Soft plastic collection: A practical opportunity for Large Format Retailers and their customers

Australians generate tens of billions of pieces of soft plastic packaging each year, to protect electrical, hardware, pharmaceutical, clothing, general merchandise and food and grocery products. Until recently most of it ended its life in landfill. In response to this challenge, retail-led collection points are rolling out under Soft Plastic Stewardship Australia’s scheme, offering customers convenient ways to drop off clean soft plastics as part of everyday shopping routines.

One leading example is Woolworths’ in-store soft plastic collection network, now running in 600+ stores in Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Newcastle, where customers can bring soft plastics to the front of store for recycling.

These collection points aren’t just about goodwill, they meet a clear consumer behaviour pattern. Customers are already returning used batteries at Bunnings for recycling with Ecobatt and bringing used lightbulbs and fluorescent tubes to IKEA for responsible disposal. Both examples have shown that when retailers make recycling easy, customers will engage.

For Large Format Retailers and their service partners, soft plastic collection presents a practical value proposition:

• Convenience builds engagement – like battery and bulb take-back programs, soft plastics can become part of “the weekly shop” habits.
• Reinforces sustainability credentials – offering visible in-store recycling aligns with corporate and sector commitments on waste reduction.
• Supports circular outcomes – collected soft plastics can be sorted and turned into new materials for use in products and infrastructure, diverting waste from landfill and keeping materials in productive use.

What’s exciting now is that soft plastics collected in store are making their way back into value chains, with recyclers like iQRenew turning recovered material into high-grade feedstock used in products like cleaning bottles, shopping baskets and trolleys, and manufacturers such as saveBOARD transforming packaging waste into low-carbon building panels used in Woolworths fit-outs, showing there is practical circularity in action.

More than a sustainability initiative, this is an opportunity to embed practical circularity into the customer experience while strengthening asset relevance. Centres that support accessible, well-managed collection points can drive repeat visitation, enhance dwell time and reinforce their position as community hubs. By working collaboratively across retailers, centre management and service providers, the sector can play a meaningful role in reducing waste at scale while delivering a clear, visible benefit that resonates with increasingly sustainability-conscious customers.

For more information, please visit spsa.au or contact info@spsa.au