According to the company’s media release on November 8, 2022, REDcycle regrets to announce that it will temporarily pause its soft plastics collection program from 9 November 2022. REDcycle and its partners are committed to having the program back up and running as soon as possible.
Why is the program pausing?
Consumer recycling of soft plastic has grown exponentially in recent years, with a 350% increase in plastic returned since 2019. However, due to several unforeseen challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, REDcycle’s recycling partners have temporarily stopped accepting and processing soft plastics. This combination has put untenable pressure on the REDcycle business model.
What is REDcycle doing with the soft plastic it has collected?
The REDcycle team took the unwanted but necessary decision to hold the material in storage in the short term. Holding soft plastics in stock is not a perfect solution, but REDcycle took the decision to hold material in the short term, at great personal expense to the organisation, because they are fundamentally and profoundly committed to keeping the material out of landfill.
REDcycle has been working tirelessly to find alternative processing solutions. REDcycle and its recycling partners consider soft plastic to be a valuable resource and REDcycle material will be processed when its end user partners are operational again.
REDcycle’s recycling partner Close the Loop has provided a letter of intent to continue to accept significant volumes of REDcycle soft plastic, commencing early to mid-next year when their processing lines are operational again. Close the Loop’s new processing lines will be able to process up to 5,000 tonnes of REDcycle material per annum, which equates to nearly a year of REDcycle’s total collections (REDcycle collects approximately 7,000 tonnes per year).
Liz Kasell, CEO and founder, REDcycle commented: “Since I started REDcycle 10 years ago I have been trying to do the right thing for the community and for the planet. I started this program from my kitchen table when I looked at a bag of peas and asked why on earth can’t this be recycled? Through this program my goal has been to enable and empower people in the community like me to make a positive impact on the environment. Since we started, we have prevented 5.4 billion pieces of soft plastic entering landfill and our natural environments. Our team is devastated that the program will be paused and we are going to do everything that we can, in partnership with retail, industry and government, to have it back up and running again soon.”
What should people do with their soft plastic now?
For the short term, consumers are encouraged to put their soft plastics in their home rubbish bin. Please do not put it in your home kerbside recycling bin as it is not recyclable in that system.
Further information: communications@redgroup.net.au