A first of its kind soft plastics trial by Central Coast Council, New South Wales, has seen close to five tonnes of soft plastics diverted from landfill since the trial’s commencement in November 2020.
While the trial is still underway, these impressive preliminary results demonstrate a fantastic effort from participating Central Coast households who are helping to reduce the amount of soft plastics going to landfill and its impact on the environment.
There are currently 2054 active participants, with a total of 9163 bags scanned since the beginning of the trial.
Participants have collected 4923kg of soft plastics to date, which is the equivalent of 7,032,857 45g chocolate bar wrappers.
The soft plastics collected have already begun their recycling journey to be processed into an engineered feedstock which can be used in the manufacturing process.
It is also being used for a number of processes including recycling into new chemicals, energy production and remanufacture of new products.
Council Director Infrastructure Services, Boris Bolgoff said the initial results demonstrate a fantastic commitment from community members who put their hands up to be part of this first of its kind trial.
“We know that the vast majority of our community is passionate about reducing the amount of waste that households produce and we are proud to be leading the way with this initiative.
“Central Coast Council is the only council in Australia who is currently trialling a soft plastics recycling program and I would like to congratulate trial participants on these promising results.”
Council’s partners in the trial are recycler iQ Renew, CurbCycle and their partner Nestlé, and hopes this pilot project may help shape the future of soft plastic
recycling nationally.
