When will Gloucester be able to recycle its soft plastics?

WOOLWORTHS ceased collecting soft plastics following the collapse of REDCycle in late 2022, including at its Gloucester store.

There has been no collection facility in Gloucester since.

Recently MidCoast Council announced on social media the opening of a new soft plastics processing facility.

“A big step for recycling, right here in the MidCoast,” announced the Council.

“We’re proud to show our support at the opening of the IQRenew’s soft plastics processing facility at Kundle Kundle.”

However, the announcement lacked information about how residents of the MidCoast might be able to access the facility to recycle their soft plastics.

NOTA inquired of the Council about collection arrangements

“MidCoast Council has not established soft plastic drop-off points, as the cost of recycling this material through IQ Renew is approximately $1,600 per tonne, which would make the service financially unsustainable for residents,” said a Council spokesperson.

“Soft plastic recycling is the responsibility of the product manufacturer and retailer under the Soft Plastics Stewardship Scheme.

“Residents can return eligible soft plastics to participating Woolworths stores that have reinstated collection bins under this national program.”

NOTA also questioned why Gloucester Woolworths does not currently collect soft plastics, despite the fact that many stores in NSW and elsewhere do provide such a service.

“The supermarket members of the Soft Plastics Taskforce have done a lot of work to re-commence in-store soft plastics collection via a trial scheme, and this includes more than 600 Woolworths stores in metropolitan and some regional areas in NSW, the ACT, Victoria and Queensland,” said a Woolworths spokesperson.

“Some regional areas and towns are trickier for our collection partners due to established regional routes and collection times from existing stores.

“Gloucester is currently one of these.

“We are working hard on adding more regional stores in 2026.

“Gloucester is in scope for this, but not yet confirmed.”

Woolworths said the biggest challenge is that there is not enough soft plastic recycling capacity in Australia to support full, nationwide collections, and that it’s important not to exceed limited local recycling capacity.

By John WATTS