Turning soft plastics into furniture

The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC), Coles and the RED Group have launched a soft plastics recycling program in Canberra. The joint initiative will be rolled out across eight Coles stores in a bid to reduce the amount of soft plastic packaging going into Canberra’s landfill.

The soft plastic material will be collected by the RED Group and sent to Melbourne, where it will be recycled by Replas into outdoor furniture to be donated to schools. The furniture will also be available to purchase as an alternative to buying furniture made from new materials.

“Food and grocery brand owners take the environmental impact of their packaging material seriously and so are pleased to support this product stewardship program,” said AFGC CEO Gary Dawson. “The good news is that recycling plastic not only reduces the amount of waste going to landfill, but it also reduces the need to use precious natural resources.”

Coles customers can drop off soft plastic packaging from food and grocery items such as rice and pasta bags, bread bags, confectionery packets and biscuit packet wrappers in the dedicated bins at the Coles stores.

The REDcycle Program is a product stewardship model where all involved in a product’s life cycle, including manufacturers, distributors and consumers, have a responsibility for that product throughout its entire life cycle, including its end-of-life outcome.