On 25 September, the Australian Food & Grocery Council (AFGC) hosted the National Soft Plastics Summit in Canberra. Andrea Polson from Licella, who spoke on advanced chemical recycling on the expert panel, shared her observations with PKN.
The AFGC is the custodian and driver of the National Plastics Recycling Scheme, which is a kerbside recycling initiative that could be rolled out nationally and provide an important source of feedstock for soft plastics recycling infrastructure coming on stream by 2025. This includes the Licella advanced recycling plant in Altona, Victoria.
The Summit brought together stakeholders from industry and government to hear what the NPRS trials of soft plastic recycling have revealed and what Australia can learn from the overseas experience.
In a recent PKN Podcast interview with AFGC CEO Tanya Barden, some of those results were shared.
“To see the foundational work that has been done was great and to have the opportunity to be part of the conversation on the scheme as it moves to the pre-commercial and commercial stages was important,” Andrea Polson, marketing director at Licella said.
Polson said it is clear that “the time for action is now”, and noted that common themes emerged at the Summit on the barriers to a soft plastic circular economy.
So, what is stopping us from "just doing it"? Polson provides these observations:
Barrier 1: System economics - The linear economy is still more profitable and economics drive action. In the absence of real policy, the system will continue to take, make and dispose.
Opportunities:
- Flip the cost conversation to one of value and impact. Can you put a price on environmental impact? What about social licence to operate?
- Policy will drive change: Government needs to set dates to ensure there is a clear horizon for initiatives and investment.
- Take an outcomes-led approach to subsidies.
- Redirect capital from fossil fuel subsidies to help close the economic gap.
Barrier 2: Investment capital - The majority of the value chain take a short-term view of economic return.
Opportunities:
- Create a mandated scheme and mandate recycled content. This will drive the demand for PCR plastic and underpin investment confidence.
- True collaboration means that parties holding fundamental roles in the value chain take a long-term view of the chemical recycling industry and support its development. Mondelēz International and Amcor are leading the way. [Ed’s note, these companies have recently invested in Licella’s advanced recycling facility]
Barrier 3: Feedstock availability - Advanced (mechanical, but especially chemical) recycling needs assurance of suitable feedstock being available at scale, specification and a price that doesn't destroy the emerging value chain before it has time to establish the economies of scale.
Opportunities:
- This is where the NPRS has a huge opportunity to plug the gap and facilitate feedstock agreements for chemical recycling facilities.
- We need to take a holistic view of feedstock availability (via households and industry), collection and aggregation, pre-processing and price. It is good to see these themes included in the breadth of the NPRS' analysis, now we need to provide them the data to ensure we interrogate the depth of these issues.
The work of developing a solution for soft plastic packaging here in Australia is happening and it’s showing exciting progress. PKN will keep you updated on further news to come on the NPRS.
