Could a community recycling pilot help tackle Australia’s soft plastics problem?

Since the collapse of Australia’s largest supermarket soft plastics recycling scheme in 2022, millions of Australians have been left wondering what to do with bread bags, produce bags, chip packets and other flexible plastics that can’t go into kerbside recycling.

Now, community food co-operative Box Divvy is trialling a practical, community-based solution.

The organisation has launched a soft plastics recycling pilot across its network of neighbourhood Hubs, collecting flexible plastics from members and returning them to a dedicated recycling stream. The program is already diverting around 2.5 tonnes of soft plastics from landfill each month, with volumes expected to increase as more Hubs come on board.

The initiative builds on Box Divvy’s broader commitment to reducing waste. While the organisation’s community-led grocery model already helps reduce food waste and unnecessary packaging through pre-ordering, the pilot addresses the packaging that still enters households each week.

Members can bring bread bags, produce bags, chip packets and other accepted soft plastics to their local Hub when collecting their groceries. The material is collected by sustainability partner ReSmart before being processed into recycled resin and manufactured into new food-grade bags, creating a genuine circular economy.

Box Divvy co-founder Anton van den Berg said the pilot reflects the organisation’s belief that communities can play an active role in solving environmental challenges.

 

“Circular economy only works if someone closes the loop. We are in a position to do that within our own network. If communities control parts of the supply chain, they can also take responsibility for the waste that flows through it.”

While still in its early stages, the pilot demonstrates how local communities, industry and recycling partners can work together to tackle one of Australia’s most challenging waste streams and explore new ways of keeping valuable materials out of landfill.