Soft plastics recycling is back at Anglesea Transfer Station, which is now also accepting unwanted paints and tubs.
Surf Coast Shire Council households can drop off clean and dry soft plastics up to five large garbage bags worth in quantity at the station at no charge, with larger loads incurring a fee.
Councillor Leon Walker said he was glad to see the introduction of an ongoing soft plastics recycling program after a trial in August last year.
“Every item we can keep out of landfill and feed back into the circular economy helps reduce both the environmental and financial impacts,” he said.
“The trial collection in 2024 was an overwhelming success, and we know the community has been waiting for this ongoing opportunity.
“It is fantastic to be able to recycle our soft plastics locally again… as we know waste is one of the biggest challenges and costs we face as a community.”
Collected soft plastics will be baled at Anglesea and sent to a Melbourne recycling facility to be turned into new soft plastic packaging, road materials, or gas for energy.
Last year’s transfer station trial saw close to 500 residents drop off a combined 890kg of soft plastics in three days, with most items coming from food packaging, followed by online purchases.
Anglesea Transfer Station is now an authorised Paintback collection site that can accept eligible paints and packaging from households and professional painters at no charge.
Eligible paint must be in its original container with tins no larger than 20 litres and a maximum of 100 litres per visit, which will be separated and recycled into fuel and other by-products at a specialist facility.
