Key points
- Sustainability advocates say REDcycle pausing operations should be a warning to reduce reliance on soft plastics.
- Only a small proportion soft plastics used in Australia were recycled through the scheme.
- The founder of Plastic Free July says use and regulation of plastic production is required.
The woman behind a global movement asking people to go plastic free for a month is among those who say the pause of REDcycle’s program has the potential to have a positive impact.
amid concerns items were not being recycled.
REDcycle said the public would no longer be able to drop soft plastics in collection bins at Coles or Woolworths supermarkets.
The processing facilities it used had temporarily stopped processing soft plastics while at the same time the organisation was dealing with a huge increase in the volume of plastic it was receiving.
Sustainability advocates say this should be a wake-up call for more meaningful action to address plastic waste in Australia.
REDcycle gave supermarkets a 'free pass', it is claimed
Waste educator Lindsay Miles told SBS News REDcycle had been a “free pass” for the supermarkets that acted as collection points for the recycler.
Sustainability advocates say consumers need to be given better options when it comes to packaging. Source: Getty / Jacobs Stock Photography Ltd
In reality, REDcycle put the onus on customers and recycled a small portion of the country's plastic waste.
REDcycle said it had recycled 5.4 million pieces of soft plastic since starting in 2011. Australians use about 70 billion pieces of soft plastic each year.
“Rather than look at their packaging, and their systems, and try to reduce their plastic use or change the way they do things, they shift the burden to us and make it our problem to deal with,” Ms Miles said.
The Waste Hierarchy shows the different waste management options sorted by which is best for the planet.
Ms Miles said it needed to be easier for people to reduce their reliance on soft plastics.
“Not everyone has access to bulk stores and re-use systems and options to avoid plastic - that needs to change," she said.
“As a society, we’re not buying single-use plastic because we love it, we’re buying it because everything comes smothered in it,” she wrote in a blog post.
Call made to regulate plastic production
Plastic Free July founder Rebecca Prince-Ruiz said it was cheaper for companies to create new plastic and there was a lack of regulation to stop them.
Founder of Plastic Free July and executive director of the Plastic Free Foundation, Rebecca Prince-Ruiz. Source: Supplied / Tashi Hall
“We need to have legislation which requires brand owners to use recycled content and for industry to be responsible for the packaging across the lifetime of that item, just like we do in container deposit schemes.”
Ms Prince-Ruiz said REDcycle’s pause created an opportunity for supermarkets to put pressure on brands.
“Switching to reuse and refill schemes for households and offering consumers products packaged in paper and other easy-to-recycle materials will go a long way to reducing plastic waste,” she said.
“Selling cleaning products as concentrates where water is added in the home is another good way to reduce the overall amount of packaging,” she said.
What is the future of soft plastics?
REDcycle has said it is committed to having the program back up and running and Ms Prince-Ruiz said it is a worthwhile scheme, but not on its own.
“REDcycle is a great scheme but it needs to be supported by business and shouldn't be voluntary," she said.
Woolworths and Coles have said they are working with industry partners to support the future of soft plastic recycling.
Australia's national packaging targets, supported by government and industry, aim to see 70 per cent of plastic packaging be recycled or composted by 2025.
In that same period, the goal is to have 100 per cent of packaging be reusable, recyclable or compostable and packaging to be made up of an average of 50 per cent recycled content.
