Media statement: Pathway to resume soft plastics collection

The Albanese Labor Government welcomes the announcement today by Coles and Woolworths of a path forward to resume soft plastics collection.

This was possible because we moved to bring the supermarkets together and obtained ACCC approval for them meeting to resolve the problems created by the collapse of REDcycle.

The reality is that we have a plastics problem in Australia. We need to produce less, use less, and better reuse what we have.

To tackle it takes government support, but it is also the responsibility of industry to step up.

The most important thing is that families who took the time to recycle their soft plastics under the REDcycle scheme can be confident that their efforts were not in vain.

We’re committed to helping the supermarkets resume collection of soft plastic and we welcome announcements that the supermarkets remain committed to this.

We are rolling out the $250 million Recycling Modernisation Fund and in the last budget we announced $60 million to support new recycling infrastructure for hard to recycle plastics, including soft plastics.

Under the Recycling Modernisation Fund, 48 additional plastic recycling facilities have already been funded, and 11 of these have already been delivered.

The Liberals and Nationals set a target of 70% of plastic packaging to be recycled by 2025 but we’ve been stuck at 16% for four years.

After a decade of neglect on recycling, making progress towards a circular economy is back as a priority for the Federal Government.