Shire-wide soft plastic recycling pilot

Council launched an innovative kerbside soft plastic recycling collection trial in Romsey on 7 November 2022 to support the community to reduce waste and recycle more. 

2,246 kerbside properties in Romsey were selected to recycle their soft plastic by collecting it separately in a Council-supplied orange collection bag and placing it in the recycling bin (yellow lid) on collection day.

Residents and businesses received an information pack which included a letter and 10 orange collection bags to use during the trial period.

Soft plastic collected in the trial is sent to a specialist processor in Victoria to make new plastic products locally, creating a circular economy.

The 12-month trial is part of a national trial for a stewardship program led by the Australian Food & Grocery Council (AFGC) and funded by the Australian Government.

Due to the trial's success we are able to extend this program to the whole shire.

Residents and businesses who use Council’s kerbside collection service can recycle their soft plastic by collecting it in the Council-supplied orange collection bag and, when full like a basketball, place it in their recycling bin (yellow lid).

Residents and businesses not on Council's kerbside collection service can recycle their soft plastic at their nearest Resource Recovery Facility.

From Monday 22 July, residents can collect an information pack, which includes a fact sheet, letter and 20 orange collection bags from Council's customer service centres.

Households in the Macedon Ranges Shire are eligible to collect one free pack of 20 collection bags. Subsequent packs will be sold at cost (refer to 'Need more orange bags' section below for prices). 

Alternatively, residents and business owners can continue to take excess soft plastic to Resource Recovery Facilities for free.

Step 1: Fill the orange bag with your soft plastic packaging and when it’s full like a basketball, tie it securely closed.

Step 2: When full, put the bag in your recycling bin (yellow lid).

Remember, only use Council-supplied orange bags for the soft plastic, it must be bagged, not loose.

Accepted items

Soft plastic packaging such as:

• bread bags
• cereal packets
• frozen vegetable wrappers
• snack wrappers
• bubble wrap and cling wrap
• any plastic that is soft and 'scrunchable', it should collapse easily in the palm of your hand and not bounce back to its original shape

All soft plastic items accepted in the REDcycle service, bearing the REDcycle logo or the Australasian Recycling Label (ARL) – Return to Store/Store drop-off symbol, can go into the orange bag.

Unaccepted items

Do not include:

• rigid plastic containers (i.e. milk bottles, detergent bottles, strawberry punnets) 
• lids
• bread tags
• straws
• balloons
• food or garden materials
• blister packs
• compostable or biodegradable plastic

We're estimating that it will take a four-person household around one month to fill their collection bag (remember it needs to be full like a basketball!). 20 collection bags should be enough for close to a year. 

If you run out of orange bags, they can be purchased from customer service centres at $4.80 per 25 bags. Alternatively, you can continue to take large and excess soft plastic to a local resource recovery facility for free. 

The soft plastic collected in the pilot program is sent to specialist processors in Victoria to make new plastic products locally, which supports our objectives to reduce waste to landfill, emissions and litter.