Soft plastics – what has happened and where are we up to now?

• Australia goes through 70 billion pieces of soft plastics each year = 3000 pieces per person!
• Oversupply of post-consumer plastics outweighing processing capacity and market demand led to REDCycle’s collapse in Nov 2022
• Following REDCycle’s collapse, the Soft Plastics Taskforce was established with Coles, Woolworths and Aldi
• Interim return-to-store collection program is planned to be re-introduced from late 2023
• Goal is for an industry-led National Plastics Recycling Scheme (NPRS) slated to be the future of soft plastic packaging recycling in Australia.
• This will include a kerbside collection model (Curby). Purpose built bags filled with soft-plastics will be extracted, sorted, cleaned and shredded and sent to APR.
• WASTX P1000 breaks plastics down through pyrolysis into crude oil. “Plasticrude” oil is then ready to be made back into clean, food-grade plastic packaging.
• The National Plastics Plan sets a target of 70 per cent of plastic packaging to go on to be recycled or composted by 2025
• At least 50 per cent of recycled content to be used within packaging.
• Only 13 per cent of plastic used in Australia is recycled and 84 per cent ends up in landfill, according to the National Waste Report 2020.
• We need to focus on producer responsibility, supporting reuse and refill options, rather than recycling being the solution.
• Legislation is essential to drive the necessary changes that will encourage investment in recycling facilities and promote the integration of recycled content in packaging within the plastic industry.

Learn more about the National Plastics Recycling Scheme >>