please cut this off.
Plastic with paper labels – YES. Ideally remove paper labels before recycling but if you don’t, they will be removed during the recycling process.
Frozen fruit & vegetable bags - YES
Dog food bulk bags – YES
Potting mix bags – YES. Make sure you’ve emptied all the contents. They don’t need to be perfectly clean but need to have minimal residue.
Bubble wrap / postal bags with bubble wrap inside – YES
Bags with non-plastic handles – YES but remove the handles before recycling.
Biscuit containers/trays – NO. These are classified as rigid containers and should be put into your yellow kerbside recycling bin.
Pliable soft foam – NO. This material is not recyclable at present.
Cellophane – NO. This traditional packaging material is made from cellulose (from plants) and is not recyclable with other soft plastics.
Blister packs – NO. You can recycle these at many pharmacies (check the Pharmacycle website for details)
The most important message is to ensure that your soft plastics are empty, clean and dry.