I’m Plastic Free on ABC Radio Darwin about RedCycle pausing Soft Plastic Recycling
On Tuesday November, the 8th we read in the news that RedCycle had paused their soft plastic recycling program until further notice.
Of course we were personally saddened by such news, as with my family we’ve diligently sorted & collected soft plastic for years, mostly food packaging as in regional areas we do not have access to affordable bulk stores.
However, we don;t want to blame REDcycle for this
♻️ 5.4 billion pieces of plastic have been diverted from landfill since the program began in 2011
♻️ 7,000 tonnes of soft plastics were collected ever year
♻️ 5M plastic items collected each day from public drop-off points
♻️ +350% increase in soft plastic supply since 2019
What do these numbers show?
There is an over-supply of material, not enough demand for the recycled products, and maybe not even enough processing capacity (?). The economics behind it simply don’t add up…
At a national level, there isn’t enough emphasis on plastic waste reduction and on product stewarship policies like EPR Extended Producer Responsibility whereby producers are given responsibility for the disposal of the post-consumer product.
If we are aiming for a true circular economy in Australia, we should be more constructive around these topics which all go hand in hand.
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On Wednesday, November the 9th, our founder Simona had the pleasure of chatting with ABC Radio Darwin about the news that the soft plastic recycling program had stopped… she mentioned a tip about what else you can recycle at home! .
Listen to the ABC Radio Darwin LIVE interview.
