A court has ordered failed recycling scheme REDcycle be wound up following the discovery of tonnes of stockpiled plastic.

NSW Supreme Court Registrar Leonie Walton ordered the scheme’s parent company RG Programs and Services be wound up on Monday, appointing Benjamin Carson of Farnsworth Carson as liquidator.

Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths were partners in the scheme and on Friday offered to take back the plastic until it can be “viably processed for recycling”.

The two companies say they paid $20 million to REDcycle over a decade and were not told about the stockpiling.

The scheme abruptly stopped operating in November and has since admitted to stockpiling more than 12,000 tonnes of plastic in NSW, Victoria and South Australia.

REDcycle has previously denied the stockpiling was a cover-up, saying it was an attempt to ride out problems including a spike in returned plastics, a fire at its largest taker of the material and insufficient recycling capabilities in Australia.

Supporting creditors will have to chase their own costs.

“(It’s) their choice to be here – up to them to take it up with the liquidator,” Ms Walton said.

– AAP