Federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek has threatened to regulate to improve recycling rates.

After the collapse of the soft plastic recycling scheme REDcycle, supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths stop receiving the items, despite being the major point of sale for products using soft plastics packaging.

The supermarkets are increasingly putting fresh produce like apples, beans, corn and celery into plastic packaging so that it can be more easily scanned at self-serve checkouts.

This not only increases the amount of plastic packaging, but food waste too, because growers can only sell what fits in the packaging. 

In a speech to industry stakeholders, Ms Plibersek said consumers “have every right to feel cheated” after the high-profile recycler fell over.

“The collapse of REDcycle soft plastics collections came as a great shock to everyone, including to me as minister,” Ms Plibersek said.  

“It’s left people feeling upset, disillusioned, even betrayed.”

She said the Albanese government supports the previous government’s plastics recycling targets, but had been handed an abject failure.

“With plastics recycling, instead of rising to 70 per cent by 2025 as promised, we’ve been stuck around 16 per cent for the past four years,” Ms Plibersek said. 

“Good announcements and nice sentiments don’t cut it in this industry.

“We have to do the nuts-and-bolts work - the work of supporting logistics chains, of designing effective regulation, of investing in the right facilities.”

The Federal Government is rolling out the $250 million Recycling Modernisation Fund, which includes $60 million budgeted in October for hard-to-recycle plastics, like soft plastics.

“My colleague, Ed Husic, is also looking to support remanufacturing as part of his $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund,” Ms Plibersek said. 

If easy fixes are not taken up, she said there would be regulatory alternatives.

“I’m prepared to regulate when it’s necessary,” Ms Plibersek said.

“I’m happy to let industry take the lead, but if industry is unable to act, then I have no problem imposing obligations.”

She said an immediate priority is to establish “product stewardships arrangements for tyres and mattresses”.

“And we’re looking to regulate solar panels and other e-waste.”