REDcycle collapsed in 2022 and soft plastics still cannot go in your recycling bin. Here is the honest state of soft-plastics recycling in 2026 and what your business can realistically do with film and wrap.
Soft plastics are the most frustrating waste stream in the country right now. When REDcycle collapsed, the easy drop-off option many businesses relied on disappeared, and a lot of confusion took its place. Here is the honest picture in 2026 and what you can actually do with the film, wrap and bags your business generates.
REDcycle ran a nationwide soft-plastics drop-off program through supermarkets. In November 2022 it suspended collection because its reprocessing partners had stopped accepting material, and it later became insolvent, leaving large stockpiles of collected plastic. That is why the bins vanished from store entrances.
Soft plastics still do not belong in your kerbside or commingled recycling bin. If you can scrunch it into a ball, it is a soft plastic: bread bags, pallet wrap, bubble wrap, chip packets, plastic mailers, shrink film. Put it in the recycling bin and it tangles sorting machinery and contaminates the load. This was true before REDcycle and it is still true now.
So for everyday operations, soft plastics that cannot be diverted go in your general waste bin.
The replacement effort is real but partial. After REDcycle stopped, the major supermarkets were allowed by the competition regulator to cooperate on a path forward, under the Soft Plastics Taskforce. That cooperation has been authorised to continue to 31 July 2026.
A pilot in-store collection program restarted at a limited number of supermarket sites, operating in around 107 stores across New South Wales and Victoria as at the end of 2024, and gradually expanding from there. Separately, an industry body has been granted a long-term authorisation to build a voluntary, industry-led scheme to collect and recycle soft plastic packaging.
The honest summary: recovery is returning, but it is uneven, geographically patchy and not yet a service you can rely on the way you could rely on a general-waste collection.
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Get your exact priceThe biggest mistake is signage that tells people to recycle soft plastics in a bin that cannot take them. That contaminates the recycling and undoes the work. Be specific: hard containers and clean cardboard in recycling, soft scrunchable plastics in general waste unless you have a dedicated film service.
The soft-plastics landscape is changing through 2026, so check the current options with your provider and your local supermarket rather than relying on what was true a year ago.
Can I put soft plastics in my commingled recycling bin? No. Soft plastics tangle sorting equipment and contaminate the load. They go in general waste unless you have a dedicated film-collection service.
Is REDcycle coming back? REDcycle itself is gone. A pilot in-store program and a new industry-led scheme are rebuilding recovery, but coverage is partial and still growing, so do not plan around it as a guaranteed service yet.
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Not in your commingled recycling bin. They go in general waste unless you have a dedicated commercial film-collection service or access to a supermarket in-store drop-off program, which currently runs at a limited number of stores.
If you can scrunch it into a ball it is a soft plastic, including bread bags, pallet wrap, bubble wrap, chip packets, plastic mailers and shrink film. These cannot go in kerbside recycling.
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