Thousands of tonnes of soft plastics have been discovered in six Melbourne warehouses as Victoria's environment watchdog probes a halted recycling scheme.
The REDcycle soft plastics recycling scheme was paused last month after the company announced it could no longer offload the material it was collecting.
The state's Environment Protection Watchdog (EPA) said 3,000 tonnes of soft plastics were being stored in the warehouses in the city's northern and western suburbs, with much of the plastic believed to have come from interstate.
The warehouses are in Williamstown North, Truganina, Tottenham, West Footscray, Campbellfield and Tullamarine, and another potential storage site in Wodonga's west is still being considered.
EPA chief executive Lee Miezis said the body was working to ensure steps to mitigate fire risk were in place across all the sites.
"Our officers are out inspecting sites today and we'll continue to work hard – using our stronger regulatory powers — until we're certain we've found every site in Victoria," he said.
"We will not allow unacceptable risks to Victoria's community or environment from pollution or waste.
"Although the operators of REDcycle did tell us about some of the sites, intelligence from logistics companies and others is assisting EPA's investigations.
"If you have any of these soft plastic wastes at your warehouse, we need to know.''
The EPA said it believed there could be more sites storing large quantities of soft plastics that were meant to be part of the recycling scheme, both in Victoria and other parts of Australia.
REDcycle said in a statement that it was assisting the EPA with its investigations.
"We have been and will continue to work closely with and fully support the work of the EPA," it said.
"Our top priority is working to find solutions to convert this material into a desirable and needed resource for the greater good."
