SYDNEY, May 10, 2026, 08:06 (AEST)
Woolworths Group has brought soft-plastic recycling bins back to more than 700 supermarkets across five Australian states, relaunching a broad in-store drop-off network after a years-long gap. The retailer said selected South Australian stores joined the scheme this week, after a trial that began in five Victorian stores in February 2024.
The timing is blunt. Australia’s supermarket recycling offer has been under scrutiny since REDcycle collapsed in 2022, leaving shoppers without a large-scale route for bread bags, chip packets and other soft plastics. The New Daily reported REDcycle’s parent company was later wound up after stockpiles were found in Victoria, NSW and South Australia.
The restart also tests whether local recycling capacity can keep pace with public demand. Woolworths says customers have returned about 40 million pieces of soft plastic, or roughly 310,000 kilograms, since the renewed program began.
The material is not being treated as generic waste. Inside FMCG reported Woolworths is working with saveBOARD, iQRenew and Plascrete, and that collected plastics are being converted into store products such as wall panelling and own-brand bread bags containing 30% recycled plastic.
Rob McCartney, managing director of Woolworths 360, said shoppers had “continued to advocate” for the service. He said iQRenew had opened a NSW facility with capacity to process 14,000 tonnes of soft plastics a year, while saveBOARD’s building materials were already being used in 170 Woolworths stores. Packaging News
Soft plastics here means flexible packaging, not rigid bottles or tubs, and 9News reported they cannot go into regular home recycling bins. Coles and Aldi are also rolling out bins, putting Woolworths’ move inside a wider return of supermarket collection; Australian Council of Recycling CEO Suzanne Toumbourou told 9News the work takes “grit” and “technological prowess.” 9News
The framework is shifting from a stopgap to a formal industry scheme. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in November granted Soft Plastic Stewardship Australia an eight-year authorisation to run a voluntary collection and recycling program developed by Woolworths, Coles, ALDI, Nestlé, Mars and McCormick Foods. Stewardship, in plain terms, makes companies help fund the handling of packaging they put into the market. ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh said the scheme offered an “environmental benefit.” ACCC
Barry Cosier, chief executive of Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia, called the Woolworths network “just the start.” He said supermarket collections now provide convenient access to soft-plastic recycling for almost 70% of Australians. Supermarket News
The in-store rollout sits beside a slower kerbside push. SPSA’s public collection page said kerbside commercialisation began on July 1, 2025, in nine councils across NSW, South Australia and Victoria, with broader kerbside and drop-off expansion expected subject to authorisations and commercial agreements.
But the risk is familiar: collection can grow faster than processing capacity and demand for recycled products. The ACCC authorisation requires SPSA to publish annual performance data, undergo independent reviews in years three and seven, include at least two independent board members and avoid exclusive processor contracts. Those safeguards matter after the last scheme broke under stockpiles and weak outlets for the material.
For Woolworths, the near-term job is less dramatic than the launch: keep bins clean, give shoppers clear store lists and prove the material keeps moving into products. The comeback is underway. Durability is the harder test.
