It has been revealed the REDcycle reycling program which many Australians take part in through Coles and Woolworths has been storing plastics with recycles unable to take on stock.
The supermarket endorsed REDcycle regrettably announced it has temporarily paused its soft plastics collection program from 9 November 2022.
The REDcycle program has been paused due to several unforeseen challenges exacerbated by the pandemic causing REDcycle’s recycling partners to temporarily stop accepting and processing soft plastics, despite consumer recycling of soft plastic having grown exponentially in recent years, with a 350 per cent increase in plastic returned since 2019. This combination has put untenable pressure on the REDcycle business model.
For the short term, consumers are encouraged to put their soft plastics in their home rubbish bin. Please do not put it in your home kerbside recycling bin (unless the Curby program is available in your area) as it is not recyclable in that system.
REDcycle can’t confirm at this stage the length of the pause, but stakeholders are working on solutions for the short-term pipeline imbalance.
REDcycle and retail partners are committed to having the program back up and running as soon as possible.
Since REDcycle launched 10 years ago, Founder Liz Kasell wanted to do the right thing for the community and for the planet. She started this program, as a mum from her kitchen table when looking at a bag of peas and she asked ‘Why on earth can’t this be recycled?’ Through the program her goal was to enable and empower people in the community, just like her, to make a positive impact on the environment. 5.4 billion pieces of soft plastic were diverted from entering landfill and our natural environments since the program was started.
