More than 800,000 soft plastic bread bags from thousands of Queensland households have been recycled into a new aggregate replacement in concrete, with Mackay Regional Council pouring the state’s first batch of Polyrok concrete last week.
REDcycle, a recovery initiative for post-consumer soft plastic, launched the Wonder Recycling Rewards for Schools’ program in collaboration with Wonder manufacturer Goodman Fielder, collecting more than six tonnes of soft plastic bread bags in schools across Australia in 2021.
Those bags now form part of sustainable recycled aggregate replacement in concrete, known as Polyrok. Mackay Regional Council is the first organisation in Queensland to use this product.
“Wonder Recycling Rewards program donated three and a half tonnes of Polyrok to Mackay Regional Council to use in community infrastructure projects,” said Liz Kassell, REDcycle founder.
“We were thrilled by the response from school communities who collected mountains of bread bags as part of this initiative. These students now know that the humble bread bag they recycle today could be the handball court of tomorrow.”
Mark Jacobsen, Polyrok strategy director, explained Polyrok was developed in conjunction with RMIT University, using state-of-the-art technology and soft plastics collected by REDcycle.
“For the first time in our history, we have created a scalable and financially viable solution to dealing with the most problematic post-consumer soft plastic packaging in the world. That should be an exciting prospect for everyone,” he continued.
Mackay mayor Greg Williamson said this was a significant coup for council as they look to continue their drive toward a sustainable future.
“Polyrok is a great end use for soft plastics that would otherwise go to landfill or end up in our oceans. These three and a half tonnes of Polyrok represent 830,000 plastic bags,” added Williamson.
“Every bag that our community can collect in programs like this one, and at the REDcycle collection points, means fewer soft plastics go to our Materials Recovery Facility, where they need to be separated out, creating processing delays and increasing our landfill costs.”
Christine Fung, head of marketing and category at Goodman Fielder Australia, congratulated Mackay Regional Council on creating a circular economy, benefiting the local environment and community.
“The Wonder Recycling Rewards program commences again on 14 March, and we encourage the community to support their local school and start collecting,” she concluded.
