There are no soft-plastics recycling options in the ACT that are both free and convenient. Photo: ACT Government.
The ACT Greens have demanded answers on whether the government has any plans to locally recycle soft plastics.
Construction recently began on the Territory’s new Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) at Hume, but soft plastics will remain one of the materials that won’t be recovered.
Combined with Canberra’s recent poor score on plastics recycling — and circular economy ambitions — ACT Greens leader Jo Clay said it was time for the government to explain just how it intended to tackle this issue.
“We need a plan that keeps soft plastics out of landfill, protects our precious bush capital and doesn’t shift this problem back onto ordinary Canberrans,” she said.
“Canberrans care deeply about recycling and reducing waste. Yet there is still no free and convenient public option to recycle soft plastic in Canberra — and this new facility won’t recycle that material either.
“Households are struggling with the cost of living. Government should not expect Canberrans to pay to arrange and pay to recycle soft plastic. Like many other jurisdictions in Australia are already doing, this is a core service government should offer for free.”
Jurisdictions offering kerbside pick-up to recycle soft plastics in Australia include Albury, Ballarat, Tamworth, the Central Coast and select areas of Adelaide.
Soft-plastics recycling is possible in Canberra, but for a price.
They can be accepted through doorstop collection service RecycleSmart or mail-back recycling program Terracycle Soft Plastics Zero Waste Box, but both have fees and conditions attached.
Participating ACT Woolworths stores may accept clean and dry household soft plastics, but only if they have a ”Check locally” Australasian Recycling label.
Ms Clay said the lack of a free and convenient public option to recycle soft plastics was creating unnecessary barriers for Canberrans who wanted to reduce waste and keep soft plastics out of landfill.
“Labor is not taking recycling seriously. The Labor governments at both the ACT and federal levels have abandoned efforts on soft-plastic recycling,” she said.
“The Federal Labor Government shelved their plans to introduce strict, mandatory national packaging laws. That national approach would have made producers pay for the recycling and required them to design out waste from the start.
“Industry supported this national approach but federal Labor abandoned it despite promising it for a decade, shifting the cost back onto ACT Labor — who have now passed the problem back onto Canberran households.”
One option that won’t be on the table is a waste-to-energy scheme, as incinerators were indefinitely banned in the ACT earlier this year.
The ACT Greens put questions about soft-plastics recycling to Environment Minister Suzanne Orr during the recent Legislative Assembly double-sitting week.
Those questions are on notice and yet to be answered.
The ACT Government said the data would be impacted by the 2022 fire that destroyed the MRF at Hume, but defended its action on plastic waste.
A spokesperson has previously pointed to the Territory’s other actions to reduce plastic in landfill, including being the first jurisdiction to ban single-use plastic items, and the expansion of the Container Deposit Scheme next year to accept all plastic fruit/vegetable juice and cordial containers up to three litres.
Future hard-plastic phase-outs are under consideration.
Information on where to recycle soft plastics in the ACT can be found through City Services’ Recyclopaedia.