An Australian court is asked to liquidate the company behind a flexible plastic recycling scheme that leaves mountains of waste across the country.
Authorities have found more than 30 plastic stockpiles in Victoria, New South Wales (NSW) and South Australia after the REDCycle scheme was suspended last year.
Efforts are currently underway to make these sites safe amid concerns that fires may pose a public health and safety threat. However, it is not clear who will receive the bill.
BTG Logistics, a creditor who claims it owes money to store 660 tons of plastic, has filed for liquidation of the company, it has emerged.
The application, against RG Programs & Services Pty Ltd, traded as REDCycle, is due to be heard in the NSW Supreme Court on 27 February, according to BTG’s attorneys.
This comes as environmental protection agencies in three states attempt to deal with 32 storage sites and about 12,400 tons of plastic-laden fallout.
Four more warehouses were discovered in Melbourne last week, and on Friday the NSW Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warned Coles and Woolworths that they could be forced to deal with the matter.
Coles and Woolworths acted as collection points for waste not only from their own products, but from other sources such as online shopping.
Tony Chappel, Chief Executive of the NSW EPA said:
Instead, plastic was found piled up from floor to ceiling in storage, posing a potential hazard to the public.
Both supermarket chains have received advance cleanup notices for more than 5,200 tonnes of plastic stored across NSW. They have until later this week to respond.
Both chains expressed disappointment suggesting they had no control over what happened and had no idea what was going on.
REDCycle blames unforeseen challenges when it suspended its program last year, including an exponential increase in the amount of returned plastic and the refusal of recycling partners to accept and process the collected plastic Did.