Case Study: Australia Post approach to soft plastics
Helping Australia’s largest retailer assess recycling pathways
Situation and Challenge
Australia Post has publicly committed in its 2025 Sustainability Roadmap to offer soft plastics recycling at select regional postal outlets. This sits within a complex national context, where the soft plastics recycling industry in Australia is evolving rapidly but remains immature, with variable capability, infrastructure and risk profiles across providers and regions.
At the time of the national pause, Australia Post was rolling out a soft plastics collection program in partnership with REDcycle. This necessitated an immediate market reassessment and created both operational and reputational risk for organisations with public commitments.
The challenge was to determine and assess the best approach and alternative solutions emerging in the Australian market, and to ensure any future approach would be credible, defensible and aligned with Australia Post’s obligations as a government business enterprise.
What are soft plastics?
The term soft plastics refers to plastics that can be easily scrunched up in your hand, then do not keep their shape e.g. bread bags, chip packets and plastic mailing satchels.
Our Approach
Bel was engaged to provide independent, informed advice on available options, grounding discussions in an evidence-based assessment of market readiness to support internal decision-making and endorsement processes.
This involved:
- Developing an assessment framework – suitable for a unique government business enterprise
- Identifying existing solutions and initial interviews and engagement with them
- Assessing against framework criteria - including feasibility, scalability, organisational values alignment, risk and suitability for regional implementation, and
- Visiting premises to ensure visibility, and a comprehensive understanding was built
The work was designed to provide Australia Post with a clear, comparative view of available options, enabling informed discussion and a defensible recommendation to be presented to the business for endorsement.
Bel’s Unique Value
Bel brings a strong working knowledge of Australia’s recycling systems, the voluntary, co-regulated packaging framework and packaging design and supply chains, which is critical when navigating an emerging and fragmented soft plastics market.
She balances technical detail, an ability to engage with a wide range of people, with strategic perspective – ensuring the evaluation was both rigorous and practical.
Importantly, Bel understands the governance and accountability requirements of working within a government business enterprise, ensuring advice is framed in a way that supports sound decision-making, transparency and public trust.
Ricardo Pinto | Senior Manager, Customer Sustainability and Reporting, Group Sustainability Office | Australia Post
Australia Post entrusted Bel with the vital task of shaping our packaging governance framework and devising a roadmap for our soft plastics strategy, integral components of our 2025 Sustainability Roadmap.
Bel's profound industry expertise shone throughout the engagement, evident in her meticulous methodology. Her adeptness in merging technical acumen with strategic foresight is truly commendable.
We wholeheartedly endorse her professionalism and dedication and are grateful for the partnership.
The result
Australia Post was provided with structured, evidence-based advice that offered clarity at a time of significant uncertainty, supporting informed internal discussion and enabling leadership to assess options with a clearer understanding of risk, feasibility, and alignment with organisational commitments.
The evaluation enabled Australia Post to respond responsibly, reinforcing a measured and credible approach to delivering its sustainability commitments – and the framework can be used to support future decision-making.
Want a clearer path forward?
Let’s build a practical assessment framework for your packaging or recycling program—then compare real market options with confidence.
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