Every tonne of soft plastic stockpiled since REDcycle collapsed in 2022 has now been processed. New capacity has nearly tripled what REDcycle ever managed. Turns out the comeback was bigger than the collapse.
The comeback, in numbers
REDcycle processed around 8,000 tonnes of soft plastic a year at its peak. Current facilities handle more than 20,000 tonnes annually, with the largest site on the NSW Mid North Coast processing 14,000 tonnes a year and upgrading toward 24,000. Over 700 collection points now operate across the country, reaching about 70 per cent of Australians. That's a genuinely good glow-up for a system that was written off three years ago.
The problem has flipped
Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia co-CEO Barry Cosier put it plainly: "Our biggest constraint at the moment is collecting enough material for all these facilities. So, we now have the opposite issue of REDcycle." A recycling system with more capacity than rubbish to fill it is a strange complaint to have, and also a pretty good one. A recent survey found 81 per cent of Australians want soft plastics recycling to exist, yet actual participation and awareness remain low, which sounds like a gap that closes itself once people realise the bins are there.
The bigger picture
Australians got through 4 million tonnes of plastic and packaging in 2023-24, up 100,000 tonnes on the year before, while the national plastic recovery rate sits at just 14 per cent. RMIT's Usha Iyer-Raniga's point cuts to the core of it: "You can't just rely on recycling. You want to be a society where eventually, you don't want to create waste."
Read the full story from ABC News, 19 June 2026.
Related reading: What Happens to Your Empty Bathroom Plastic? and One Swap at a Time: A 4-Week Plan to Go Plastic-Free in the Bathroom.
Imagine needing 700 collection points and a national stewardship scheme just to deal with soft plastic. Now imagine a wrapper that just... breaks down in your compost. Wild concept, we know.