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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Environment
Adam Morton Climate and environment editor

Tanya Plibersek urged to intervene to stop stockpiled soft plastics from being dumped

An EPA inspector at one of the NSW warehouses where soft plastics have been stockpiled by a privately-run scheme that promised they'd be recycled.
An EPA inspector at one of the NSW warehouses where soft plastics have been stockpiled by a privately-run scheme that promised they would be recycled. Photograph: Nsw Environment Protection Authority/PR IMAGE

Environment groups are urging federal and state governments to ensure thousands of tonnes of soft plastic that could end up in landfill are safely warehoused by supermarket chains until recycling facilities become available, even if that takes years.

The Boomerang Alliance – a coalition of 55 conservation groups – has accused the packaging industry of using a failed scheme run by REDcycle, which led to more than 12,000 tonnes of plastic collected by the public being stockpiled since 2018, as a marketing ploy to mask how little was being done to improve recycling rates.

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