The decision will affect national supermarket chains such as Aldi, Woolworths, and Coles. Credit: Olga Miltsova via Shutterstock.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has confirmed that it has granted ‘conditional authorisation’ to supermarket chains to help continue their collaborative efforts to manage soft plastics stockpiles.

This authorisation signifies that the country’s main supermarket chains, including Coles, Woolworths and Aldi, can now resume the in-store collection of soft plastics for recycling, which mainly includes food packaging, plastic bags, cling wrap and bubble wrap.

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The latest milestone comes three months after the ACCC released a draft determination to grant temporary authorisation for continuing soft plastic stockpile management for 12 months.

The ACCC’s deputy chair Mick Keogh said: “We have granted this final authorisation to allow supermarkets to continue their discussions around the issue of in-store collections, as outlined in the Roadmap to Restart.

“We believe this conditional authorisation is in the public interest, reflecting public concern about the stockpiling of soft plastics and the need to divert soft plastics from landfill and inform consumers about the resumption of in-store collections.

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“The authorisation has been granted with conditions that ensure there is continued transparency on the progress towards the roadmap and that the public are kept up to date.”

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The decision to establish a collaborative approach for managing these plastics was taken on by local supermarkets after the collapse of the industry-led programme ‘REDcycle’.

The soft plastics recovery programme came into effect in 2011 and was developed and managed by Melbourne-based consultation/recycling organisation RG Programs and Services.

The suspension of REDcycle was first announced in November 2022 after finally being declared insolvent in February 2023.

The programme’s suspension resulted in the elimination of the only soft plastics recycling pathway for consumers. This then led to the formation of the Soft Plastics Taskforce, under which the ACCC permitted supermarkets to collaborate to establish a new strategy.

Chaired by the country’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, the task force released its ‘Roadmap to Restart’ to resume in-store collections on 7 March.

Keogh added: “The ACCC has also been engaging with industry stakeholders and representative bodies to ensure transparency in communications to minimise the risk of consumers being misled by representations on packaging about the recycling of soft plastics.”