Tasmania · Hobart
Soft plastics recycling in TAS
In Tasmania, as at September 2026, there is no supermarket soft plastics collection operating. Bread bags, pasta packets, bubble wrap and courier satchels go in the general waste bin. Never put them in the kerbside recycling bin: soft plastics wrap around the sorting machinery and stop the facility while someone cuts them out.
Sources Rethink Waste Tasmania: soft plastics recyclingRethink Waste Tasmania: A-Z guide to recycling and wasteWoolworths: soft plastics recycling
What do I do with soft plastics in TAS?
- The scrunch test If it scrunches in your fist and stays scrunched, it's a soft plastic — bread bags, pasta packets, bubble wrap, courier satchels.
- Never the recycling bin Soft plastics are the single biggest contaminant in kerbside recycling in Australia.
- Realistically, in your state Woolworths, which hosts the national soft-plastics bins with Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia, says collection is not yet viable in WA, the NT or Tasmania, or in some regional areas elsewhere. The general waste bin is the official advice where no scheme operates.
As at September 2026 there is no supermarket soft-plastics collection operating in TAS. Soft plastics go in the general waste bin.
Nearest drop-off: Rethink Waste Tasmania — A-Z Guide to Recycling and Waste
Can I put soft plastics in the recycling bin in Tasmania?
No. Rethink Waste Tasmania states that soft plastics are not accepted for recycling programs, after the national suspension of the REDcycle program. They cannot go in a Tasmanian kerbside recycling bin, where they are the single biggest contaminant. In Tasmania today they go in the general waste bin instead.
Is there a soft plastics drop-off in Tasmania?
Not as at September 2026. Woolworths hosts in-store soft plastics bins at more than 700 stores in partnership with Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia, but says collection is not yet viable in Western Australia, the Northern Territory or Tasmania. Nothing in Tasmania appears in the participating store list, so the general waste bin stands.
Why has soft plastics recycling not come back to Tasmania?
Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia says collections can only be expanded in line with recycling capacity and demand for the recycled products, which remains very limited in Australia. Tasmania has no collection points under that scheme as at September 2026, and the Rethink Waste Tasmania position has not changed since the REDcycle suspension.
How do I tell a soft plastic from a hard one?
Scrunch it. Plastic that holds the scrunch is soft and goes in the general waste bin. Plastic that springs back, like a milk bottle, is rigid and belongs in the kerbside recycling bin.
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