An advanced mechanical recycling facility, purpose-built for processing post-consumer soft plastic, has officially opened in NSW with capacity to process 15,000 tonnes of material annually, transforming the material into high-grade feedstock for multiple remanufacturing applications.
The new Soft Plastic Engineered Commodity (SPEC) plant, built and commissioned by iQRenew, is the culmination of four years of rigorous testing, trials, investment and innovation. Its official opening marks an important step forward in the Australia’s quest to find a solution to the post-consumer soft plastics recycling challenge that came into stark focus when REDcycle collapsed in November 2022.
Located in Taree, on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, iQRenew’s SPEC plant has capacity to process 15,000 tonnes of post-consumer soft plastic annually, which the company claims makes it the largest facility dedicated to dealing with 100 per cent post-consumer soft plastic right now in Australia.
Danny Gallagher, CEO of iQRenew, said the journey “hasn’t been easy” but the company is committed to building a robust value chain for this complex waste stream.
iQRenew says the plant is the “missing link” in Australia’s soft plastics recycling infrastructure. It says the processed material is transformed into high-grade feedstock that can be used by chemical and mechanical processors and will enable growth of this market in Australia. Other grades of feedstock, iQRenew says, can be used for making recycled pellets for use in manufacturing plastic products such as non-food grade films, construction and agricultural products and other plastic items, or extrusion moulding such as park benches, bollards, fence posts and other moulded products.
Gallagher said, “iQRenew is truly proud to be at the forefront of solutions for post-consumer soft plastics in Australia. My team has worked tirelessly to make SPEC a reality. I extend my gratitude to them and our partners. Looking ahead, we hope for greater collaboration across the entire supply chain — from brand partners to government and industry bodies — so we can all work together to deliver a circular economy, fit for our future.”
According to iQRenew, the SPEC facility is well positioned to support the Curby ‘bag-in-a-bin’ program run by councils around the country and to support the future post-consumer soft plastics collection scheme being developed by industry to replace the discontinued REDcycle program.
iQRenew says it is inviting supply chain stakeholders and manufacturing partners to get in touch. The company says there are numerous opportunies for collaboration with offtake partners.
