THE soft plastic recycling scheme which has been running at major supermarkets has been put on hold.
REDcycle, the company responsible for the soft plastic recycling program running at Coles and Woolworths, has recently suspended its collection. It says that it cannot currently offload the plastic it receives, and has pointed the finger at its “offtake partners”.
REDCycle has two soft plastic offtake partners – Carrum Downs recycler Replas, and Close the Loop. In a statement on its website, REDCycle said that Replas has “experienced significant pandemic-related downturns in market demand as well as other challenges including the delayed commercialisation of new products.”
A fire has affected Close The Loop’s ability to take on plastic.
Replas is a Carrum Downs-based company which recycles mixed plastics into new products. It has operated since 1991, and some of its clients include Frankston Council and Parks Victoria. Replas general manager Paul Hone says that the recycler is “currently utilising the maximum amount of soft plastics we can at this time.”
“Replas is still processing and manufacturing with soft plastics collected through the REDcycle program,” he said. “Replas is committed to assisting RED Group, by taking as much stored soft plastic as is technically feasible for us to process and manufacture with.
“Plastic waste is widely recognised as an environmental issue. Here at Replas, we are focused on finding a home for this waste in the form of recycled plastic products. In order to take on more waste and strengthen the circular economy, we need industry and government to work together to drastically increase demand for recycled plastic products.”
Replas says it does not believe recent developments will affect its production in the near future.
In an address at an annual general meeting last week, Coles Group CEO Steven Cain confirmed that “disappointingly (…) our long-term, soft-plastic recycling partner REDcycle has advised us that they have had to pause the collection of soft plastics from our stores.”
REDCycle estimates that Australians return more than five million pieces of soft plastic for recycling a day. It announced it had stopped its soft plastics collection on 9 November, but says it is “committed to having the program back up and running as soon as possible.”
“For the short term, consumers are encouraged to put their soft plastics in their home rubbish bin. Please do not put it in your home kerbside recycling bin (unless the Curby program is available in your area) as it is not recyclable in that system,” REDCycle said.