27 July 2021
A Bega Valley Shire Council survey and competition has kicked off an awareness campaign to increase soft plastics recycling in the shire.
The survey and competition, offering three eco-hampers containing a Jackie French book and a bundle of soft plastics alternatives, will ask how the community disposes of its soft plastic waste.
Project Officer, Amber Gault said the survey and competition are the first steps in a broader campaign aimed at increasing awareness of this type of problem waste.
"Soft plastics are often treated as general waste because they can't be disposed of in the regular yellow recycling bins," Ms Gault said.
"Any kind of plastic that you can scrunch in your hand is considered soft plastic, and this can be recycled through REDcycle bins located at Coles and Woolworths stores throughout the shire.
"We're hoping to find out how much soft plastic is ending up in landfill, because if we can determine the scale of the problem, we can act accordingly and work towards a solution.
"We already know soft plastic makes its way into green bins by conducting waste audits which look at the contaminants in our FOGO waste.
"Plastic contamination is removed by hand before processing organic waste into high value compost, so we are really looking to tackle this issue through the campaign.
"By improving awareness of where to place soft plastics, we hope to remove any doubt of how this problem waste can be disposed of.
"The survey is a great way to round out Plastic Free July, and it will only take about two-minutes to complete."
This competition is a component of the Plastic Free FOGO project, funded via the Organics Collection Grants Program as part of the EPA's Waste Less Recycle More initiative.
To access the soft plastics survey and enter the competition, go to Council's Have Your Say webpage.
Winners will be randomly drawn and announced on the Bega Valley Waste and Recycling Facebook page after the survey competition closes on Monday 9 August 2021.
