Supermarkets have bowed out but Bendigo’s soft plastic recycling is back

Thousands of tonnes of soft plastics will be saved from landfill after supermarkets stopped collecting for REDCycle. Now another organisation has stepped in to fill the gap.

The City of Greater Bendigo Council will step in where supermarkets have left off by collecting and recycling soft plastics, starting January 1.

The pause in the REDcycle scheme nationally saw thousands of tonnes of bread bags, chip packets and biscuit trays diverted to landfill, as consumers have no alternative except to bin the items.

While the supermarkets are scrambling to give their customers an alternative and have received the competition watchdog’s blessing to work together, Bendigo will get four drop-off points next month.

The Strathfieldsaye, Goornong and Heathcote Transfer Stations and Eaglehawk Recycle Shop at the front of the landfill will take the items.

Recycling manager Brooke Pearce said residents could be sure the old packaging would not sit in a warehouse because the council had struck a deal to collect the reprocessed plastics.

“All soft plastics collected at the new drop-off points will be collected by sustainable solutions partner Close the Loop,” she said.

“The City is also committed to buying the recycled product back for use in its regional road projects.”

Close the Loop will turn the soft plastics into an asphalt additive called TonerPlas, designed for use in road building.

“It is a high-performance asphalt additive that helps roads last longer and require less maintenance than traditional asphalt,” Ms Pearce said.

“It is designed to melt into, extend and modify the bituminous binder in asphalt and improving the mechanical properties of the product, leading to improved durability and lower carbon footprint over the lifecycle of the road.”

The collection points will accept the same soft plastics that were accepted under the REDcycle scheme.

“The easy way to tell if plastic is soft or hard is the scrunch test. If it scrunches into a ball it’s soft, if it holds its shape it’s hard,” Ms Pearce said.

“In Australia alone, more than 300,000 tonnes of soft plastic is dumped into landfills every year. Not only is this bad for the environment, it is a massive waste of valuable resources that can be reused and repurposed.”

The council is eager to increase recycling in order to prolong the life of its major Eaglehawk landfill which is expected to reach capacity next year.