Soft plastic - best option is to avoid soft plastics.
In recent years there has been an exponential increase in the use of soft plastics, many of which are single use and made of mixed materials. This makes them very hard to recycle and together this has contributed to the collapse of REDcycle's soft plastics collection from supermarkets and has left many residents wondering what to do with their soft plastics.
The collapse has been compounded with a fire shutting down the largest recycling facility and recyclers in general finding it difficult to find markets for their products.
The essential steps to successful recycling involve:
- A collection program
- Processing the soft plastics into new products at a recycling facility
- Finding sustainable markets for the products
There are limited markets for recycled soft plastics in Australia and any further interim collection model will only be adopted by Council if there are proven sustainable markets for the plastic collected.
Soft plastic collections
A Soft Plastic Task Force comprising Australian supermarkets ALDI, Coles and Woolworths are working towards reducing unnecessary plastics in their stores and reintroducing soft plastics collections in their supermarkets. They have assumed control of the stockpiles created by REDcycle and will try and save as much of these stockpiles from landfill as possible.
They recently launched a soft plastics recycling trial across 12 Melbourne supermarkets as work continues to rebuild a national soft plastic recycling system. The Task Force states “The biggest challenge still remains – there are simply not enough soft plastic recyclers up and running to allow us to expand collections to supermarkets across the country just yet.”
In 2023, Council held 6 soft plastics collection events to help residents clear their stockpiles of soft plastics after the REDcycle collapse. Council found the same result as the task force, being that there are not enough recycling solutions for soft plastics in Australia. The plastics collected during the events were sent to Albury for recycling in a limited arrangement.
In September the NSW Government launched their paper NSW Plastics: The Way Forward which sets out proposed actions to tackle unnecessary and problematic plastics and the timeframes for implementation.
At the Same time the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water’s Reform of Packaging Regulation consultation paper was released for consultation with industry.
Council provided a formal submission on both papers.
'Soft Plastics Taskforce, Roadmap to Restart' (March 2023).
Coles/Woolworths/ALDI Taskforce trial plastics collection scheme - Inside Waste (February 2024).
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