RecycleSmart is starting a soft plastics recycling solution for residents in four Sydney council areas… from their doorstep.
Launched in 2019, the Sydney-based start-up collects tricky-to-recycle items, such as soft plastics, clothing, e-waste and more from residents’ homes and drops the items off to be recycled. The Power Pickup service is available in 16 councils.
The soft plastic recycling initiative, in partnership with APR Plastics, is in response to the suspension of the widespread soft plastics recycling scheme three months ago. It is available to residents in Penrith, Inner West, Burwood and Waverley council areas, as of 30 January.
“We know that we are not solving the national soft plastics crisis, but at RecycleSmart, we are all about testing new solutions quickly and having an impact,” said Giorgio Baracchi, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of RecycleSmart.
“Also, we believe that speed is of paramount importance to ensure people don’t lose the healthy habit of recycling their soft plastics, so we wanted to act fast.”
The soft plastics will be taken to the APR Plastics facility in Victoria. Once shredded, it will be fed into a machine that uses pyrolysis (elevated temperatures with no oxygen) to create an oil that will be on-sold to VIVA ENERGY to be turned into flexible plastics again, creating a true circular solution. Manufactured in Germany, the self-sufficient and zero-waste system is a first of its kind in Australia.
Darren Thorpe, Managing Director of APR Plastics, said the “plastics to oil” process has been successfully used in Europe for 10 years.
“It is time for Australia to catch up and turn the 70 billion pieces of soft scrunchable plastics used here each year into a huge opportunity and build a circular economy,” he said.
RecycleSmart aims to make this service available to all RecycleSmart users as soon as possible.
For more information, visit: www.recyclesmart.com.au
