The journey of soft plastics.
Once upon a time, in a factory far far away, fossil fuels were being mixed with large amounts of water and energy, emitting harmful chemicals into the atmosphere to create the soft plastic products that now sits in our homes!
Soft plastics, defined as "‘plastics that can be scrunched into a ball” triggers interesting statistics at each stage of its life cycle. Let’s take a trip through these stages, shall we?
Production:
It starts with raw materials, such as natural gas, oil or plants.
Several chemicals interact at a high heat to produce the plastic, releasing harmful chemicals into the atmosphere.
The plastic cools down before being morphed into different products ready for distribution.
Usage
The average piece of single-use plastic is used for about 12 minutes before it gets discarded and can take more than 500 years to degrade in landfill.
32% of the 78 million tons of plastic packaging produced annually is left to flow into our oceans; the equivalent of pouring one garbage truck of plastic into the ocean every minute (Not fun for marine life!).
Disposal (what to do and what NOT to do)
Soft plastics DO NOT belong in the yellow bin because they tend to get stuck in recycling machinery and cause problems. They also do NOT belong in the red bin, where they are sent of to landfills and take forever to degrade.
They must be collected separately and recycled by either:
Taking your soft plastics to local Woolies or Coles and using the REDcycle program (UPDATE 2023: This option is no longer available.)
OR booking a Power Pickup with RecycleSmart and having your soft plastics collected directly from your home, and recycled correctly for you! (UPDATE 2023: Check out our soft plastic recycling process here.)
A happier ending is possible!
To date, we have diverted over 25,000 kg of waste and we’re continuing to do so!
Book your Power PickUp today and let us give your soft plastic bag the adventure of a lifetime.
Your soft plastic bag could then transform into:
Fitness trails
Outdoor furniture
Road, speed humps, rumble bars
... And so much more!
For tips on how to reduce your waste, check out our No Waste November blog!