Michael Doyle and his fellow Potato Point resident Maureen, with her grandson, stand with the 240-litre white bin outside his home that serves as a soft-plastics drop-off point for the village. Photos: ESC.
When it comes to helping our community, just one person can make a difference.
This is exemplified by the story of Michael Doyle, a man from the Eurobodalla Shire who has installed a bin in his own front yard in Potato Point to collect locals’ soft plastics to be recycled, saving the materials from landfills.
“Here’s the thing. Council can put these white bins for soft plastics recycling out in the community and they’re going to get support,” Mr Doyle said.
In June 2024, Eurobodalla Council trialled soft-plastics recycling with dedicated 240-litre bins at the Surf Beach, Moruya and Brou waste facilities.
The council said the community was receptive, delivering 1240 kg of soft plastics during the three months of the trial and proving its appetite for a permanent program since the suspension of REDcycle in 2022.
“Using REDcycle, we would go to the supermarket to drop off our soft plastics,” Mr Doyle said. ”We were so disappointed when it was shut down.
“With this new program, we know where the soft plastic is going and how it will be processed and used.”
The council has partnered with Recycle Smart to deliver soft plastics from Eurobodalla to APR Plastics at Dandenong in Victoria to be recycled into oil for plastics manufacturing.
The gas generated during the process is reused, fuelling the hybrid generator powering the recycling centre.
Mr Doyle wanted to give both the program and his community a boost, so he installed a white 240-litre bin outside his Potato Point home. This has become a local collection point, alongside a red-lid landfill and yellow-lid general recycling bin “so there is no reason to co-mingle different types of rubbish”.
“About a quarter of the village is on board from just one post to our Facebook community group,” he said. ”That was during the trial. Now it’s permanent, I’ll promote it a bit more.
“Council has provided another soft-plastics recycling bin for the veranda of the Bodalla Post Office. Lisa from Repurposing for Resilience is kindly emptying them both, taking the contents to the tip for transfer to the recycling centre.”
Bodalla Post Office co-proprietor Terry stands next to the soft-plastics bin on the post office’s veranda.
The council’s acting manager of waste services Mel Norman said soft plastics should not go in general recycling.
“The bins at the waste facilities – and now, thanks to volunteers like Michael and Lisa, some local villages – mean residents can divert more plastic from landfill confident they will be recycled,” she said.
“Since the program became permanent, we’re sending at least 400 kilograms of soft plastics for recycling each month.”
The council has advice about which soft plastics can be recycled.
These are: biscuit packaging (not trays), bread bags and cereal box liners, bubble wrap, confectionary packets and bags, fresh-produce bags, frozen-food bags, plastic film/cling wrap, plastic sachets, shopping and grocery bags, silver-lined chip bags, squeeze pouches, zip-lock bags, and sturdy pet food bags with return-to-store labels.
What can’t you add to soft-plastic recycling bins, you ask?
Items such as: adhesive tape, clear-vinyl packaging, balloons, biodegradable plastics, compostable plastics, foil packaging, rubber, rubber gloves, tinsel, wine/water bladders (foil-based), rigid plastic containers like strawberry punnets, silage wrap and builders’ plastic.
For more information, visit the council’s soft plastics recycling webpage by clicking here.
If your community group or association would like to participate in soft plastics recycling, contact the council’s waste team by calling 4474 1024.
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