Major supermarkets Coles and Woolworths have made an offer to REDcycle to take control of its stockpiled soft plastics.
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The REDcycle program was suspended in November 2022 after it came to light that the company had been stockpiling collected soft plastics for an unknown period because of an insufficient processing capacity.
For the vast majority of Australians, REDcycle soft plastic bins at supermarkets was the only venue to recycle soft plastic material. But in November REDcycle advised consumers to put soft plastics in with regular household rubbish.
The Soft Plastics Taskforce held urgent meetings on February 23 and the supermarkets made the offer to prevent recyclable materials being sent to landfill.
The supermarkets say REDcycle has not yet responded to the offer.
Woolworths Group CEO Brad Banducci said Australians had been let down by the collapse of the recycling scheme.
"We were very disappointed to learn that REDcycle hasn't been recycling the soft plastics they collected from our stores, and we are working to make it right," he said.
"Coles and Woolworths have taken this step to provide reassurance to the public that the soft plastics they took the effort to deposit in REDcycle's bins won't be unnecessarily sent to landfill."
To date, the supermarkets have not been given access to the stockpiled material.
If the offer is accepted, the supermarkets will store the material until it can be safely processed.
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Coles chief operations and sustainability officer Matt Swindells said the offer reflects the supermarkets commitment to sustainable recycling schemes.
"Collectively Coles and Woolworths have paid more than $20 million to REDcycle over the last decade to ensure this would happen, and we remain deeply disappointed by the unrecycled stockpiles," he said.
Victoria's environmental watchdog charged REDcycle in December with three counts of failing to comply with an EPA Information Gathering Notice (IGN).
The IGN required information be provided on the locations and amounts of stored soft plastics. The Environmental Protection Agency discovered quantities of soft plastics being stored in a Williamstown North warehouse in May 2022.
It is alleged that RG Programs and Services Pty Ltd only provided partial information of known storage sites.
ACM has contacted REDcycle for comment.
