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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Environment
Petra Stock

Going to waste: two years after REDcycle’s collapse, Australia’s soft plastics are hitting the environment hard

Despite national targets set for 70% of plastic packaging to be recycled by 2025, only about 6% are being turned into new products, recent findings show.
Despite national targets set for 70% of plastic packaging to be recycled by 2025, only about 6% are being turned into new products, recent findings show. Photograph: Nsw Environment Protection Authority/PR IMAGE

Two years on from REDcycle’s collapse, 94% of Australia’s soft plastics are still headed for landfill. Collection has restarted at supermarkets, and 42 warehouses of plastics have been cleared, but experts say the packaging industry must take responsibility for the mess.

By July, supermarkets had mostly cleared the stockpiles, which by November 2022 reached 11,000 tonnes of soft plastics at 44 sites across the country, hoards accumulated as collections outstripped available recycling capacity and export restrictions increased the amount of plastic waste in Australia.

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