Recovering plastics for recycling
The Laverton Plastic Recovery Facility is located within the Cleanaway Laverton Material Recovery Facility (MRF) itself, and is part of the our Victoria Commingled Resource Recovery (VCRR) network. This facility is part of the assets acquired from SKM Recycling in October 2019 and has since received substantial safety and sorting upgrades.
The facility sorts and processes plastic material received from commercial and municipal kerbside collections into five individual polymer grades. These are then baled for sale or input into a pelletising facility. By doing so, the plastic retains its commodity value, allows recyclers to produce better quality final products and saves times for recyclers as they do not need to sort the plastics further.
Key features
Plastics collected from commercial and municipal recycling is first separated from other commingled recyclables such as paper, cardboard, glass, aluminium and steel at the Laverton MRF before being transferred to the PRF. These plastics are then further sorted into five polymers, which are:
- PET (Polyethylene)
Examples: Plastic waste bottles, plastic peanut butter jars, plastic detergent bottles - HDPE (High Density Polyethylene)
Examples: Plastic milk bottles, shampoo bottles - PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride)
Examples: Plastic cordial and juice bottles - LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene)
Examples: Ice cream lids - PP (Polypropylene)
Examples: Plastic yoghurt containers, plastic take-away containers
Sorting this way allows us to maximise and retain the commodity value of the collected plastics. This can also allow us to reduce contamination and improve the purity of the product sent to recyclers, saving time and resources.
How we do it
Plastics recovered from municipal and commercial collections are sent to the Plastics Recovery Facility. Here they are sorted into five polymer grades for baling before being sent to recyclers to be turned into new products.