Smack bang in the middle of National Recycling Week it became clear that one of the nation’s prominent recycling programs for soft plastic had hit pause, without telling the public. It has revealed a gaping hole in the country’s capacity to deal with soft plastics. 

Consumers diligently sorting and returning their soft plastics to REDcycle bins may have been wasting their time for the last four months. 

With drop off spots include Coles and Woolworths, a Sydney Morning Herald article revealed that while REDcycle has continued to collect the plastics, they have been kept in a storehouse, unable to be recycled. 

Later that day, REDcycle announced they were officially pausing the program, despite pressing pause months ago. 

In a statement, they attributed the pause to a growth in demand without the recycling partners to process the plastic.

“Consumer recycling of soft plastic has grown exponentially in recent years, with a 350 per cent increase in plastic returned since 2019,” REDcycle said. 

REDcycle, despite not being government owned, is so deeply ingrained with Australian food that a lot of soft plastics we buy recommend they be recycled with one of their drop off points.

Seemingly, there are few alternatives for soft plastics to go. 

“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,” they said. 

Environmental Learning Advisor of local organisation NetWaste Bill Tink said that there is a lot of room to grow when it comes to Australia dealing with soft plastics. 

“It’s something we must work hard to keep developing, as soft plastics have traditionally been more associated with the export market. As more investment is directed to soft plastic and more happens in regard to circular economy our recycling streams will become more sophisticated,” Mr Tink said.

“With the shutdown of the Chinese export market there is now an opportunity for Government to drive systematic change towards smarter packaging design and minimisation,” he said. 

While hard plastic has managed to become viable to recycle and even valuable, soft plastics have been a more difficult case. 

“Technologies have progressed but not enough to make soft plastic a truly valued recyclable commodity in Australia,” Mr Tink said. 

“Until there is localised recycling technology paired to emerging local circular economy markets, soft plastics will remain an item we should try and reduce our use of and replace with environmentally friendly alternatives,” he said. 

While sugar cane pulp has been a sustainable alternative to plastic in production - an abundant agricultural bi-product - as well as companies like BioPack, it largely relies on companies to take up those alternatives. 

Mr Tink believes the NSW single use plastic ban that just came into place have a strong impact in that space.