Right Waste, Right Place

We’ve got to hand it to you, Penrith! You never waste a chance to be great with waste! 

 

There are many items that can’t go in your household waste bins such as electronic waste, chemical waste, sharps (syringes, needles, epi-pens and lancets) because they cause harm to the environment, front-line workers can be injured, and some items can be recycled and used again. There are other items that can be recycled when sent to appropriate recycling facilities such as clothing (textiles) and soft plastics. 

Electronic Waste

Electronic waste (e-waste) is growing at three times the rate than other waste, which is why it’s great that you are sending it to the right place such as Penrith's Community Recycling Centre (CRC) and Council’s e-waste drop-off events, and not in your household bins or bulky waste collections.

Council’s next E-waste Drop-off event will be held in March 2026. The date and location will be confirmed closer to the event.

You can take mobile phones and accessories, as well, to the collection stations at Penrith City Library’s branches for free.

For more information please visit penrith.city/ewaste

Chemical Waste

Chemical Waste is the unwanted, out-of-date or disused household chemicals that you might keep in your kitchen, bathroom, laundry, garage or garden shed. 

By taking your chemical waste to the right place, such as a Chemical CleanOut event, you are helping to prevent contamination and protecting our waste collectors from injury by doing the right thing and never putting it in your household bins or bulky waste collections.

Council is planning to hold a Chemical CleanOut event during the second half of the year, an exact date will be confirmed closer to the time.

For a list of upcoming Chemical CleanOut events in neighbouring Council areas visit cleanout.com.au

The Penrith Community Recycling Centre accepts household quantities (20L or 20kg) of light globes, batteries, gas bottles, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, motor oil and up to 100L of paint (in max 20L containers), which can be dropped off for free.

For more information on acceptable items, please visit penrith.city/chemicalwaste

Batteries

Household batteries are a big problem in our waste stream. Hazardous items such as batteries should never be disposed of in household bins, public place bins or bulky waste collections and can only be recycled through designated collection points. When disposed of correctly, around 95% of alkaline and lithium battery components can be recycled in Australia.

When a battery has reached its end of life, terminals should be taped with clear sticky tape, duct tape or electrical tape, as even stored batteries can pose a risk if terminals are exposed.

Once taped, batteries can be dropped off for free to the collection stations at Penrith City Library’s Branches or Penrith Community Recycling Centre.

Alternatively, click here to search for other collection points near you.

Sharps

Never waste a chance to be safe with sharps and take them to free drop-off locations around Penrith. You are doing the right thing by never putting them in your household bins, public place bins or bulky waste collections.

What are sharps?

Needles, syringes and injectable pens are often used at home for medical conditions such as diabetes, infertility and blood clotting. Sharps may also be used for tattooing, acupuncture and cosmetic procedures. In other words, anything sharp that could hurt you or others.

How can I dispose of sharps safely?

Purpose made sharps containers are available from most pharmacies and are the best way to dispose of any sharps. Alternatively, you can use any puncture-resistant rigid plastic containers such as an ordinary empty laundry liquid detergent bottle.

These can be taken to community sharps bins for free.

 

Where can I dispose of sharps safely?

Generally, any of the following locations are a community sharps disposal service:

• All public hospitals in NSW
• Pharmacies and chemists who have a sharps collection service (please call before attending to confirm location and opening hours and whether they accept sharps)
• Community health centres

To find out more, visit https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/hepatitis/Pages/nsp-outlets.aspx

You can drop-off your sharps containers for free at any of the below locations:

Why is it important?

It is important to dispose of sharps correctly to prevent injuries from sharps and keep everyone safe including you, our community and the workers at our FOGO, recycling and residual waste processing facilities.

Thanks Penrith, for never wasting a chance to be safe with sharps.

 

Soft Plastics

Soft plastics are common household packaging items like chip packets, bread bags, plastic bags, and cling wrap. The best way to check if an item is a soft plastics is to do the “scrunch test”. Scrunch the plastic in your hand, if it doesn’t immediately ‘spring’ back to it’s original shape, it’s most likely a soft plastic.

Why do I need to keep them separate?

It’s important to keep soft plastics out of your yellow-lidded recycling bin as it can’t be recycled in the same facility as other ‘hard’ plastics and is considered ‘contamination’ when placed in this bin. By keeping soft plastics OUT of your yellow-lidded bin and sorting your recycling correctly, you’re helping to make sure your items can be made into new products that can be used again and again.

If they can’t go in the yellow-lidded bin, where should they go?

If you are a resident of the Penrith LGA, the best way to dispose of your soft plastics is to book a RecycleSmart PowerPickup.

Penrith Council have partnered with RecycleSmart to offer free* “from your door”, contactless collections for household problem waste items such as soft plastics to make sure these are sent to the right place.

Read more about this service under the heading “RecycleSmart Power Pickups”, below.

Soft plastics collected through RecycleSmart are recycled in Australia by APR Plastics. The soft plastics collected are recycled back into food-grade plastics to be used again.

To book a Power Pickup, visit recyclesmart.com or download the RecycleSmart App from the Google Play or App Store.

Textiles

Clothing and linen items, such as bedsheets and towels, are becoming a growing area of concern in household waste generation. It is estimated that over the last year (2020-21), 240,000 tonnes of textiles were sent to landfill in NSW compared to only 800 tonnes being recycled.

When landfilled, textiles have significant negative environmental impacts, including micro-plastic shedding into the land and methane emission into the atmosphere from breakdown of organic fibres.

What can I do to keep my textiles out of landfill?

Avoid

The best option is to avoid purchasing fast-fashion trends and textiles in the first instance. Instead opt for items that you are going to love long-term. When possible, purchase high quality textiles designed to last to help reduce textile waste at its source. 

Reuse

Choose to donate responsibly. This could be as simple as gifting items to friends and family or giving items in good condition to local charities. 

Recycle

Like most household problem waste, most textiles can be recycled if kept separate from other items and sent to the correct facility. Council have partnered with RecycleSmart to offer free* “from your door”, contactless collections for household problem waste items like textiles to make sure these are sent to the right place for valuable resources to be recovered and reused. Read more about this service under the heading “RecycleSmart Power Pickups”, below.

Power Pickups, can be booked via the Recycle Smart App (available from the App or Google Play Store) or from the RecycleSmart website. 

RecycleSmart Power Pickups

There are emerging opportunities to recycle everyday items that simply cannot be collected in your yellow-lidded recycling bin. RecycleSmart Power Pickups service this gap by taking the 'problem' out of problem waste items.

Power Pickups are from free* your door collections for problem waste items such e-waste, textiles and soft plastics. Once collected, RecycleSmart takes your items to specialty recycling drop-off points throughout the LGA. These specialty recyclers are then responding for recovering components from your problem waste to be recycled into new products.

*This is a free service for Penrith households who register for recurring collections. Signing up for a monthly collection entitles you to 2 bags of “tricky to recycle waste” collected from your doorstep each month for free. Additional or one-off collections can be booked as needed for an additional fee.