Plastic shopping bags, cling wrap and other soft plastics are getting their own Wyndham recycling bins.
Wyndham LitterWatch has joined Wyndham council and other community groups in a pilot project in which residents and local businesses can recycle their soft plastics at one of four community centres.
Point Cook Community Centre, Wyndham Vale Community Centre, Tarneit Community Centre and The Grange Community Centre will have their own red bins for soft-plastic drop-offs.
Harry van Moorst from Wyndham LitterWatch said plastic shopping bags, cling wrap, many plastic wrappers and other plastic packaging that is not rigid could be put in the bins.
From there, Ballarat company Replas uses the plastic to make a range of plastic products such as outdoor and playground furniture.
Mr van Moorst said these items could not be recycled through the normal household recycling system because recycling companies found that the soft plastics get caught up in their sorting equipment.
“We’re looking at trying to do things to reduce waste going to landfill,” he said.
“The aim is to recycle plastics that at the moment we aren’t able to recycle in regular household bins.
Mr van Moorst said he hoped bins of this type would be rolled out for many more households in the future.
Lalor MP Joanne Ryan said it was great to see local government and community groups coming together to initiate change.
“The sooner we move to new technologies in how to deal with waste, the better,” she said. “This is part of the solution.
“We all know that it’s reuse, recycle and defer to somewhere else – take it away from landfill, take it away from permanent, long-term storage.”
