Nestlé, iQ Renew to trial soft plastic recycling in NSW Central Coast

Nestlé and Australian recycling company iQ Renew will begin recycling trial of soft plastics on the NSW Central Coast.

The trial seeks to identify means of gathering household soft plastic and convert it into a resource that can be used in other plastic products, chemical recycling and energy recovery.

The companies will initially pilot with 2,000 households on the NSW Central Coast, with plans to extend it to around 140,000 homes.

Households taking part in the trial will accumulate their clean soft plastics in a purpose-made bright yellow ‘Curby’ bag.

The tagged bags will be placed in a yellow recycling bin before being taken to recycling.

iQ Renew CEO Danial Gallagher said: “We are delighted to partner with Nestlé and launch the Curby soft plastic recovery solution on the Central Coast.

“By piloting the Curby solution, residents of the Central Coast will help demonstrate that preventing soft plastic ending up in landfill is not only possible, but simple and highly achievable.

“The trial will help answer a few questions – how will the community adopt this? Can we keep loose plastics out of other recyclables? Will the bags survive the truck? Can we use regular shopping bags?”

“We’ve been testing ways to separate and recover soft plastic from other items in household recycling, which is challenging for sorting facilities.

“This trial will allow us to test that at larger scale, with the hope of bringing much needed recycling innovation to all Australians.”

Last month, Nestlé Philippines and building materials provider CEMEX Holdings Philippines entered a partnership agreement to divert plastic waste in Cebu province.