Soft plastics are a staple in our daily lives, found in items such as plastic bags, wrappers, and bubble wrap.

Despite their convenience, soft plastics harm our environment because they are difficult to dispose of. Recycling soft plastics is an essential step toward reducing pollution and conserving our natural resources, but this can be easier said than done.

In this blog article, we’ll look at what soft plastics are, the challenges in disposing of them, and provide some actionable solutions to recycle your soft plastics effectively.

What Are Soft Plastics?

Soft plastics are lightweight, flexible, and non-rigid plastics often seen in supermarkets and retail stores. Some common examples of soft plastics include grocery bags, bread bags, cling wraps, and food packaging films.

As a distinction, hard plastics are typically moulded and tough, and they can be recycled into our household recycling bins. Hard plastics, such as water bottles and food containers, are typically more durable and often recyclable. In contrast, soft plastics are not widely accepted in many recycling systems due to their unique properties.

A simple way to tell if plastic is soft or hard is to do a scrunch test. If the plastic scrunches into a ball, it’s soft, and if it holds its shape, it’s a hard plastic.

Different uses of soft plastic

Why Is Recycling Soft Plastics Challenging?

Recycling soft plastics comes with its own difficulties in Australia, partly because of our infrastructure, the risk of contamination, and how the plastics are made.

Materials that are not easily recycled

Soft plastics are among the most difficult materials to recycle. They are often made from different types of plastics that are not easily processed.

Soft plastics usually consist of a combination of three types of plastics – low-density polyethene (LDPE), high-density polyethene (HDPE), and polypropylene (PP). When combined, these materials are difficult to separate, especially when combined with coloured packaging.

Contamination Risks

Unfortunately, food residues and oils frequently contaminate soft plastics, which complicates the recycling process. Cleaning these materials is labour-intensive and costly, and many households and industries will not go through the hassle of separating them.

Lack of Infrastructure

Many recycling facilities in Australia lack the specialised equipment needed to process soft plastics. Unfortunately, sending these plastics to landfills is easier and cheaper than recycling them. There's also no unified standard for dealing with soft plastic across Australia, as processing facilities and guidelines vary from council to council.

Soft plastic compacted

The Impact of Soft Plastic Waste

The improper disposal of soft plastics has far-reaching environmental consequences, which are detrimental to our planet.

Harm to Marine Life

Soft plastics are unfortunately thrown into oceans, rivers, and lakes through poor disposal methods. Digesting soft plastics can cause blockages in the digestive system of marine life, leading to malnutrition, internal injuries, and, ultimately, their death.

Additionally, marine life can become entangled in plastic waste, immobilising them and making them vulnerable to predators. The impact of soft plastics on marine ecosystems disrupts biodiversity and threatens species already at risk.

Soft plastic pollution in ocean

Long Degradation Times

Unlike organic materials that decompose naturally, soft plastics are unable to break down into the ecosystem naturally. Due to their chemical composition, these plastics can take hundreds to thousands of years to degrade. Every piece of soft plastic ever produced still exists in some form today, which leads us to our following impact.

Soft plastic stuck in tree branch

Microplastic Pollution

As soft plastics degrade, they break down into tiny particles known as microplastics. These particles are widespread and will remain in ecosystems, contaminating soil, air, and water sources.

Microplastics have been found in deep-sea sediments, remote Arctic ice, and even inside human bodies. They absorb harmful toxins from the environment and can eventually reach humans when we consume marine life. Studies have linked microplastic exposure to potential health risks, including endocrine disruption, inflammation, and toxic effects on organs.

Micro-plastic pollution on a beach

Resource Waste and Environmental Impact

Soft plastics, such as shopping bags, food packaging, and bubble wrap, are primarily used only once. Their production consumes valuable raw materials, including petroleum-based resources, that release harmful CO2 into the environment. Since a large proportion of soft plastics are discarded after a single use, it leads to massive amounts of waste.

CO2 released

How to Recycle Soft Plastics

While recycling remains a challenge in Australia, there are a few initiatives that can help you recycle effectively. Supermarkets like Woolworths, Coles and Aldi have rolled out soft plastics collection bins in 12 Melbourne stores to encourage more recycling. Meanwhile, initiatives like Recycle Smart are partnering with local councils around Australia to collect soft plastics that can be recycled.

As consumers, prevention still remains the best course of action. Using recyclable bags and being mindful of the products we buy remains one of the most effective ways to reduce soft plastics in our society.

Grocery shopping in an Australian supermarket

Recycling Soft Plastics With Clean Vibes

If you are a company or an event organiser, ensuring that your company adopts sustainable waste management practices is a great way to start, and Clean Vibes is your partner.

As a waste management company that champions sustainability, we’ve built partnerships with companies like ResourceCo that are able to recycle these materials on a commercial level. Our partnerships allow us to intercept items like shredded materials and turn them into processed engineered fuel (PEF), an alternate fuel source. We're always on the lookout to partner with more companies that can divert waste from landfills.

Here’s how you can recycle soft plastics with our team.

Use Our Sustainable Event Cleaning Service

Event and festival organisers can turn their events into a sustainable one with our cleaning services. The Clean Vibes team will effectively manage all event waste and ensure that reusable items are diverted away from landfills, including soft plastics. From large outdoor festivals to boutique indoor events, we’ve helped many organisers across Australia ensure that their event is a sustainable one.

Engage in our Sustainable Waste Management Service

We partner with companies in commercial buildings to recycle their waste in their businesses. By understanding the waste profile of each client, Clean Vibes effectively develops processes and procedures to divert their waste from landfills.

Recycling soft plastics is a necessary responsibility for individuals and businesses. By becoming better stewards of the environment, we can minimise the harmful effects of soft plastics in our ecosystems.

Partnering with a sustainable waste management company is the best way to start.

Contact Clean Vibes today to learn how we can improve your company or event’s sustainability initiatives, or learn more about how to recycle with Clean Vibes.