Victoria · Melbourne
Soft plastics recycling in VIC
In Victoria, as at September 2026, there is no kerbside soft plastics collection. Woolworths hosts in-store bins at more than 700 stores nationally with Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia, though not in some regional areas. Check your nearest participating store. Everything else goes in the red-lid general waste bin, never the yellow-lid recycling.
Sources ACCC: authorisation of supermarket soft plastics cooperationCouncil waste and recycling services (archived Sustainability Victoria page)Woolworths: soft plastics recycling
What do I do with soft plastics in VIC?
- 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.
- You might have a bin Woolworths hosts soft-plastics bins at the front of more than 700 stores with Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia, but not in some regional areas. Check your nearest participating store before you drive.
As at September 2026 some VIC supermarkets host a soft-plastics bin. Check the store before you drive.
Nearest drop-off: Council waste and recycling services, all 79 Victorian councils (archived Sustainability Victoria page)
Can I put soft plastics in the recycling bin in Victoria?
No. Soft plastics are the biggest contaminant in Australian kerbside recycling: they wrap around the sorting machinery and stop the facility while someone cuts them out by hand. In Victoria they go in the red-lid general waste bin unless you are taking them to a supermarket in-store collection point. The purple glass bin takes glass only.
Is the supermarket soft plastics collection still running in Victoria?
As at September 2026, Woolworths hosts in-store soft plastics bins at more than 700 stores in partnership with Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia, which holds an eight-year ACCC authorisation granted in November 2025. Woolworths says collection is not yet viable in some regional areas of Victoria, so check your nearest participating store before you carry a bag in.
How do I tell a soft plastic from a hard one?
Scrunch it in your fist. If it stays balled up it is soft plastic and belongs in the red-lid bin. If it springs back into shape it is rigid, and rigid plastic goes in the yellow-lid recycling.
Will Victoria ever collect soft plastics at the kerbside?
No Victorian council collects soft plastics at the kerbside as at September 2026. Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia holds an eight-year ACCC authorisation and has said it intends to expand the in-store program and add kerbside collection and drop-off facilities. Until that happens the red-lid bin is the answer, and using less packaging does more than any drop-off.
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