The government of the Australian state of Victoria announced an AUD 15.6 million (€9.5 million) investment across three soft plastics recycling projects. The facilities are expected to divert 43,000 tonnes of soft plastics from landfill per year.
Pro-Pac Group, a packaging company, received more than AUD 6 million to expand its existing facility for transforming recycled feedstock into soft plastic with recycled content. It will produce up to 11,000 tonnes of soft plastic packaging each year with 30% recycled content. The project will deliver 14 direct jobs.
Recycler Naula received more than AUD 5 million for advanced sorting and processing of up to 32,000 tonnes of soft and mixed plastics products each year for high-quality applications such as food-contact packaging. This will help Australia to develop an advanced recycling supply chain that will turn post-consumer soft plastic waste back into food and other packaging. The project will deliver 61 direct jobs.
Sustainable Plastic Solutions received more than AUD 4 million to install recycling technology to process an additional 8,000 tonnes each year of agricultural plastics such as films, grain tarp, and baling twine into high quality resins for reprocessing into the same applications. The project will deliver 25 direct jobs.
The announcement follows an AUD 20 million investment in July for a new soft plastics recycling plant in Kilburn, South Australia.
All four investments are part of the Australian government’s Recycling Modernisation Fund Plastics Technology totalling AUD 250 million. It aims to expand 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 boost Australian recycling in AUD 1 billion.
The government set up the fund following the collapse of Australia’s soft plastics recycling programme in 2022. Industry giants poured millions into REDcycle to collect material for recycling since 2010. In November 2022, it was revealed that the company was stockpiling soft plastics in several warehouses across Australia rather than directing them for recycling. The collapse of the scheme was partly blamed on lack of soft plastics recycling infrastructure.
Australia introduced national targets for packaging in 2018 in an industry-led scheme that does not impose penalties for failures. It requires 70% of plastic packaging to be recycled or composted by 2025. Australia will not reach the target, with only 18% of plastic packaging being recycled in 2023. Groups have called for the introduction of a plastic tax and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme in response.
As of Sept. 1, all Australian states and territories have banned soft plastic bags.