Here’s some sobering facts about plastic. Australia produces more single-use plastic waste per capita than any other country except Singapore, according to a Minderoo Foundation report. And our plastic consumption is going up: it increased by 60% from an estimated 92kg per person in 2000 to 148kg per person in 2020-21, according to the Australia Institute. Soft plastics – those that can be scrunched into a ball – are almost always single-use.
On top of that, the latest Plastic Waste Makers Index found that despite massive consumer awareness campaigns and regulations, there is now more single-use plastic in circulation globally than ever – an additional 6 million metric tons (MMT) generated in 2021 compared with 2019 – and it is still almost entirely made from fossil fuel-based “virgin” feedstocks.
The stark reality is that plastic recycling is failing to scale anywhere near fast enough and remains a marginal activity in the plastics sector.
This matters because beyond the damage to the physical environment and wildlife, plastic is also a climate disaster. Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions from single-use plastics in 2021 were equivalent to 450 million tonnes of carbon dioxide – more than the total emissions of the UK.
Why is it so hard to recycle soft plastics?
Bread bags, pasta and rice packets, fruit and vegetable nets and wrappers, cereal box liners, biscuit wrappers, endless plastic bags: soft plastics are ubiquitous and our environment is choking on them.
Since the collapse of REDcycle in 2022, many Australian consumers are wondering where to turn to effectively recycle soft plastics. But the real elephant in the room is how are we to break our plastic addiction once and for all?
According to Clean Up Australia, one of the main reasons REDcycle collapsed in Australia is because these plastics are hard to sort properly and difficult to process without clogging up machinery. That is because there has never been an effective way of recycling post-consumer soft plastic packaging (PCSPP) in Australia at scale.
The problem is that PCSPP is frequently contaminated and often made from different types of plastic that aren’t easily processed. Subsequently, many in the recycling industry view PCSPP as a contaminant and don’t try to recycle it at all.
What are the options post REDcycle?
The good news is there are some Australian companies and organisations working on solutions. In Melbourne, the Soft Plastics Taskforce has rolled out soft plastic recycling bins in Coles, Woolworths and Aldi stores in 12 suburbs – where they will be picked up from each store by a third party which will then bale and transport it to local recycling partners.
One Australian company, Curby, is offering kerbside recycling options to some regional Australian councils (New South Wales Central Coast, Newcastle, Mosman and Tamworth) and developing an end-to-end solution for the collection of soft plastics, including a new processing facility.
According to Curby spokesperson Annika Stott, focusing on reducing and preventing plastic waste at its source remains a crucial component to tackling Australia’s waste crisis. “The REDcycle collapse highlighted the community’s commitment to sorting and collecting soft plastic waste, and so we know that Australia needs robust solutions that truly demonstrate the circular economy in action – and that’s what we’re doing,” she says.
But according to Glenn Walker from Greenpeace Australia Pacific, these measures currently amount to little more than a stopgap.
“While it is good that supermarkets are collaborating to find ways to recycle soft plastic stockpiles dumped in the wake of the REDcycle collapse, this is really just a Band-Aid solution to a much bigger problem,” Walker says. “Industry should be forced to change with mandatory rules. Ideally this would be linked to a global effort through a global plastics treaty.”
Towards a global treaty banning soft plastics
This November, world leaders will meet in Busan, South Korea, for the final round of talks to decide on a global plastics treaty. Glenn Walker says the talks are a once-in-a-generation opportunity to cut plastics use by 75%.
“While there has been a shift in recent years to phase out single-use and soft plastics, this isn’t yet happening fast enough,” Walker says. A big part of the problem in Australia is that we have voluntary national targets for reducing single-use plastic production, rather than strong mandatory regulations governing the phase-out.
“It is in the interests of all Australians that the federal government shows strong leadership by pushing for a robust global plastic treaty that dramatically curbs plastic production and pollution, and protects our environment and health,” Walker says.
The question is, will Australia get on board?
