Councillor Sarah Nicholas, Council Chief Executive Officer, Will Jeremy, and Council Waste Services Officer, Nathan Wenn, attended the launch of the program expansion with Halve Waste, Cleanaway and the Australian Food and Grocery Council on Wednesday.
The program will now be into available for 12,000 additional households across Alpine, Albury, Wodonga and Indigo shires, enabling people to recycle their soft plastic packaging through their household recycling bins.
It has been operating as a trial in Albury and Wodonga since late 2022, with 2,000 households participating and resulting in around three tonnes of soft plastics diverted from landfill.
Alpine Shire Mayor, Cr John Forsyth, said this is a fantastic alternative for community members who have been asking for a way to recycle soft plastic following the end of the REDcycle program.
"Along with the Food Organics, Garden Organics bins rolled out across our Shire last year, the Soft Plastic Program is yet another great way for households to reduce waste to landfill, and take another step towards a more sustainable future for our Shire," he said.
"This is an optional program, but I encourage as many people as possible to sign up and make the most of this opportunity."
AFGC Director of Sustainability, Barry Cosier, said it had been working with many companies and all levels of government, designing and piloting a solution for soft plastics since 2020.
“While soft plastics are great for packaging everything from peas to bread, parcels and garden mulch, we need large quantities to be efficiently collected to enable investment and confidence amongst expert recyclers and remanufacturers to ultimately recycle it into products and packaging again,” he said.
From 16 July, households in the Alpine Shire that receive kerbside waste collection can register to participate on the Halve Waste website or in person at our Customer Service Centre in Bright, local libraries and Visitor Information Centres.
After registering, collection bags will be available to collect from Council Customer Service points from 1 August. These can be filled with crushable soft plastics, secured when full and added to yellow kerbside recycling bins.
Households can register online via the Halve Waste website here: https://halvewaste.com.au/soft-plastics-recycling-trial-sign-up/
For more information about the soft plastic stewardships scheme, visit: https://www.afgc.org.au/industry-resources/soft-plastic-recycling
