City of Ballarat launches soft plastics recycling pilot program

Ten thousand households across the Ballarat municipality will be able to recycle their ‘scrunchable’ soft plastics as part of a new 12-month kerbside collection pilot program.

The City of Ballarat, in partnership with the Australian Food and Grocery Council, has launched a kerbside soft plastics recycling collection, enabling residents to recycle their soft plastics in a City of Ballarat-supplied orange bag that can now be placed in residents’ yellow-lid recycling bin.

The soft plastics that residents recycle will be included in a circular solution to turn them back into quality products or packaging, as part of plans to develop a long-term circular system for soft plastic packaging waste.

Soft plastics can only be recycled in the supplied orange bags and should be empty and dry. The orange bags are made in Australia from 100 per cent recycled plastic.

Scrunchable soft plastics include bread and cereal bags, frozen vegetable packets, lolly wrappers, bubble and cling wrap as well as plastic toilet paper wrap. You can also look for the former REDCycle logo or the Australian Recycling Label ‘Return to Store’ or ‘In-store Drop-off' logo.

The supplied orange bags can contain up to 1kg of soft plastics. When the orange bag is full and tight like a basketball, residents can secure it with a double knot and place it in their fortnightly yellow-lid recyclables collection bin.

City of Ballarat Mayor, Cr Des Hudson said it is exciting to provide residents with a way to recycle soft plastics while also freeing up space in residents’ general waste bins.

“During community consultation for the Kerbside Transition Plan last year, many residents told us they wanted a solution for their soft plastic waste,” he said.

“Recycling soft plastics allows them to be sorted, processed and ultimately transformed back into new packaging or other products, keeps them out of landfill and gives them a new life.

“The City of Ballarat is committed to reducing waste going to landfill and creating a circular economy, that keeps materials in use for as long as possible.

“The pilot project will help inform the design of a large-scale soft plastics kerbside collection and sorting of soft plastics which will help the development of a sustainable advanced recycling industry in Australia.”

Australian Food and Grocery Council Director Sustainability Barry Cosier said the organisation had been working with many companies and all levels of government on a solution for soft plastics.  

“While soft plastics are useful for packaging everything from peas to bread, parcels and garden mulch, we need large quantities to be efficiently collected to instil confidence to invest in recycling and to remanufacture it into product and packaging again,” he said.

Environmental Evolution Director Julie White, an environmental consultant who works with community groups to improve their environmental impact, said people often ask her what they can do with their stockpile of plastics.

“Well Ballarat - we now have a solution! Get ready to pull out your soft plastics and participate in this awesome initiative,” she said.

"It is great that we are using the science of how plastics can be continuously broken down and reused indefinitely to reduce our waste and protect our precious environment.”  

The orange-bagged soft plastics will be collected and transported to APR Kerbside in Truganina, where they will be sorted, cleaned and shredded for research and development testing for recycling back into packaging or other products.

The trial is limited to 10,000 participants. The pilot will be funded through the partnership with the Australian Food and Grocery Council with the support of other Australian brands and companies.

To register for the soft plastics kerbside collection visit ballarat.vic.gov.au/property/waste/recycling-ballarat or call Customer Service on 5320 5500. After registering, residents can pick-up their orange bags from one of the designated locations.

Please remember to keep all other recycling items loose in your bin and never put loose soft plastics directly into your yellow-lid recycling bin. Loose plastics can damage collection trucks and recycling machinery.

Key facts

• Residents now have the opportunity to start recycling their soft plastics
• Register with the City of Ballarat to get started
  • Register online or by calling Customer Service on 5320 5500
• The trial is limited to 10,000 households and will run for 12-months
• Participants will collect their orange collection bags from a designated location
• Place your soft plastics, including bread and cereal bags, frozen vegetable packets, lolly wrappers, bubble and cling wrap, into the City of Ballarat-supplied orange collection bag
• When the orange bag is full and tight like a basketball, secure it with a double knot and place it in your fortnightly yellow-lid recycling bin
• The orange-bagged soft plastics will be collected and transported to APR Kerbside in Truganina
• The plastics will be sorted, cleaned and shredded for research and development testing for recycling back into packaging or other products
• During the trial if you need more orange collection bags, contact Customer Service on 5320 5500.