General News
6 February, 2026
Pyrenees Shire begins plastic program
Australia is slowly seeing plastic recycling make a return. Pyrenees Shire Council’s (PSC) new program is a small step toward its resurgance.
This week, PSC commenced a project with the Soft Plastic Stewardship Australia (SPCA) to turn plastic household packaging into a valuable resource.
The scheme is running bin bag programs in local government areas in a free and optional movement aiming to help the community recycle more products and reduce landfill.
SPCA is a non-profit, industry led organisation established to design and operate a plastics recycling scheme in Australia.
Since the collapse of REDcycle in 2021, Australia’s capacity to recycle soft plastics is still developing, and very limited.
However, local government programs like these are a fundamental step toward Australia’s regaining of plastic recycling.
PSC mayor Damian Ferrari has launched the shire’s Soft Plastic Recycling Program for residents to divert common household products from landfill, giving potential waste a second life.
“Soft plastics make up a noticeable portion of the waste generated across the shire and until now, residents have had very limited options to recycle them,” he said.
Starting from February 2, households have been able to register for the program by contacting the shire to receive free ‘orange bags’.
The term, ‘soft plastics’ is defined as plastics that residents can ‘easily scrunch into a ball’.
PSC will accept:
Plastic bags
Biscuit and other snack wrappers
Chip packets and other silver lined snack wrappers
Pasta and rice bags (both plastic and woven) bread bags and cereal liners
Fresh and frozen food or produce wrappers
AdvertisementCling wrap, bubble wrap, and zip lock bags
Document sleeves
Pet food bags
Potting mix bags
These items won’t spring back after being scrunched.
That’s because the plastic in these items are made from oils, which are heated and pressurised to become chains of molecules that are hard to destroy, hence plastic products can last as long as they do.
But the molecules that make up soft plastics naturally arrange themselves loosely, making them easier for plastic recycling methods to break them down, under the right conditions.
A facility in Melbourne will shred and dehydrate the plastic, heating the pieces at hundreds of degrees celsius, reducing them back to their original oil form, to become a whole new product.
Hard plastics, which include shampoo bottles, LEGOs or phone cases, contain extra ingredients to make them durable, and are made of molecules far more tightly and densely packed together, which is why they are so hard to break down.
PSC said despite strong household interest in recycling, and 62 percent of soft plastic material in the Australian market being recyclable, soft plastic recycling rates in Australia have only stayed at around two percent.
“The program gives our community a simple and practical way to keep more waste out of landfill while using the recycling system we already know,” Cr Ferrari said.
From March 2, the shire will be accepting the orange bags in recycle bins.
All the soft plastics collected within the shire will sent to PSC resource and recovery partner APR Plastics Pty Ltd in Melbourne, under an agreement with SPSA.
While the PSC’s participation is only in its early stages, there are nine other shires throughout South Australia, New South Wales, and Victoria fully participating in the program.