Supermarket brings back soft plastics collection points
Soft plastic recycling collection points are returning to Woolworths stores more than three years after the Australia-wide REDcycle supermarket scheme collapsed.
Woolworths said its more than 700 stores in five states will accept crisp packets, confectionery wrappers and similar packaging.
“With this initiative, we have made it easier for Australian families to recycle their soft plastics as part of their weekly shopping,” says Woolworths.
The supermarket giant began a trial of the new scheme at five Victorian Woolworths in February 2024, with several stores in South Australia joining the latest this week.
Some of the plastic collected through the program is recycled and turned into in-store wall panels and Woolworths branded bread bags.
The privately run REDcycle scheme came to an abrupt halt in November 2022 after more than 12,000 tonnes of plastic were found to be stacked in dozens of warehouses across NSW, Victoria and South Australia.
Retailers involved in REDcycle said they had no knowledge of what actually happened, that plastics that consumers sent back to supermarkets to be recycled were put into storage.
Manufacturers use more than 500,000 tonnes of soft plastic packaging to package their products each year, and very little of it is recycled. industry figures.
Woolworths says its revamped recycling program will collect and process around 40 million items, or 310,000kg, of soft plastics since 2024.
Woolworths is collaborating with recycling companies saveBOARD, iQRenew and Plascrete on the programme.
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