Left: Flannerys Pharmacy and Life Pharmacy owner, Jack Eastment, recycles some blister packs with Forbes Shire Council Waste and Environment Officer Olivia Robinson. Right: Forbes local David Kennedy recycles some old clothes at the new textile recycling bin at the Forbes Recycling and Waste Depot.
Unwanted textiles will be saved from landfill thanks to a recycling initiative Forbes Shire Council has started. Forbes Shire Council has partnered with Reuse Repurpose Recycle Australia in a 12-month trial to provide recycling bins for textiles at the Forbes Recycling and Waste Depot.
While residents are still encouraged to donate textiles to local op shops, the new bins at the waste depot/landfill will mean items not suitable for an op shop, such as damaged clothes can be recycled.
RRR Australia runs a program that keeps textiles out of landfill and will collect items placed in the textile recycling bins and reuse, recycle or repurpose them.
Good quality items are donated to charities, op shops and shelters to be reused, while items that cannot be reused are recycled and made into items such as blankets, throws, caravan and outdoor mats.
Poor quality items are repurposed and donated to the RSPCA, arts and crafts stores for off-cut material to be used, while damaged items are made into industrial rags.
All clothing, shoes and boots, blankets, towels, backpacks, handbags and material offcuts can be placed in the textile recycling bins. Items that cannot be recycled include sheets, pillowcases, doonas, pillows and cushions, wet or soiled items and industrially stained items.
The average Australian disposes of 23kg of textiles per year to landfill, Forbes Shire Council Mayor, Phyllis Miller OAM, said “Forbes Shire Council is committed to sustainability and this program will help preserve our landfills and ensure textiles stay in the circular economy”.
Textiles can be recycled at the Forbes Recycling and Waste Depot during its trading hours, 8:30am – 5pm seven days.
More medicinal blister packs will be kept out of landfill thanks to a recycling initiative between Forbes Shire Council, Flannery’s Pharmacy and Life Pharmacy.
Forbes Shire Council has partnered with both pharmacies to have Pharmacycle recycling bins at both locations, and residents are being asked to keep their blister packs and recycle them in these bins instead of placing them in their normal rubbish bins.
Blister packs are the packaging most medicinal tablets and capsules come in and cannot be recycled in the yellow lid bin due to the aluminum and plastic in them being bound together. This means many end up wasting landfill space.
Pharmacycle separates these two materials and recycles them to make a range of products such as fences, building and construction materials. Since Pharmacycle began in 2022 it has saved 8 million blister packs from landfill.
Forbes Shire Council Mayor, Phyllis Miller OAM, said “This initiative is another great step Forbes Shire Council is taking to reduce waste in our landfills and I encourage everyone to place their blister packs in the blue bins provided at both pharmacies,” she said.
“Forbes Shire Council is committed to sustainability and I’d like to thank Flannery’s Pharmacy and Life Pharmacy for partnering with us.”
The Pharmacycle bins can be used during the opening hours of both pharmacies.