Supermarkets Offer To Take On Tonnes Of Soft Plastic After REDcycle Collapse

Coles and Woolworths offer to take responsibility for thousands of tonnes of soft plastics after the media revealed massive plastic stockpiles in and around Melbourne. 

Coles and Woolworths have been participating in the REDcycle's soft plastics collection program until the company collapsed in November last year.  

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REDcycle, a recycling company, announced that it could no longer afford to recycle the plastics collected from supermarkets. 

The soft plastics collection program encouraged consumers to dispose of soft plastics, including biscuit wrappers, bread bags and pet food pouches, to recycling facilities. 

"To date, the supermarkets have not been given access to the stockpiled material. They will need to assess whether any of the soft plastic has degraded to an extent where it is no longer suitable for reprocessing," a spokesperson for both companies said. 

"Coles and Woolworths will work to recycle as much of the material they are given as possible." 

Despite the announcement from both supermarkets to tackle the recycling crisis, it is not a money offer for the plastic, nor an attempt to purchase the failed program by Woolworth or Coles. 

Both supermarkets will contribute to a "multimillion-dollar" fund to store and manage the stockpiled material. 

Although the REDcycle company has not responded to this offer, Liz Kasell, REDcycle chief executive, said in a previous statement, "we welcome the supportive and collaborative approach by Coles and Woolworths".  

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