The City of Greater Bendigo has installed new park seating at the Garden Drive Play Space in Epsom made from recycled soft plastics and will look to install similar options in other local play spaces in the future.
Brooke Pearce, City of Greater Bendigo Resource Recovery and Education Manager, said with the Eaglehawk Landfill set to close in 202-23 the City of Greater Bendigo has started identifying, purchasing and installing products that support a circular economy to recirculate end-of-life material resources.
“The new park seating is a great example of a circular economy product because it’s made from soft plastics which usually end up in landfill,” Pearce said. “Using products made from recycled resources is a great way to support a circular economy and is in-line with the City’s Zero Waste and Circular Economy Policy.
“The City is encouraging residents to dispose of their soft plastics through the REDcycle Program operating at local supermarkets instead of placing them in their waste bin so they can be recycled into new items.
“The REDcycle Program is a recovery initiative for post-consumer soft plastic. The program has teamed up with Coles and Woolworths supermarkets and some of Australia’s popular brands to make it easy to keep plastic bags and soft plastic packaging out of landfill.
“Through the program you can collect and then take soft plastics to a local Coles or Woolworths supermarket REDcycle collection point for disposal.
“Soft plastics collected through REDcycle are processed at Replas Ballarat into products such as bollards, decking, fencing, fitness trails and furniture as well as products suitable for traffic control, parks, gardens and the utilities industry.
“It’s amazing to think that one small pod seat is made using over 7500 pieces of soft plastic and some of the other items that are produced use over 25,000 pieces of soft plastics that would have been destined for landfill.”
For more information, visit www.redcycle.net.au
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