Pilot program to renew soft plastics

A NEW twelve-month pilot program is allowing residents to recycle their scrunchable soft plastics for kerbside pickup.

The initiative was launched on Wednesday last week and is a partnership between the City of Ballarat and the Australian Food and Grocery Council.

Mayor Cr Des Hudson said the program has been driven by residents’ feedback.

“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.”

People in the region will be able to recycle soft plastics via orange bags supplied by the municipality, which can be placed in yellow-lid recycling bins.

Acceptable soft plastics include bread and cereal bags, plastic wraps, and frozen vegetable packets.

The soft plastics will see new life as packaging or product, and can only be recycled in the orange bags. The contents should be empty and dry.

The bags can hold up to one kilogram of soft plastics.

Australian Food and Grocery Council’s director of sustainability Barry Cosier said a lots of soft plastic is needed for efficient recycling.

“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.

Once binned, the orange bags will be sent to APR Kerbside in Truganina for contents to undergo recycling.

The pilot program is limited to 10,000 participants and is being funded through the partnership with support from other businesses.

To register visit the municipality’s website or call 5320 5500.