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Speaker 1: My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda

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Speaker 1: Bungelung Calkatin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges

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Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the

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Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres

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Speaker 1: Straight Island and nations. We pay our respects to the

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Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.

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Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily Ods. It's Friday,

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Speaker 2: the eleventh November. I'm Zara, I'm Sam. The soft plastic

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Speaker 2: recycling company Red Cycle has temporarily shut down this week

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Speaker 2: after reports of warehouses filling up with waste that couldn't

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Speaker 2: actually be recycled. We're going to explain everything about this

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Speaker 2: story and what to do with your plastic bags.

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Speaker 3: But first Sam, what is making headlines.

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Speaker 4: It's the end of a big sitting week in Canberra

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Speaker 4: and the government's industrial relations legislation has passed the House

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Speaker 4: of Representatives after fierce debate in Parliament this week. The

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Speaker 4: bill passed with the support of the Government and some

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Speaker 4: of the cross Bench. It will now head to the

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Speaker 4: Senate before it can be signed into law.

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Speaker 2: The number of scams reported to the A Triple C,

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Speaker 2: the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, has increased by ninety

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Speaker 2: two percent in the current financial year. A Triple C

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Speaker 2: chair Gina Cascottlieb said Australians are now losing over two

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Speaker 2: billion dollars per year and that scams are targeting vulnerable populations.

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Speaker 4: Over to the US now, and US President Joe Biden

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Speaker 4: declared the results of the midterm elections a quote good

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Speaker 4: day for democracy and America. Biden said predictions of a

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Speaker 4: wave of Republican success didn't happen, and the Democratic Party

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Speaker 4: had a strong night. Former President Donald Trump said he

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Speaker 4: remains confident that the Republicans will gain a majority in

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Speaker 4: both Houses of Congress.

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Speaker 2: Sticking with the US for our good news today, the

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Speaker 2: US states of Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont have all

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Speaker 2: voted to alish slavery in all forms by removing a

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Speaker 2: constitutional exception that allowed involuntary slavery as a punishment for

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Speaker 2: committing a crime. Almost ninety percent of voters in Vermont

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Speaker 2: backed the change.

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Speaker 4: Zara a happy National Recycling Week.

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Speaker 3: Look.

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Speaker 2: I don't know that there's much to be happy about,

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Speaker 2: but thank you for your well wishes.

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Speaker 4: Well, it should be a happy week where we're focusing

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Speaker 4: on the merits of recycling and exciting new initiatives, but

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Speaker 4: instead we've got a bit of a bad news story.

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Speaker 4: We're talking today about Red Cycle, and that's the company

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Speaker 4: behind those bins that you might have seen your local supermarket.

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Speaker 4: It's the one where you could go and drop off

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Speaker 4: plastics that couldn't go in your recycling bin. Zara, what's

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Speaker 4: gone wrong here?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So earlier this week there was an exclusive in

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Speaker 2: the Nine Papers that reported that our biggest soft plastic

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Speaker 2: recycling program was in big trouble, and it revealed that

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Speaker 2: those zip lock bags, those ice cream wrappers and bread bags,

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Speaker 2: whatever you'd been dropping off for recycling was actually being

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Speaker 2: stockpile in warehouses and not recycled at all.

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Speaker 4: I just have this image in my mind of you know,

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Speaker 4: klometers of plastic in warehouses. How on earth did they

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Speaker 4: end up there?

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Speaker 2: I think before I explained that we need to just

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Speaker 2: step back a bit and understand what Red Cycle had

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Speaker 2: previously been doing with the soft plastics that people were

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Speaker 2: dropping off. So first they were processing these plastics at

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Speaker 2: special facilities. Then the plastics were being used to create

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Speaker 2: a range of recycled products that included outdoor furniture, shopping trolleys,

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Speaker 2: additives for concrete. The organization says it saved five point

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Speaker 2: four billion pieces of soft plastics from landfill since it

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Speaker 2: began eleven years ago. But of course recently we've found

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Speaker 2: out it's not all good.

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Speaker 4: News, and we'll red Cycle alone in this process. Or

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Speaker 4: were they partnering up with other companies.

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Speaker 3: They weren't at it alone.

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Speaker 2: They were partnering with a couple of other organizations who

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Speaker 2: produced those trolleys and those concrete additives that I spoke

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Speaker 2: about before, and that's really where the trouble started. So

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Speaker 2: the thing is, soft plastics are really really difficult to recycle.

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Speaker 2: They jam up the machinery at regular recycling centers, which

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Speaker 2: is why red Cycle, for example, needed to send the

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Speaker 2: plastics they collected to these special facilities, and why they

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Speaker 2: were until very recently only working with a couple of

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Speaker 2: companies to use that recycled plastic to then make other things.

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Speaker 4: So I imagine that if something goes wrong, it's pretty hard

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Speaker 4: to fix in that complicated process.

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Speaker 3: And then something did go wrong.

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Speaker 2: One of the companies that red Cycle worked with had

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Speaker 2: to shut down the facility that they were using to

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Speaker 2: turn this plastic into concrete additives after a fire earlier

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Speaker 2: this year, then another company, Remember there were only a

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Speaker 2: select few experienced quote downturns in market demand related to

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Speaker 2: the pandemic.

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Speaker 4: So we had a fire earlier this year in the

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Speaker 4: mix and these downturns that you're talking about. So it

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Speaker 4: sounds to me like Red Cycle knew that they were

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Speaker 4: going to end up with this influx of non recyclable

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Speaker 4: soft plastic that they didn't really know what to do with.

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Speaker 4: But the program only stopped this week, right.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, it doesn't look great.

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Speaker 2: Not only has Red Cycle been secretly stockpiling plastics since

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Speaker 2: the fire, but the supermarkets that Red Cycle had partnered with,

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Speaker 2: so Coals and Woolies, only recently found out about the

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Speaker 2: backup in the recycling process.

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Speaker 4: And have we had a response from the company this week.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So, following that report by the nine papers that I said,

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Speaker 2: Red Cycle did publish a statement on its website that

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Speaker 2: said that all of the combined factors that I've mentioned

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Speaker 2: before had quote put untenable pressure on the Red Cycle

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Speaker 2: business model. It said that all plastics it has collected

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Speaker 2: that cannot be recycled are being kept in storage at

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Speaker 2: quote great personal expense to the organization, and it claims

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Speaker 2: none of this plastic will end up in landfill. Red

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Speaker 2: Cycle has said it wants to resume the program as

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Speaker 2: soon as possible, but couldn't confirm how long the pause

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Speaker 2: will be.

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Speaker 4: We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back.

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Speaker 4: This is obviously exposed a major flaw in our current recyclingices.

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Speaker 4: Have we heard much from the government this week and

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Speaker 4: could this be an opportunity for them to step in well.

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Speaker 2: Environment Minister Tanya Plibisek commented on the situation earlier in

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Speaker 2: the week. She said that she wanted the government to

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Speaker 2: work with businesses like coals and woolies to facilitate large

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Speaker 2: scale recycling and reduction of those soft plastics being produced

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Speaker 2: in the first place. She also confirmed that the government

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Speaker 2: found out about Red Cycle's failure about the same time

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Speaker 2: as the rest of us did through the news reports.

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Speaker 2: She said that the government has set aside sixty million

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Speaker 2: dollars to address quote this issue of hard to recycle plastics,

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Speaker 2: and she went on to say a little part of

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Speaker 2: me dies every time I see a piece of soft

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Speaker 2: plastic going into my bin and ending up in landfill.

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Speaker 3: Which quite a few of us would actually relate to.

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Speaker 4: So what should we do with our soft plastics while

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Speaker 4: we wait for this Red Cycle program to be revived

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Speaker 4: or for indeed a new program to come out.

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Speaker 2: Look, there are a couple of very local, small soft

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Speaker 2: plastic recycling services around. I know that there's one in Newcastle,

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Speaker 2: for example, and they work with local council to collect

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Speaker 2: and recycle soft plastics from your yellow bin. But for

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Speaker 2: most of us, the only solution Red Cycle has proposed

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Speaker 2: right now is to put your soft plastic in the

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Speaker 2: red bin for landfill. It can't go in the yellow bin,

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Speaker 2: or like we've heard, it will jam up the recycling machines.

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Speaker 4: It's pretty hard to have these conversations about COP twenty

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Speaker 4: seven and you know the state of our planet, and

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Speaker 4: then have this news come at the same time where

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Speaker 4: it feels like we're somewhat paralyzed into this situation. I

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Speaker 4: hope we do find a solution soon. We'll keep you

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Speaker 4: updated if there's any more news about this story, and

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Speaker 4: the best way to stay up to date with TDA

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Speaker 4: is to subscribe to this podcast. You can also follow

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Speaker 4: us on Instagram. And sign up to our excellent weekday newsletter.

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Speaker 4: Have a fantastic weekend, everyone, and we'll see you bright

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Speaker 4: and early on Monday mornings.