We hear it from warehouse managers, retail stockroom teams and production supervisors on a regular basis: soft plastic is everywhere, and nobody’s quite sure what to do with it. Pallet wrap, stretch film, poly bags, shrink wrap; it builds up fast in distribution, retail and manufacturing settings, and general waste bins just aren’t the right fit for it.
Soft plastics behave quite differently to rigid plastics like crates, drums or bottles. They’re thin, light for their volume, and they tangle. Rigid plastic moves through a standard recycling stream without much fuss. Soft plastic doesn’t, not without dedicated collection and processing behind it.
That’s where soft plastic recycling comes in. A proper soft plastic recycling program gives distribution centres, retail stockrooms and manufacturing floors a practical way to keep film out of landfill, bring down waste costs, and meet the sustainability expectations that are now part of everyday business life.
The business case is pretty clear. Film takes up an enormous amount of bin space relative to its weight, so diverting it lowers your landfill disposal costs in a meaningful way. It also helps businesses stay ahead of Australian sustainability targets, including the packaging goals under the Australian Packaging Covenant. And when it comes to corporate responsibility reporting, tonnage actually diverted carries a lot more weight than a vague commitment buried in an annual report.
>Download Now: Free PDF Business Owners Guide To Commingled Recycling Bin Services
The Challenge of Managing Commercial Soft Plastic Waste
A busy distribution centre can go through pallet wrap by the roll, every single day. Across a retail chain or a manufacturing shift, the volume stacks up fast.
The trouble starts when soft plastic gets mixed in with general waste or rigid plastics. It’s bulky, it compresses poorly, and once it’s tangled up with food scraps or broken pallets, commercial plastic recycling becomes a much harder problem to solve. In many cases, heavily contaminated loads get rejected entirely.
Common soft plastics across distribution, retail and manufacturing sites include:
- LDPE stretch and pallet wrap
- Bubble wrap and air pillow packaging
- Poly bags and garment covers
- Shrink wrap from bulk product packaging
- Plastic strapping and banding
Distribution hubs mostly deal with pallet wrap. Retail stockrooms handle shrink film coming off delivered stock. Manufacturers generate production scrap and packaging liners. The waste looks a bit different from sector to sector, but the core issue is the same: soft plastic needs its own path out of the building. That’s exactly what a dedicated soft plastic recycling program provides.
Why Soft Plastics Require Dedicated Processing
Standard materials recovery facilities are built around rigid containers and paper. Feed them flexible film and it wraps around rollers and conveyor belts, jams sorting machinery, and can shut a line down while staff untangle it by hand. This is why soft plastics need to be collected separately from the start. When film stays clean and segregated, there’s a genuine chance it gets processed into something useful. When it doesn’t, it heads straight to landfill.
How Commercial Plastic Recycling Solutions Work for Your Industry
Distribution, retail and manufacturing businesses don’t generate soft plastic waste the same way, so a one-size-fits-all bin rarely does the job. Recycling of plastic materials at a commercial scale needs to match the actual waste stream each sector produces.
Retail stockrooms mostly deal with shrink wrap coming off delivered stock, plus poly bags and garment covers. A dedicated bin near the unpacking area, kept well away from cardboard, with clear labelling, usually handles it well.
Distribution centres are dominated by pallet wrap and stretch film. Because the volumes are higher, on-site baling often makes more sense than loose collection. A baler compresses film into dense, transport-ready bales, cutting how often collections are needed and improving the price a recycler will pay for the material.
Manufacturers generate production scrap film and packaging liners at a fairly steady rate throughout each shift. Source segregation right at the line, with bins positioned where offcuts actually fall, keeps the material clean enough to recycle.
| Sector | Typical Soft Plastic Waste | Best Handling Method |
| Distribution | Pallet wrap, stretch film | On-site baling, high-frequency collection |
| Retail | Shrink wrap, poly bags, garment covers | Segregated stockroom bins, clear signage |
| Manufacturing | Production scrap film, packaging liners | Source segregation at the line, on-site compaction |
Step-by-Step Guide to Implementing Soft Plastic Recycling in Your Facility
Setting up soft plastic recycling doesn’t need to be a big project, but it does need to happen in the right order. Skip the audit and you’ll end up with containers that don’t suit your volume. Skip the staff training and you’ll end up with contaminated film that no recycler wants to touch. Follow the steps below and you’ll have a system that actually works.
Step 1: Audit Your Current Waste Stream
Work out how much soft plastic your site generates and where it comes from. Walk the floor and take note of what’s going into general waste bins right now. A week-long audit is usually enough to tell you whether you’re dealing with a few bags a day or several bales a week. That number drives every other decision.
Step 2: Segregate Soft Plastics From General and Rigid Waste
Once you know the volume, separate soft plastic from everything else at the point where it’s generated, not later at a central bin. The closer the segregation point is to where the waste is actually created, the cleaner the material stays.
Step 3: Choosing the Right Plastic Recycling Container and Baling Equipment
Bin sizing matters more than most facilities expect. If it’s too small, staff will dump film wherever there’s room. If it’s too large, you’re paying to collect mostly empty bins on a regular basis. Clear labelling on every plastic recycling container is one of the easiest ways to prevent cross-contamination. For higher-volume sites, on-site compaction through balers or caged bins saves floor space and makes soft plastic recycling far more cost-effective at scale.
Step 4: Train Staff on Correct Sorting and Labelling
Even the best container setup can fall apart if staff aren’t sure what goes where. A short induction covering what counts as soft plastic, paired with simple signage at the bin, goes a long way toward keeping contamination low and keeping your recycler happy.
Step 5: Partner With a Waste Provider for Regular Collection
Once the internal system is running smoothly, the final step is arranging collection through a provider that can actually process soft plastic rather than just haul it away and figure it out later.
Partnering with Australian Plastic Recyclers for Cost-Effective Waste Management
Getting the internal setup right covers half the job. The other half is who takes the material once it leaves your site. Working with established plastic recyclers reduces transport costs, can open up rebate opportunities for clean film, and gives you transparent reporting to back up the sustainability claims your business is making.
When choosing an Australian waste service partner, look for:
- Transparent reporting on where your soft plastic actually ends up
- Rebates or reduced collection rates for clean, uncontaminated film
- Flexible, no lock-in contracts on 30-day agreements
- Local collection networks that keep transport distances manageable
- A genuine recycling pathway, not stockpiling dressed up as recycling
Get this right and the work you’ve put into audits, containers and staff training pays off in lower disposal costs and a waste stream your business can genuinely stand behind.
Start Recycling Smarter With Waster
If your business is generating pallet wrap, shrink film or production scrap and it’s all heading straight to landfill, now is a good time to take stock of your current waste stream. Soft plastic recycling is one of the more straightforward wins available to distribution, retail and manufacturing businesses, and setting it up is rarely as disruptive as people expect.
Visit Waster.com.au to explore our flexible, contract-free waste service options, or get in touch with our team for a soft plastic recycling quote tailored to your facility.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which plastics are recyclable?
Most rigid plastics (bottles, crates, drums) and soft plastics (pallet wrap, shrink film, poly bags) can be recycled, but they need to travel through separate streams. Mixing the two typically results in the whole load being rejected.
Can soft plastics be placed in standard commercial commingled bins?
No. Commingled bins are built for rigid containers, and soft plastic film jams the sorting equipment at materials recovery facilities. Soft plastics need a separate, dedicated stream as part of any commercial plastic recycling setup.
How do commercial plastic recyclers handle contaminated soft plastic waste?
Contaminated film, meaning soft plastic mixed with food residue or the wrong plastic type, either needs manual sorting before it can be used or gets rejected and sent to landfill. This is why clean, on-site segregation matters so much for a working soft plastic recycling program.
What size plastic recycling container or collection system does my business need?
It depends on your volume. A small stockroom might only need a single bin with weekly collection, while a distribution centre generating multiple bales a week will need a baler and more frequent pickups. A quick waste audit will point you in the right direction.
Can soft plastic recycling generate rebates or reduce waste disposal costs?
Yes, in some cases. Clean, well-baled film has real value to recyclers, which can translate into rebates or reduced collection rates. Even without a rebate, diverting soft plastic from general waste typically lowers landfill costs, since film takes up so much bin space relative to its weight.
