As the first operator of a MRF to secure a licence to export single polymer plastics, Cleanaway will sell the green PET to processors offshore and in Australia.
As the first operator of a MRF to secure a licence to export single polymer plastics, Cleanaway will sell the green PET to processors offshore and in Australia.
Cleanaway has continued the upgrade of its Laverton Material Recovery Facility (MRF) centre in Melbourne with an investment of more than $1 million in new equipment to increase recycling of plastic.
Chief Operating Officer Brendan Gill says the investment, supported by up to $500,000 of funding from Sustainability Victoria, includes the purchase of new conveyors and optical sorting equipment and the optimisation of existing equipment at the plastic recycling facility at Laverton.
Brendan says said the new equipment will allow the separation of plastics such as coloured PET bottles and plastic trays commonly used for meat and fruit, from mixed residual plastic, reducing the volumes of plastic being sent to landfill and increasing the recovery of valuable commodities.
“At Cleanaway we see all waste as a resource, so this investment supports our objective of creating a circular economy in which waste is reduced and materials are reused and recycled, rather than sent to landfill,” he says.
“Recovering, finding markets for, and selling, single polymers like coloured PET plastic not only creates value but is consistent with our mission of making a sustainable future possible.”
Sensors on the sorting equipment detect and remove the coloured PET from the mixed plastics as they move along a conveyer at Laverton.
They were sold overseas with other plastics, like high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP), before bans on exports of mixed plastics were introduced on 1 July.
As the first operator of a MRF to secure a licence to export single polymer plastics, Cleanaway will sell the green PET to processors offshore and in Australia.
Clear PET from Laverton will be sent to the $45 million PET pelletising facility being built at Albury, NSW, to produce plastic resin for use in manufacturing new plastic containers.
The facility, owned by a joint venture of Cleanaway, Pact Group Asahi Beverages called Circular Plastics Australia (PET), will be fully operational later this year.
Cleanaway and Pact announced in July that Laverton would be the site of a $38 million plant to convert recycled HDPE and PP, such as milk bottles and food tubs, into resin for use in manufacturing food, dairy and other packaging This facility, which complements the Albury PET pelletising plant, will be fully operational in December 2022.
Cleanaway, Pact, Asahi and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) have signed a memorandum of understanding to form a joint venture which will build and operate a new PET recycling facility and include the Circular Plastics Australia (PET) joint venture in Albury.
A decision on the location of the new PET facility will be made in coming months, with construction to be completed by 2023.
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