Image Credit: Woolworths
Bread bags, chip packets, pasta bags… they’re all things we go through every week, yet until recently, there hasn’t been an easy way to recycle them.
With soft plastics making up an estimated 538,000 tonnes of Australia’s annual plastic waste, having a dedicated place to drop them off can help ease the mind a little, while making a small but meaningful difference in the ever-important fight to reduce our strain on the environment.
Now, South Australians can once again recycle household soft plastics at selected Woolworths stores, with the supermarket giant bringing back its in-store collection program more than three years after the original scheme came to an abrupt halt.
While previous soft plastics recycling schemes have existed in the past, most notably the REDcycle scheme (which collapsed in 2022 after being unable to process the sheer volume of soft plastics being collected, leaving mountains of stockpiled waste sitting in warehouses around the country), this new scheme has finally been rolled out with the hope of carrying on and improving upon those earlier efforts.
After a successful trial in Victoria throughout 2024 showed promising results, the program has now expanded to more than 700 stores around the country, including 46 here in South Australia.
“This industry-led initiative has ensured that supermarket in-store collections currently provide convenient access to soft plastics recycling for almost 70 per cent of Australians,” said Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia Chief Executive Officer Barry Cosier.
“As more brands and retailers join SPSA, we can increase collections in more stores, with more retailers and in more locations, boosting participation rates far beyond current levels.”
But, with a healthy dose of scepticism following the collapse of the previous scheme, it’s only natural to wonder what makes this one different.
While one of the biggest challenges facing the original program was the lack of infrastructure to process such high volumes of collected soft plastics, the new scheme aims to overcome these issues through partnerships with Australian recycling companies including saveBOARD, iQRenew and Plascrete.
“We are proud to partner with innovative recyclers such as iQRenew, which has opened a new facility in NSW with the capacity to process 14,000 tonnes of soft plastics each year,” explained Woolworths 360 Managing Director Rob McCartney.
“With this renewed scheme, we’re working closely with Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia to lead the industry on soft plastics recycling.”
Beyond simply collecting recycling, Woolworths is also looking to incorporate more recycled materials into its own stores. The collected plastics are being transformed into saveBOARD (an alternative to plasterboard used for wall panelling), trolley bays, kickboards, internal wall linings, ceiling tiles and food-grade packaging, including selected Woolworths own-brand bread bags. So keep an eye out next time you’re wandering around your local Woolies!
Despite the pause of the original scheme, there has always been a strong desire among South Australians to see a reliable soft plastics recycling program return.
“Our customers have continued to advocate for soft plastic recycling,” McCartney explained.
Now that it’s back in SA stores, it might be time for a bit of a refresher on what can actually be recycled and how to do it.
Woolworths says customers can recycle any clean, dry soft plastics displaying the ‘Check Locally’ Australasian Recycling Label, but the key thing to remember is that everything needs to be clean and dry.
Other materials, such as paper shopping bags, hard plastics or coffee cups, can contaminate the collection, making it much more difficult and expensive to recycle the material – potentially resulting in the plastics being sent to landfill.
While some regional South Australian stores don’t yet have the infrastructure needed to participate, it’s worth checking whether your local store offers the service before making the trip. Woolworths says it will continue working with its partners to expand the initiative to more stores across the state.
You can find the full list of participating stores here.
Woolworths soft-plastics in-store collection
For more information, click here.
