The Curby soft plastics recycling trial program run by Central Coast Council has seen close to five tonnes of soft plastics diverted from landfill since the trial started in November 2020.
Central Coast is the only council in Australia which is currently trialling a soft plastics recycling program.
The trial is still underway, but preliminary results are impressive and demonstrate a great effort of the residents participating to help reduce the amount of soft plastics going to landfill and its impact on the environment.
There are currently 2,054 active participants in the trial with a total of 9,163 bags scanned containing 4,923kg of soft plastics to date.
The soft plastics collected have already begun their recycling journey to be processed into an engineered feedstock which can be used in the manufacturing process.
It is also being used for a number of processes including recycling into new chemicals, energy production and re-manufacture of new products.
Council Director, Infrastructure Services, Boris Bolgoff, said the initial results demonstrated a fantastic commitment from community members who put up their hands to be part of this first of its kind trial.
“We know that the vast majority of our community is passionate about reducing the amount of waste that households produce and we are proud to be leading the way with this initiative.
“Council is proud to be piloting this trial in partnership with recycler iQ Renew, based in Tuggerah, CurbCycle and their partner, Nestle, which might help shape the future of soft plastic recycling nationally,” Bolgoff said.
Council says the trial will continue until mid-year, with the hope that it’ll eventually be rolled out across the entire Central Coast.
Sue Murray