More than 14,000 tonnes of soft plastics will be diverted from South Australian landfills every year, thanks to a $20 million investment in advanced recycling technology by the Australian Government.
This project, to be delivered in partnership with the South Australian Government, is among the first announced under the new Recycling Modernisation Fund Plastics Technology stream and will see Recycling Plastics Australia in Kilburn clean and purify soft plastics such as shopping bags, chip packets and food wrappers to create feedstock for new soft plastic packaging.
“The South Australian government has been taking action to ban more and more unnecessary single-use plastic with bans on all soft plastic shopping bags and single-use plastic including coffee cups from 1 September this year,” said Deputy Premier of South Australia, Susan Close.
“I applaud the Commonwealth for this significant investment which acknowledges both the need for this service, and the strength of South Australia’s existing resource recovery and recycling industry.”
“Scaling up equipment and personnel to tackle the challenge of soft plastic recycling is the first step into rebuilding the infrastructure we need for an effective supermarket ‘take back’ scheme is essential.”
The Recycling Modernisation Fund is a national initiative expanding Australia’s capacity to sort, process and remanufacture glass, plastic, tyres, paper and cardboard. When combined with co-investment from all states and industry, the Recycling Modernisation Fund will give a $1 billion boost to Australian recycling.
“South Australians want to do their part to reduce their waste, reuse and recycle household products, and lighten their impact on the planet,” said Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek.
“This funding is supporting new recycling infrastructure, helping to solve challenges with plastic waste and stop soft plastics from going to landfill, while also supporting jobs and industry.
“It’s great to see state governments committed to getting soft plastics out of landfill and working with industry to see a circular economy for soft plastics in Australia.
“This benefits the environment and the economy. For every job in landfill, there are three jobs in recycling.”
The $60 million stream funds solutions that increase Australia’s recycling and recovery rates for hard to recycle plastics, enables collection schemes to be scaled up over time, and helps drive Australia’s transition to a safe circular economy.
The innovative Kilburn project has been announced during Plastic Free July – a campaign that appeals to all Australians to do their bit to reduce plastic pollution and waste.
“Recycling Plastics Australia has a proud history leading the circular economy by recycling plastics that are difficult to process,” said Recycling Plastics Australia chair, Peter Gregg.
“We are grateful that the Australian and South Australian Governments have supported this $40 million dollar project that is to transform soft plastics recycling in Australia.’
“This funding will see our Kilburn site in South Australia become the prominent soft-plastic recycling processor in the country, with materials recycled here and sold into local and global packaging markets.”
