In a landmark collaboration for circular packaging innovation, three Central Coast-based companies – iQRenew, Curby and TrendPac – have joined forces to turn soft plastic waste into a functional component for consumer homecare products, marking an Australian first.
Soft plastic recycling in Australia has long posed a challenge due to the complexity of materials and limited processing infrastructure. But this partnership is proving what's possible when innovation meets collaboration.
Under the initiative, soft plastics are collected directly from Australian households through the Curby “Bag in a Bin” Program. Residents in participating council areas place their soft plastics into special program bags, which are then placed in the yellow kerbside recycling bin. At Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs), these bags are sorted and aggregated for processing.
The soft plastic material is then transported to iQRenew’s Soft Plastic Engineered Commodity (SPEC) facility on the Mid-North Coast, where advanced mechanical recycling technology is used to transform the post-consumer waste into high-quality resin pellets.
TrendPac, a packaging and contract manufacturer supplying major retailers and brands across Australia, is incorporating these recycled pellets into its packaging solutions. The result: a dispensing plug insert made entirely from 100 per cent Australian household soft plastic resin, now used in products such as liquid toilet cleaner and bleach products.
“This is a fantastic example of what can be achieved when local companies collaborate to push the boundaries of recycling and circular design,” said Lachlan Symons from TrendPac. “It proves that difficult-to-recycle materials like soft plastics can find new life in meaningful, high-quality applications.”
Curby’s smart recycling platform also adds a layer of transparency and trust to the process. Each Curby Program Bag is embedded with a unique QR code that, when scanned via the Curby App, enables traceability from household disposal through to remanufacture into a new product.
With iQRenew providing the recycling infrastructure, Curby delivering consumer engagement and traceability, and TrendPac closing the loop through product innovation, the project sets a benchmark for Australian-made circular packaging solutions.
