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Plastic Bags Recycling Hotline

Plastic Bags

Plastic Checkout Bags in the Ipswich City 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:

Coles - Springfield

Cnr Sapphire Street & Springfield Parkway
Camira QLD 4300

Woolworths - Goodna

St Ives Shopping Centre
2 Smith Road
Goodna QLD 4300

Bi-lo - Redbank Plains

339 Redbank Plains Road
Redbank Plains QLD 4301

Coles - Redbank

Redbank Plaza Shopping Centre
Cnr Collingwood Drive & Law Streets
Redbank QLD 4301

Woolworths - Redbank Plains

Cnr Redbank Plains & Keidges Roads
Redbank Plains QLD 4301

Woolworths - Booval

Cnr Brisbane Street & Station Road
Booval QLD 4304

Coles - Ipswich

Cnr Brisbane & Gordon Streets
Ipswich QLD 4305

Woolworths - Brassall

Hunter Street
Brassall QLD 4305

Woolworths - Ipswich

Ipswich City Square
Nicholas Street
Ipswich QLD 4305

Woolworths - Yamanto

Cnr Warwick Road & Cunningham Highway
Yamanto QLD 4305

Woolworths - Karalee

Cnr Junction Road & Langlands Street
Karalee QLD 4306

Coles - Toowoomba

Cnr Margaret & Clifford Streets
Toowoomba QLD 4350

Coles - Toowoomba Plaza

Toowoomba Plaza Shopping Centre
Cnr Ruthven & Stenner Streets
Toowomba QLD 4350

Woolworths - Clifford Gardens (toowoomba)

Cnr Anzac Avenue & James Street
Toowoomba QLD 4350

Woolworths - Range (toowoomba)

Cnr James & Burke Streets
Toowoomba QLD 4350

Woolworths - Wilsonton (toowoomba)

Cnr Warrego Highway & Hooper Street
Toowoomba QLD 4350

Coles - Mt Sheridan

Bruce Highway
White Rock QLD 4868

Coles - Port Douglas

Port Village Shopping Centre
11-17 Macrossan Street
Port Douglas QLD 4871

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.