A number of constituents contacted my office about the closure of the RedCycle scheme for soft plastics, asking about recycling options. 

Soft plastics include shopping bags, pet food bags, food wrappers, chip packets, bubble wrap and frozen food packaging. While they are recyclable, they cannot go in the general yellow recycling bin because they jam the sorting machines for other recyclables. Indeed, when soft plastics contaminate kerbside recycling, they result in the recyclables being sent to landfill.

City of Sydney residents can still recycle soft plastics at council’s quarterly Recycle It Saturday events or get them picked up through the RecycleSmart doorstep service. The plastic will be sorted, cleaned and processed into pellets in Sydney, and then turned into products like plastic furniture, signage and road base.

State and federal governments need to work together to reduce the amount of plastic being produced and create a framework that makes recycling economically viable. We are not going to be able to recycle our way out of the looming waste crisis and I will continue to push for a circular economy.

The next Recycle It Saturday is 18 February 9am-3pm at Alexandra Canal Depot > HERE

The RecycleSmart Power Pickup Recycle collects soft plastics, batteries, polystyrene, clothes, electronics and other tricky items from your doorstep or apartment lobby for free if you subscribe for regular pick-ups > HERE

Woollahra Council has a range of recycling services and also uses the Recycle It Saturday at Alexandria Canal Depot > HERE