Soft Plastics Trial WA

19/01/2026

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/circulareconomy-ao-stringcycle-ugcPost-7417733798265622528-aOcX?utm_medium=ios_app&rcm=ACoAAEf-4esBOGyeQV86UyFxyypFR1Dv8YAABgw&utm_source=social_share_send&utm_campaign=facebook

08/09/2025

🚨 WA, we need to act on soft plastics! 🚨

Every week, WA households generate an average of 2.2kg of soft plastic waste. That’s over 100,000 tonnes every year in Perth alone — and it’s only growing.

Supermarkets keep telling us they’re “working on it” through national taskforces. But here in WA, that’s just greenwashing by delay. Our state is vast and isolated, and we need real, local solutions — not promises designed for the east coast.

💡 The truth is, we’ve done our part. The WA community has already shown a willingness to change behaviour by collecting, returning, reducing, and reusing. But without supermarkets investing in research, development, and local recycling pathways, all our efforts are in vain.

👉 That’s why we’ve started this petition:
https://chng.it/xnVfTtQ42z

We’re calling on supermarkets in WA to:
✅ Take responsibility for the waste they create
✅ Invest in WA-based R&D and recycling technologies
✅ Work with local innovators, councils, and communities
✅ Deliver real, immediate action — not more empty promises

✍️ Please sign and share this petition today. Together, we can make sure WA supermarkets step up and lead on soft plastics — instead of leaving our environment to pay the price.

Demand WA Supermarkets Fund Local R&D for Soft Plastics Recycling

05/09/2025

Kate Chaney's address to parliament on soft plastic waste - https://youtu.be/BJqIkSRlDhA?si=d3BNjnC8R4KvoTvT

22/08/2025

Here’s the ‘wrap’ on the Soft Plastic Trial. 📣

In total we diverted just shy of 1000kg of soft plastics from landfill 👏.

These plastics are now destined to enter the circular economy as various 100% recycled and recyclable products - all made possible because of Circular Seeds engineering innovations.
What we learnt is that the community desperately wants sustainable solutions for their waste streams and are not only willing to change their behaviour but also to volunteer their time to help disrupt and build new systems. We also learnt that soft plastics are extremely voluminous (1000kg looks like 4 shops full) and some are very problematic to process.
It is estimated that each household discard approximately 2.2kg/wk.

That would mean we generate close to 26,000kg/wk in post codes 6014 & 6015 alone. Which is over 100,000kg/month in City Beach & Floreat. 😫 A solution can only be found if all stakeholders come together in good faith.

Some interesting discussions are taking place with the Floreat Forum, Town of Cambridge, local politicians, Subiaco Town councillors and most interestingly the food packaging companies. We are working on collaborations with these power brokers as well as Mercy Care and other social enterprises to find a viable long term solution to this waste stream in WA.

Some of our volunteers and trial participants have expressed interest in forming a committee to continue exploring solutions and pushing for change. We will be convening to discuss ‘where to from here’ in late January. If you would like to be a greater part of the solution, please reach out and I’ll add you to the email list.

🙏 Big thank you to all the volunteers and the wider community for making this happen.

17/05/2025

Thank you, Bailey's for hosting us at the Perth Garden Show!

We’re thrilled to have made meaningful connections with industry and key stakeholders in sustainability & environmental services.

Thank you to the waste and water authorities, the Sustainability Department at Curtin University, Nursery and Garden Industry WA (NGIWA), the Landscaping Institute, and the Water Authority for engaging with us in discussions that matter. These partnerships are a crucial step toward developing a comprehensive product catalog that supports and sustains the soft plastic recycling system.

Together, we’re not just imagining a circular economy, but we're building it.

16/05/2025

Big thanks to our amazing Floreat Forum Plastics Project volunteers!

In February, they visited Circular Seed to see how the plastics they helped collect last December are being transformed into sustainable products.

Full circle, real impact.

02/05/2025

Circular Seed is at the Perth Garden Show today!

Come visit us at the Baileys Workshop Marquee, where we’ll be showing how our soft plastic recovery solutions can help turn waste into valuable resources. And don’t miss our live shredder demos this Saturday & Sunday at The Forever Project’s “Blank Canvas” — a hands-on look at how innovation meets real-world impact.

Massive thanks to Sarah Dalziel from Baileys and Chris Ferreira from The Forever Project for championing this important work.

🌿 Circular Seed at the Perth Garden Show! 🌿 We’re excited to be invited by Baileys to join them at the Perth Garden Show this weekend. We'll showcase how our soft plastic recovery solutions can support the horticultural industry on its sustainability journey. ♻️ You’ll find us at t...

09/03/2025

Wow this year has started out fast. 🏃💨

Shifting our soft plastic flow from landfill to products is absolutely doable but complex.

Let me explain where we are up to with the creation of a local circular economy for soft plastics……

* What we learnt from last Decembers trial is that turning on the tap to collect post consumer soft plastics is easy. The community is more than willing to collect and bring in their waste to a drop off point like their local shopping centre and the JLL group has express interest in rolling out the shredding facilities in their centres.

* I have started conversations with Orana House, BuddiUp and MercyCare to explore the manning of these facilities. Partnership with organisations like these would create really meaningful social impact.

* Andrew Head at the Town of Cambridge has given me some guidance as to how to engage the councils, collectively, in alternative procurement discussions. We are hoping to have councils collaborate to create a shared catalogue of products that are commonly procured items across the board. This area is being flagged as the most pressing to attend. If anyone has skills in marketing/media and or experience in government/procurement, we would love some assistance.

* The Department of Water and Environmental Regulations reached out after our trial, to understand our current hurdles and to offer support.

* We have also opened discussions with the Noongar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, to explore how the manufacturing of components could be managed by Indigenous enterprises with the training and technology provided by Circular Seed.

All of these **** above are great starting points and are opening lots of possibilities but a long lasting, truely sustainable solution requires time, endurance, optimism, smarts and a huge amount of collaboration.

But everything worth while does! 😊