A new $50 million facility capable of recycling the equivalent of up to one billion 600ml PET plastic beverage bottles a year has commenced operations in Melbourne, coinciding with the start of Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme. PKN was there.
The world-class facility, based in Altona North, is the biggest of its kind in Victoria and equipped with top of the range technology to produce 2.5 tonnes of recycled PET resin per hour.
The plant opening was attended by Federal Minister for Environment, Tanya Plibersek and Victorian Environment Minister Steve Dimopolous, who toured the facility along with other VIP guests from leading industry associations, and senior executives from the partner companies in the Circular Plastics Australia (PET) joint venture – Pact Group, Cleanaway, Asahi and Coca-Cola EuroPacific Partners. On the tour they learned that the plant will convert used beverage bottles into high-quality food-grade resin, which will then be used to make new recycled PET beverage bottles and food packaging such as meat trays and fruit punnets. The plant will play a key role in recycling PET bottles collected through the CDS as well as PET plastic packaging from household and office recycling bins.
The project received $6 million in funding through the Australian Government’s Recycling Modernisation Fund and the Victorian Government’s Circular Economy – Recycling Modernisation Fund.
Addressing attendees Minister Plibersek said this facility, with its capacity to recycle a billion bottles a year, is making a huge contribution to Australia's pursuit of a circular economy.
"Australia by international standards has very low material reuse, that means we are digging out and manufacturing raw materials at a much greater scale than we need to. That's not efficient. It's not efficient to make something for one use and then throw it away.
"So what we're really trying to do nationally is move to a circular economy, where we make it easy for the average consumer, industry, retailers and others, to do the right thing. We want to make it as low friction as possible to collect the raw material, have it processed, have it remanufactured and resold into the economy again."
Minister Plibersek went on to say that while we need to make this process as easy as possible, it's also important to get the economic settings right, so that once the system is set up, it takes care of itself.
"In addition to the Recycling Modernisation Fund, we will be partnering with state governments and the private sector to see a billion dollars worth of investment going into increasing our recycling capacity by about 1.3 million tonnes," Minister Plibersek said.
"And by 2025, we together with the state and territory governments, we will have reformed packaging regulation, so that we're using less material in the first place, using less problematic polymers and additives, and ensuring packaging is designed so that it can be reused and recycled more easily. Getting the settings right will include setting targets for mandated recycled content so that once we get the system running we will have a truly circular economy."
Commenting on the rollout of the Victorian CDS, and the importance of recycling facilities like Circular Plastics Australia (PET), Minister Dimopolous said, "This is a non-negotiable for us in terms of our targets to achieve a circular economy. If you're wanting consumers to make behaviour changes, they need to have confidence in what's happening downstream. Well, they can have confidence that this is an extraordinary facility."
Pact managing director and CEO, Sanjay Dayal, who spoke on behalf of all the JV partners, reminded attendees that this is the this is the second Circular Plastics Australia (PET) recycling facility now operational in Australia, with the first, a similar sized plant in Albury NSW, commencing operations in March 2022.
Dayal said: “Pact is proud to be part of a sustainable solution where we are making, recycling and remaking plastic beverage bottles in Australia. Together, the two Circular Plastics Australia (PET) recycling facilities are able to process up to two billion plastic bottles a year which helps keep thousands of tonnes of plastic waste out of landfill.”
Pact managed the build and now operates the two recycling facilities. Cleanaway provides used PET plastic to be recycled through its collection and sorting network. Asahi Beverages and CCEP use the recycled resin from the joint venture to make new 100% recycled PET beverage bottles while Pact manufactures recycled food and beverage packaging for its customers.
By recycling plastic waste locally, the two Circular Plastics Australia (PET) plants are helping to create a “closed loop” solution for plastic beverage bottles and reduce Australia’s reliance on virgin and imported recycled resin.
Cleanaway CEO Mark Schubert was also in attendance. He said: “Cleanaway is proud to be part of building Victoria’s circular economy through this bottle-to-bottle recycling facility. Cleanaway’s leading integrated network of collections and infrastructure assets provides our customers with high circularity / low carbon solutions and great customer service.”
Asahi Beverages CEO Amanda Sellers weighed in: “This plant helps ensure soft drink bottles collected via the Victorian CDS and recycling bins get another life as beverage bottles or food packaging. It’s a big step towards creating a truly circular economy in Victoria. Already, all our 450ml and 600ml water and soft drink bottles are made with 100% recycled plastic (excluding caps and labels).”
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Australia managing director, Orlando Rodriguez, said: “CCEP is determined to be a leader in Australia’s circular economy. Through this investment, alongside the introduction of Victoria’s CDS, we have made great strides in closing the loop on beverage packaging locally. Seven out of 10 of our PET bottles are now made from 100% recycled plastic (excluding caps and labels).”
When fully operational, the plant will be able to produce around 20,000 tonnes of recycled PET resin each year. At full production, the facility is expected to employ about 45 people for its 24/7 operations. It supported around 60 full time jobs during its construction.
