Set to open by October 2021, it's a joint venture among Asahi Beverages, Pact Group Holdings Ltd and Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd, and will be called Circular Plastics Australia PET.
The raw plastic material that the new plant will recycle each year is equivalent to 1 billion 600 ml PET plastic bottles, and will be used to produce more than 20,000 tonnes of new recycled PET (rPET) bottles and food packaging, making it the largest end-to-end rPet plant in Australia.
The plant will increase the amount of locally sourced and recycled PET produced in Australia by two thirds - from around 30,000 tonnes currently to over 50,000 tonnes per annum. Importantly, the plant will also reduce Australia’s reliance on virgin plastic and the amount of recycled plastic Australia imports.
What is particularly interesting about this facility is that the 3 way JV is pretty much serving itself. Cleanaway will provide available feedstock through its collection and sorting network (NSW Return and Earn Scheme and Cleanaway’s Material Recovery Facilities). Pact will provide technical and packaging expertise and Asahi Beverages and Pact will buy the majority of the recycled pellets from the facility to use in their packaging products.
The project was made possible with the assistance of almost $5 million from the Environmental Trust as part of the NSW Government’s Waste Less, Recycle More initiative funded from the waste levy, with the support of the Department of Regional NSW and the Australian Government’s Recycling Modernisation Fund.
Pact and Cleanaway also have their eyes on a new plant in WA will see over 17,000 tons of kerbside plastic waste processed into nearly 14,000 tons of resin and polymer flake which will be used to make packaging for food, household and industrial products. The proposal is for the facility to be operational in the first half of 2022.
Both projects are supported by the Federal Government's new Recycling Modernisation Fund. The fund's objective is to enable the creation of world class infrastructure to manage the local processing of Australia’s waste.