Bottle caps, empty medicine blister packs, and beauty products and packaging are not super easy to recycle and often end up as waste.

They may not be accepted in our recycling bins at home, but they can be recycled through other initiatives, such as TerraCycle.

A shop in West Kempsey has jumped on board to collect plastic items on behalf of the community to make sure they stay out of landfill.

Collection point: Finding Grace Wellness and Sustainability

Resident Grace Gorman collects these hard-to-recycle items at her store Finding Grace Wellness and Sustainability on Elbow St in West Kempsey.

The plastic would-be-waste is then sent off to TerraCycle where they are turned into long-lasting and useful items, such as:

• Outdoor furniture and decking

• Plastic shipping pallets

• Watering cans and storage containers

• Flooring tiles, playground covers, and more.

Ms Gorman has been collecting bottle caps, blister packs and beauty products for close to six months and has already sent of kilograms worth to be re-used.

“I’ve sent off almost 13kg in bottle caps,” she said. “And a full box of blister packs.”

While it is an extra expense, the owner says she participates in the initiative to better support sustainability in the Kempsey Shire.

“I do it to give people that option to be more sustainable and be able to recycle those items.”

From single use to a second life

Ms Gorman believes the items really are being turned into useful materials, which is making a difference one small step at a time.

“You can quickly get really disheartened around recycling and how you’re not 100 per cent sure it actually goes anywhere or gets turned into something else,” Ms Gorman said.

“I’m confident that TerracCycle, what they’re doing is making an impact, even though it is probably a small impact in the scheme of things, but it’s something, which is all we can do until someone comes along or the government comes along and really mandates it and gets on top of our plastic issue.”

Drop your plastic bottle caps, blister packs and beauty product packaging to the store at 28 Elbow Street, West Kempsey.

Finding Grace Wellness and Sustainability is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturdays 9am to 1pm.