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REDCYCLE WEEKLY UPDATE

REDcycle would like to thank you for your ongoing patience and support at this time. We understand that the situation is frustrating and we’d like to assure our loyal REDcycle community that we are doing everything we can to get the program back up and running.

Latest News

• Last week the ACCC has announced authorisation for the formation of a Soft Plastic Task Force allowing the major supermarkets to review the impacts of the REDcycle program pause and explore solutions.
• The Task Force will be initially chaired by the Federal Government and it is anticipated that the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation, REDcycle and other relevant industry bodies will provide support to the Soft Plastics Taskforce as required.

A number of questions have been asked and we would like to take this opportunity to address them.

1. When will the program recommence?

REDcycle is as committed as ever to recommencing the Return to Store Program. We’re working with the retailers, peak bodies and government to ensure the program can be re-established. We are also working with multiple organisations to establish sufficient downstream processing capability.

2. Why has REDcycle stored material?

The REDcycle team is committed to keeping the material out of landfill and therefore took the unwanted but necessary step to hold the material in storage when processing capacity diminished. Holding soft plastics in stock is not ideal and is highly costly to the business, but the decision was made to hold material to allow our downstream partners to re-establish capacity. Due to the lack of demand from processing partners and the unpredictably high rates of consumer participation, REDcycle made the decision to pause the return to store component of the program to allow for the soft plastic pipeline to rebalance. 

3. Has material been set to landfill?

REDcycle discovered some material was incorrectly stored outdoors in a location. As a result, a portion of the material was degraded and consequently unable to be processed and recycled. REDcycle salvaged what could be used at a future date. Due to the presence of contamination, REDcycle has occasionally been required to dispose of material as part of our normal quality control process. 

4. How can you help?

Next week we will be reaching out to our community to invite you to help us gather insights and feedback to inform what sort of soft plastic recycling program, you would like to see in the future. Your contribution will be greatly appreciate. Keep an eye out for how you can participate.

Thank you again from all of us at REDcycle.