ALPINE Shire residents can now register for the Local Soft Plastics Recycling Pilot program at the same time as they pick up their program-specific orange bags, making participation easier than ever.

The Local Soft Plastics Recycling Pilot program previously required residents to pre-register before picking up their bags, which is no longer a requirement for community members wanting to recycle their soft plastics.

Alpine Shire has seen 1145 residents register for the Local Soft Plastics Recycling Pilot program so far.

Alpine Shire Mayor, Cr Sarah Nicholas, encouraged residents to register for this pilot program to highlight the value of this service for Alpine Shire communities.

“The purpose of the Local Soft Plastics Recycling Pilot is to understand whether this is a useful and sustainable service for the councils involved in phase two of the program,” she said.

“Recycling of soft plastics has historically been low, especially compared to recycling of hard, rigid plastics.

“We can demonstrate that we truly value this service in Alpine Shire by not only signing up ourselves, but encouraging the people in our lives to sign up as well.”

Data collected from the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation in 2022-23 and shared by Soft Plastic Stewardship Australia shows that only six per cent of soft plastics is recycled, with 56 per cent either sent to landfill or lost in the environment.

During the 12-month pilot program, there is a limit of two rolls of orange bags per household.

Orange bags must be packed tightly to ensure that the program works effectively, which can be determined by weight or size.

Filled bags should weigh approximately 1kg or be the size of an adult basketball that has been pumped up well.

Residents that are yet to register for the program can now both register and pick up their orange bags at the same time from: the council office in Bright; libraries in Bright, Mount Beauty, and Myrtleford, and the Visitor Information Centres in Bright, Mount Beauty and Myrtleford.