Lifestyle

Can I recycle soft plastics? Absolutely!

There are many items which are sold in soft plastics, however there are also many of us who either throw soft plastics into our general waste bins or mix with our main recycling bins. Soft plastics are recycled differently and to avoid them going to landfill, simply drop them off at Coles or Woolworths into their dedicated soft plastic recycling bins and they’ll do the work for you.

Want to know exactly what can be placed into the REDcycle bins? Click here to download an easy guide from REDcycle.

Coles REDcycle - soft plastic recycling
Coles are proud to offer REDcycle recycling bins in all Coles supermarkets. Through the program, Coles customers can recycle plastic bags and soft plastic packaging using specially marked bins at the front of stores. Since the program began in 2011, Coles has diverted more than 542 million pieces of flexible plastic from landfill across Australia.

Customers can recycle a range of soft plastic packaging including bread bags, cereal bags and frozen food bags. Types of soft plastics that can be recycled via REDcycle are:

Shopping bags including reusable 'green’ bags
Fresh fruit and veggie bags and wrappers
Bread bags
Cereal box liners
Biscuit wrappers and confectionery packaging
Rice and pasta packets and frozen food bags

More information from Coles on their corporate responsibility and sustainability can be viewed here: https://www.coles.com.au/corporate-responsibility/sustainability/environment

Woolworths
All Woolworths stores across Australia have a soft plastics recycling bin for you to bring in soft plastics that can’t be recycled at home. This helps to keep plastic bags and packaging out of landfill. Soft plastics returned to store are recycled by our partners REDcycle and Replas into benches, bollards and other items that can be used in our stores and car parks. We collect reusable green bags when they get old and worn, single-use plastic bags, bread bags, biscuit wrap and frozen food bags. These items cannot be recycled in the yellow bin at home, so please bring them into our stores so they can be recycled into reusable furniture and equipment.

More information from Woolworths on their corporate responsibility and sustainability can be viewed here: https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/discover/sustainability/recycling