‘Not a good look’: Recycler accused of secretly dumping plastic in landfill

One of Australia’s largest recycling companies has been accused of secretly dumping more than 260 tonnes of plastics into landfill.

The Australian has obtained documents which allege one of REDcycle’s partners told a Newcastle waste management facility to transport more than tonnes of soft plastics from a warehouse to the tip in early 2021.

Lecturer at Deakin University’s school of life and environmental sciences, Dr Trevor Thornton, said it “raises the issue of why the regulators aren’t … continually monitoring this”.

“It’s not a good look for the recycling industry,” he told Ross and Russel.

“We also need to have the generators, like the supermarkets, monitoring more and more oversight of what’s happening, and then the regulators also playing their part.”

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