$40m soft plastics recycling boost for Adelaide

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.

Recycling Plastics Australia in Kilburn will clean and purify soft plastics such as shopping bags, chip packets and food wrappers to create feedstock for new soft plastic packaging.

This will help develop an advanced recycling supply chain that will turn soft plastic waste back into packaging, at the same time creating 45 jobs.

The Chair of Recycling Plastics Australia Peter Gregg said his company had a proud history leading the circular economy by recycling plastics that are difficult to process.

Gregg said: “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.”

The project is among the first announced under the new Recycling Modernisation Fund Plastics Technology stream.

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, and helps drive the transition to a circular economy.

When combined with co-investment from all states and industry, the Recycling Modernisation Fund will give a $1 billion boost to Australian recycling.

The Deputy Premier of South Australia Susan Close said: “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.”

Picture: Recycling Plastics Australia