Lawson pharmacist Rosemary Purtill used to take the X-rays from her husband's old dental practice to a collection point in St Marys to avoid them going into landfill. That's because X-ray films cannot be accepted in the recycling bin.
She said there may have been hundreds of films in total and it took a couple of trips to clear their stash.
"They can be recycled, we can get the silver out," she said of the process. "I had so many [X-rays]. My friends were just throwing them in the bin. We had them in storage, because you need to keep them for about 10 years."
But X-rays are now able to be recycled at Katoomba and Blaxland tips after newly elected Ward 1 Greens Cr Sarah Redshaw raised Ms Purtill's concerns to council.
"I'm very impressed. There would be a lot of surgeries who can benefit from this," Ms Purtill said.
Cr Redshaw said X-ray films contain halides (a form of silver) which when recycled can be extracted, and converted into pure silver.
"The more we can make further use of materials and avoid putting them into landfill the better," she said.
The issue was raised at the March 29 council meeting.
In her request, Cr Redshaw asked council to look at the environmental challenges that come from X-ray disposal and for options for partnerships that look at safe and efficient X-ray disposal.
She also asked that the council receives a briefing on best avenues to pursue.
Mayor Mark Greenhill said, "Sarah has been an inspiration on X-ray recycling" and added that, thanks to her advocacy, more can happen.
"There may be more we can do," he said. The idea passed unanimously.
Cr Redshaw said Blue Mountains X-rays would be sent to Ecocycle NSW in St Marys.
"They use electrolysis to extract the silver and then put the remaining plastic into a commodity plastic recycling stream where it can be made into shampoo bottles."
She said it was "hard to tell" how many councils have started collecting X-rays for recycling, but "certainly Newcastle and Inner West in Sydney" were doing so.
HOW IT WORKS:
- Ecocycle said films are placed in a chemical bath that dissolves the silver-containing imaging layer. When an electric current is passed through the solution pure metallic silver is deposited on one of the electrodes. The backing film that gives X-rays their strength is made from a plastic similar to the type used in soft drink bottles. It goes into a commodity plastic recycling stream and could end up in products from shampoo bottles to fleece clothing.
- See the video at www.bluemountainsgazette.com.au.
