Cleanaway opens largest PET recycling plant in the country with Coca-Cola and Asahi
The National Waste and Recycling Industry Council (NWRIC) congratulates Cleanaway Waste Management and its partners in opening the largest PET recycling plant in the country.
The world-class facility is a joint venture partnership between Pact Group, Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd, Asahi Beverages, and new partner Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP).
NWRIC CEO Rose Read says the facility will significantly increase Australia’s domestic capacity for locally sourced and recycled PET by two thirds from around 30,000 tonnes to over 50,000 tonnes per annum.
“The facility will reduce Australia’s plastic waste by recycling the equivalent of around 1 billion PET beverage bottles each year.
“This shows the value of collaboration across the supply chain and the positive impact it can have on building Australia’s circular economy.
“Australia urgently needs more facilities like this to deal with other plastic types including HDPE, PP and LDPE, as phase two of the plastics waste export ban comes in from 1 July 2022,” Ms Read said.
Read more from Cleanaway here: World-class recycling plant opens in Albury-Wodonga
Read the joint media release here: $45 million recycling plant opens in Albury
Tasmania waste and resource recovery industry takes huge leap forward
On 10 March, Tasmania passed the Container Refund Scheme (CRS) Bill 2021 and the Waste and Resource Recovery Bill 2021 in Parliament, marking the start of an exciting new chapter for Tasmania’s waste and resource recovery industry.
NWRIC CEO Rose Read says the passing of these bills is a critical step forward for Tasmania and will help drive recycling rates in the state.
“The benefits of CRS are well established, and we’ve seen how they create jobs, increase recycling rates and deliver social benefits for communities,” Ms Read said.
“A waste levy, which is part of the Waste and Resource Recovery Bill, sends the necessary price signal to industry to invest in recycling collection and processing infrastructure, creating new businesses, more jobs, secondary resources and diverting waste from landfill.
“The funds generated from the levy will also enable Tasmania to leverage around $9.5 million of federal and industry funds[1] to build the necessary recycling infrastructure to transition Tasmania to a circular economy.
“NWRIC congratulates Tasmania on this important milestone, which will support Australia its target of an 80% resource recovery rate by 2030,” concluded Ms Read.
Read the media release from Premier Peter Gutwein here: Historic day for resource recovery in Tasmania
[1] Federal government National Waste Plan including the Recycling Modernisation Fund offers $190million for infrastructure (with matching state and industry investment) and expects to generate 10,000 new jobs nationally https://www.awe.gov.au/environment/protection/waste/how-we-manage-waste/recycling-modernisation-fund