10,000 homes across Ballarat will be able to recycle their ‘scrunchable’ soft plastics, like bread bags, lolly wrappers and cling wrap, as part of a new program.
The City of Ballarat, in conjunction with the Australian Food and Grocery Council, has launched a new 12-month pilot, which will allow locals who register to put their soft plastics in a council-supplied orange bag and then drop them in their yellow-lid bin.
The plastics will then be turned into packaging or other products.
City of Ballarat Mayor, Des Hudson said the pilot is about council continuing to explore the circular economy.
“[It’s about] taking a waste stream out of the general waste and being able to repurpose it [and] have it go back into another fit for purpose use and reducing the overall amount of rubbish that’s going into our landfill,” said Mayor Hudson.
Local employer Mars Wrigley Australia has supported the trial.
Chris Hutton from the company says the ability to collect, sort and recycle soft plastics and then use it as content in their products is an important step to drive their sustainability goals.
“Our plan is to incorporate recycled content into soft plastic packaging as part of our portfolio into the future, and this program is a really important step on our journey to be able to do that,” he said.
To register for the soft plastics kerbside collection pilot, go to the City of Ballarat website.
