Joint media release: Soft plastic recycling gets $15.6 million boost in Victoria

The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for the Environment and Water
Steve Dimopoulos MP, Victorian Minister for Environment

More than 43,000 tonnes of soft plastics will be diverted from Victorian landfills every year, thanks to a $15.6 million investment in advanced and innovative recycling technology by the Albanese Government.

Three projects, delivered in partnership with the Victorian Government, have been announced under the new Recycling Modernisation Fund Plastics Technology stream, as governments work together on solutions for hard to recycle plastics, including soft plastics.

Pro-Pac Group Pty Ltd in Reservoir received more than $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 Australian soft plastic packaging each year with 30 per cent recycled content. The project will deliver 14 direct jobs.

Naula Pty Ltd in Altona received more than $5 million for advanced sorting and processing of up to 32,000 tonnes of soft and mixed plastics products each year, to refine them to produce new plastics such as food-grade 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 Pty Ltd received more than $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 remanufacturing back into original products. The project will deliver 25 direct jobs.

The $60 million Recycling Modernisation Fund Plastics Technology 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 first project under this stream was announced in July – a $20 million investment in a recycling facility in Kilburn, South Australia to clean and purify soft plastics such as shopping bags, chip packets and food wrappers.

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.

Nationally, the Federal Government is increasing recycling capacity in Australia by more than a million tonnes every year while creating over 3,000 jobs, including over 525 in Victoria.

The Australian Government is also supporting soft plastics recycling by improving packaging design through new national packaging laws. These laws will require packaging to be designed to be recovered, reused, recycled and reprocessed safely in line with circular economy principles.

Visit: Investing in Australia's waste and recycling infrastructure - DCCEEW

Quotes attributable to the Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek:

“I know Victorians want to do their part to reduce their waste, reuse and recycle household products.

“This funding is supporting new recycling infrastructure, helping to solve challenges with plastic waste and stop soft plastics from going to landfill, while supporting innovation and delivering jobs.

“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 is great for the environment, but it’s also great for the economy and jobs growth.

“The Albanese Government is committed to working with states and territories to better support industry and households to manage waste and increase recycling capacity.”

Quotes attributable to the Victorian Minister for Environment Steve Dimopoulos:

“This investment is a big win for Victoria - diverting over 43,000 tonnes of soft plastic from landfill and creating local jobs.

“Victoria is proud to lead the way in building a thriving circular economy that benefits our communities and environment into the future - and this partnership with the Albanese Labor Government showcases what’s possible when we work together to deliver real and lasting positive outcomes for our state.”

Quotes attributable to Pro Pac Group CEO and Managing Director, John Cerini:

“This project furthers Pro-Pac’s commitment to playing a leading role in the circular economy for soft plastics.

“With the government’s support, this investment will enable us to take stewardship of the products we produce and with the incoming recycled content mandate for packaging, we will be able to provide brand owners with locally manufactured packaging solutions.

“Pro-Pac will convert Australian soft plastic waste into recycled content products onshore, giving a fully circular Australian solution.”

Quotes attributable to Naula CEO and Founder, Nassib Thoumi:

“This grant is going to mean we can build a facility that will prevent 32,000 tonnes per annum of hard-to-recycle soft plastics from going into landfill.

“We will fill the gap in the plastics recycling supply chain and circular economy for these plastics in Australia.

“We are incredibly proud to receive this grant, it is truly a milestone in Australia’s recycling maturity.”

Quotes attributable to Sustainable Plastic Solutions CEO, Matt Nettleton:

“The Circular Agricultural Plastic Recycling and Remanufacture in Australia project will be the first of its kind; taking hard-to-recycle end-of-life plastics and turning them into high-end prime/virgin material replacement.

“This true closed-loop recycling solution will see an additional 8,000 tonnes of agricultural waste plastic recycled and remanufactured annually.”