Kerbside soft plastics will continued to be collected in Romsey and soft plastic drop off at transferred stations will not be impacted by REDcycle’s announcement to halt collection of soft plastics from Coles and Woolworths stores.
Macedon Ranges council said plastics collected in the Romsey kerbside trial and from transfer stations is not processed by REDcycle, but instead two different plastic processors.
“The soft plastic collected via the Romsey kerbside trial will go to council’s comingled processor APR, which has a soft plastic pyrolysis plant in Dandenong that will transform the collected plastic back into crude oil for reprocessing back to plastic,” council said.
“The trial is being driven by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC). Members of the AFGC will buy the material back for packaging, closing the loop.
“The plastic taken to council’s transfer stations by residents will also not be impacted. This is collected by local Kyneton company, Victorian Regional Recyclers, and is taken to GT plastics in Geelong for mechanical reprocessing to pellets.”
Council chief executive Bernie O’Sullivan said council would consider whether any other interim local solutions are needed to help residents with their recycling needs in light of REDcycle’s announcement.
“I’d like to remind residents they can still take their soft plastics to our transfer stations for free. We also encourage our Romsey residents to support the soft plastics kerbside collection trial taking place,” he said.
Council said following the Romsey trial, it will look into the potential to roll out the soft plastic kerbside collection process across the whole region.
Details: mrsc.vic.gov.au/soft-plastics.
