Half a billion plastic bags meant to be recycled have been found stored in at least six warehouses in Victoria – posing potential fire risks – following an investigation into a suspended soft plastic recycling program.
The Environmental Protection Authority in Victoria announced on Friday it had discovered the 3,000 tonnes of soft plastics during its examination of the REDcycle program which was suspended in November. Collection points at Coles and Woolworths supermarkets were closed.
The state EPA said the stored soft plastics had been found across six Melbourne sites and there was potentially a seventh site in Wodonga in regional Victoria.
A notice issued to the scheme’s operators led investigators to the six warehouses managed by logistics companies in Melbourne’s western and northern suburbs.
“The soft plastics found in the Melbourne warehouses are thought to have come from outside of Victoria ... it is believed that additional sites could exist across Victoria and the country,” the EPA said in a statement.
The authority’s chief executive, Lee Miezis, said officers were still inspecting sites “and we’ll continue to work hard – using our stronger regulatory powers – until we’re certain we’ve found every site in Victoria”.
“Although the operators of REDcycle did tell us about some of the sites, intelligence from logistics companies and others is assisting EPA’s investigations,” he said. “If you have any of these soft plastic wastes at your warehouse, we need to know.”
Miezis said, “the size of the stockpiles varies from about a thousand tonnes down to less than a hundred tonnes.”
“To give a sense of that, I think a plastic bag is 6 grams, so we’re talking half a billion plastic bags. We’d love to see these recycled as intended, but if we need to remove them from the site to manage risk and go to landfill, we’ll work with operators of landfill to ensure they’re properly and safely managed,” he said.
Miezis said the EPA was now focused on ensuring all potential fire risks were eliminated.
“Our officers have been on site with Fire Rescue Victoria to make sure that proper fire controls were in place. Now, what we have seen is those controls are variable, so we will continue to work with the managers of those sites, to eliminate that risk entirely,” he said.
after newsletter promotion
Guardian Australia sought comment from REDcycle.
In early November, the company blamed unforeseen circumstances for its decision to suspend its soft plastics recycling scheme, which involved collecting waste from Coles and Woolworths stores.
“Consumer recycling of soft plastic has grown exponentially in recent years, with a 350% increase in plastic returned since 2019,” a REDcycle spokesperson said at the time.
“However, due to several unforeseen challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, REDcycle’s recycling partners have temporarily stopped accepting and processing soft plastics. This combination has put untenable pressure on the REDcycle business model.”
REDcycle provides the only consumer-facing soft plastic recycling for the majority of Australian households.
