After the collapse of REDcycle in late 2022 left Australians with nowhere to take shopping bags, bread bags and food wrappers, in-store soft plastics collection is returning. For brands that use flexible packaging, this is a genuine shift, and it changes what belongs on the pack.
What has actually changed
A new national scheme is being run by Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia (SPSA). In 2025 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission granted the scheme an eight-year authorisation, an exemption from certain competition laws that lets rival companies collect and recycle soft plastic packaging together. Its initial members include Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, Nestle, Mars and McCormick Foods.
The scheme is funded by a levy paid by companies based on how much soft plastic packaging they place on the market, and collection has been rolling back into supermarkets across the eastern states through 2026. Woolworths has confirmed in-store collection at more than 700 of its stores, with drop-off points spread across several states.
Why the last scheme failed, and what is different
REDcycle stockpiled soft plastics because it collected far more than it could process. The SPSA model is built to avoid that gap: the ACCC noted that recycling partners have capacity for more than 20,000 tonnes a year, close to three times REDcycle's peak. That is still modest against the problem. The ACCC's own figures put soft plastic packaging placed on the market at more than 540,000 tonnes across 2022 and 2023, of which only around six per cent was recovered.
The lesson for brands is that collection alone does not make a pack sustainable. A soft plastic that can, in theory, be dropped at a supermarket is still harder to recover than a rigid format that goes straight into the kerbside bin.
The labelling trap to avoid
The most immediate design issue is what the pack says. The old REDcycle logo and the "Return to Store" instruction were widely printed on soft plastics. When collection stopped, the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation, which owns the Australasian Recycling Label, asked members to remove that messaging because it had become misleading to shoppers.
As collection resumes, APCO has introduced an updated soft plastics option within the Australasian Recycling Label that points consumers to current, location-based disposal information rather than a fixed promise on the pack. The practical takeaway: do not reinstate an old REDcycle mark from memory, and do not invent a recycling claim. Confirm the correct current label through the ARL program before artwork goes to print.
Design decisions that matter now
- Treat the soft plastics label as a live requirement, not a badge you copy from a previous run. The correct on-pack instruction depends on the material and the program, and it has changed more than once.
- Ask whether the format needs to be a soft plastic at all. A mono-material film, a recyclable carton or a rigid pack that suits kerbside collection can be an easier disposal story to tell honestly.
- Keep recycling claims specific and defensible. The ACCC continues to scrutinise greenwashing, so vague "recyclable" wording without the right label and context is a risk.
- Design the disposal message to be read, not buried. If a shopper cannot find or understand it, the scheme's convenience is wasted.
A measured view
The return of soft plastics collection is welcome, but it is a recovery step rather than a fix. For most brands the higher-leverage move sits earlier in the process: choosing a format and material that is genuinely easier to recover, then labelling it accurately. That is a decision made at the design stage, not at the recycling bin. For a plain-English starting point on the bodies and labels involved, see our guide to sustainable packaging in Australia.
General information to help you plan, not legal or professional advice. Scheme details and labelling requirements change, so always confirm the current position with APCO, the relevant scheme or your designer before you print.