More than 43,000 tonnes of soft plastics is set to be diverted from Victorian landfills every year thanks to a $15.6 million investment in advanced and innovative recycling and remanufacturing technology by the Federal Government.
Three projects that were delivered in partnership with the Victorian Government have been announced under the new Recycling Modernisation Fund Plastics Technology stream.
The Recycling Modernisation Fund is a national initiative expanding Australia’s capacity to sort, process and remanufacture glass, plastic, tyres, paper and cardboard.
“It’s great to see state governments committed to getting soft plastics out of landfill and working with industry to see a circular economy for soft plastics in Australia. This is great for the environment, but it’s also great for the economy and jobs growth,” said minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek.
Sustainable Plastic Solutions received more than $4 million to install recycling technology to process an additional 8,000 tonnes each year of agricultural plastics into high quality resins for remanufacturing back into original products.
The project that will focus on plastics such as films, grain tarp and baling twine is set to deliver 25 direct jobs.
“The Circular Agricultural Plastic Recycling and Remanufacture in Australia project will be the first of its kind; taking hard-to-recycle end-of-life plastics and turning them into high-end prime/virgin material replacement,” said Sustainable Plastic Solutions CEO, Matt Nettleton.
Naula Pty in Altona received more than $5 million for advanced sorting and processing of up to 32,000 tonnes of soft and mixed plastics products each year, to refine them to produce new plastics such as food-grade packaging.
This will help Australia to develop an advanced recycling supply chain that will turn post-consumer soft plastic waste back into food and other packaging. The project will deliver is set to deliver 61 direct jobs.
“We will fill the gap in the plastics recycling supply chain and circular economy for these plastics in Australia,” said Naula CEO and Founder, Nassib Thoumi.
“We are incredibly proud to receive this grant, it is truly a milestone in Australia’s recycling maturity.”
Pro-Pac Group Pty Ltd in Reservoir received more than $6 million to expand its existing facility for transforming recycled feedstock into soft plastic with recycled content.
It will produce up to 11,000 tonnes of Australian soft plastic packaging each year with 30 per cent recycled content. The project is set to deliver 14 direct jobs.
“With the government’s support, this investment will enable us to take stewardship of the products we produce and with the incoming recycled content mandate for packaging, we will be able to provide brand owners with locally manufactured packaging solutions,” said Pro Pac Group CEO and managing director, John Cerini.
The first project under the $60 million Recycling Modernisation Fund Plastics Technology stream was announced in July – a $20 million investment in a recycling facility in Kilburn.
When combined with co-investment from all states and industry, the Fund has the potential to give a $1 billion boost to Australian recycling.
Nationally, the Federal Government is increasing recycling capacity in Australia by more than a million tonnes every year while creating over 3,000 jobs, including over 525 in Victoria.
The Australian Government is also supporting soft plastics recycling by improving packaging design through new national packaging laws.