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.
It has urged the federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, to regulate to stop the stockpiled waste being dumped, arguing it was possible to do it while reducing fire risk. In letters sent last week, the coalition called on Plibersek and state ministers to also use the crisis to back a tougher national plan to properly deal with Australia’s languishing recycling rates by 2025.
The Nine newspapers revealed that plastic collected and dropped by supermarket customers had been secretly stored for at least four years while the company contracted to run the scheme, REDcycle, claimed it was being distributed for reuse and recycling.
The NSW Environment Protection Authority this month issued clean-up orders to Coles and Woolworths for 15 warehouses and storage depots after finding plastic “from the floor to the ceiling, blocking entry ways and preventing adequate ventilation”. Tony Chappel, the EPA’s chief executive, said it was a fire hazard and the plastic may “unfortunately end up in landfill”.
The Victorian EPA has said it was aware of 14 warehouses in suburban Melbourne where plastic was being stockpiled and had taken action to ensure the immediate fire risk was controlled and laws were complied with.
Boomerang Alliance’s director, Jeff Angel, said Plibersek and the NSW environment minister, James Griffin, should intervene to ensure supermarkets were required to maintain safe storage facilities, including installing fire warning and suppression systems and employing around-the-clock security guards.
“There are ways of doing it, but the issue is at the moment no one is required to,” Angel said. “In 2025, when we’re supposed to meet national packaging targets, all the stuff that’s stockpiled should then be used to plug into new plants.”
Plibersek said the federal government would not directly intervene. She said the government had been supporting the supermarkets to resolve the problems, but safety must be the first priority.
“I support any action state and territory governments need to take to get this sorted out. They have the regulatory powers to do this, and EPAs need to be able to do their jobs without political interference,” she said.
A spokesperson for Griffin said the NSW EPA had an obligation to protect human health and the environment and would continue to engage on options for dealing with the stockpiles, “which include reprocessing, export or landfill”.
Ambitious solution needed
The Boomerang Alliance said Australia used about 449,000 tonnes of soft plastic each year, about a third of which came from households. It said REDcycle was collecting a “very small amount” – less than 1% of the problem – and a more ambitious solution was needed.
Angel said Plibersek should strengthen product stewardship laws to ensure the use of plastic packaging started to fall and voluntary recycling targets set for 2025 – including 70% of plastics being recycled or composted and packaging having 20% recycled content – were met.
He said that would require kerbside collection for soft plastic, a step proposed by the Victorian government, as well as new sorting facilities and making the targets mandatory.
“We have no confidence that the current taskforce comprised of the big supermarkets can move substantially at a sufficient pace to avoid many millions more tonnes of soft plastics being landfilled or littered,” Angel said.
“We commend the federal environment minister for threatening to regulate, but frankly the packaging sector ran out of time years ago and the REDcycle catastrophe was the nail in the coffin of more voluntary efforts.’’
Federal and state environment ministers last year pledged to reform the regulation of packaging by 2025 and the Albanese government in November joined a global “high ambition” coalition to end plastic pollution by 2040. Plibersek has announced $250m in funding for recycling infrastructure.
Coles said it had contributed $12.5m over a decade to recycling soft plastic, and was working to help find solutions to the immediate and long-term problem. They included “exploring initiatives like a product stewardship scheme”.
Woolworths said the suspension of the REDcycle program showed a new model that could collect and recycle more plastic waste was needed. “The supermarkets in the soft plastic taskforce are currently working together on a short-term solution to restore household access to soft plastic recycling,” a spokesperson said.
