Soft plastic is hard to escape but the guilt of using it for many Australians has been assuaged by bringing their haul to recycling collection points at major supermarkets.
The news Australia’s largest plastic bag recycling program, REDcycle, has paused its collection program comes as a blow to Australians trying to do the right thing by the environment.
What’s happened?
REDcycle announced late on Tuesday that it was pausing collections at Woolworths and Coles. The suspension came after the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age reported on Tuesday that soft plastic items were being stockpiled by REDcycle under the scheme rather than recycled.
Peak industry bodies such as the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia, and the Australian Food and Grocery Council, as well as not-for-profit operations such as the Boomerang Alliance, say the incident has exposed deeper problems within the packaging industry.
These organisations have called for a major change from supply chains and government to create a longer-term, larger-scale program to recycle soft plastics.
What should I do with my soft plastics now?
Some soft plastics may be able to be reused by people at home in ways that are familiar to many – reusing plastic bags for bin liners, dog poo collection or storage.
Biodegradable plastic is also an option for some products.
But many soft plastics are difficult to reuse.
REDcycle has said that “for the short term, consumers are encouraged to put their soft plastics in their home rubbish bin”.
The organisation warned consumers not to put their soft plastics in their kerbside recycling bin, unless they are within one of the two local government areas in New South Wales where the Curby program is available.
The Curby program available in the Central Coast and Newcastle council areas enables soft plastics to be recycled in the existing yellow bin within special bags and tags.
The Australian Food and Grocery Council said they have been working with manufacturers to develop a national scheme for soft plastics recycling through kerbside collection of the material, with trials starting in a select few local government areas this week.
Outside of those areas, the alternative to recycling soft plastics are limited.
Jeff Angel, the director of the Boomerang Alliance, encouraged citizen action: demanding that the supermarkets put pressure on the supply chain to fix the problem.
“Supermarkets are very sensitive to consumer pressure,” Angel said.
“It’s usually not the responsibility of the consumer because they didn’t make the decision to put food products in plastic but consumers can certainly put pressure on the producers to find alternative materials to plastic.”
How can we reduce our use of soft plastics in the first place?
Ryan Collins, the head of circular economy programs at Planet Ark, said there currently isn’t an alternative to recycling soft plastics besides reducing the amount of plastic you use.
Collins said using reusable produce bags (which you can find at Harris Farm or buy online) and as well as taking shopping bags to the supermarket would help consumers not generate extra soft plastic waste.
Both Angel and Collins recommended bulk-buying where possible, as multiple smaller packets creates more plastic.
“Buying bigger packages means that you’re actually reducing the amount of plastic or packaging that you’re that you’re using per kilogram of the actual product,” Collins said.
Shopping in places where you are able to bring your own containers or reusable bags, such as whole food stores or markets, will also help reduce soft plastics he said.
Angel said that people should avoid shrink wrap using tupperware instead.
Collins says the discussions taking place around a long-term solution to soft plastics coincide with National Recycling Week and need to come as part of wider discussions of plans to recycle all waste, as plastic only makes up 3% of waste.
