Six companies share Recycling Modernisation Fund grants

Around 9,600 tonnes of material will be diverted from landfill every year thanks to the federal and Victorian governments investing $3.4 million for six new recycling projects in Melbourne and Ballarat through the Recycling Modernisation Fund.

The new and upgraded facilities will employ 38 additional staff and will sort, process and recycle used plastics and paper into valuable new products, such as transport pallets.

Industry will contribute $13 million to these important projects which are expected to add 1.3 million tonnes of processing capacity every year, diverting valuable materials from landfill for reuse, and supporting new jobs.

The federal Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus (pictured) visited APR Plastics processing facility for the announcement of $1,000,000 in grant funding under the scheme.

The new facility will be Australia’s first dedicated soft plastics optical sorting plant, and will ensure an optimum stream of soft plastics is supplied to both APR’s own advanced recycling plant and existing mechanical recyclers processing Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE.)

Other projects funded are:

• NCI Holdings Pty Ltd in Tullamarine received $175,810 to increase the use of post-consumer recycled content in the manufacture of impact-resistant paint pails to 50 percent
• Schutz Australia Pty Ltd Recycling in Laverton North received $1 million to install new equipment that will enable refinement of recovered high-density polyethylene (HDPE) from used Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs) to produce clean pellets suitable to manufacture new IBCs and drums
• Repeat Plastics Australia Pty Ltd in Ballarat received $708,000 to increase operational capacity and capability to enable the production of large-scale manufacturing, industrial, commercial and civil products, such as transport pallets from recycled plastic
• Corex Recycling Pty Ltd in Dandenong South received $253,470 to install new equipment that will enable recovery of highly contaminated soft plastic waste and maintain the highest level of end product purity
• And Y and Y Trading Pty Ltd in Truganina received $250,000 to expand Australia E-waste Recycling’s capacity to separate plastics from e-waste and produce flake and pellets for reuse into new products.

Plibersek said: “This funding is supporting new recycling infrastructure, helping Victorians get value from precious materials that would otherwise go to waste.

“This is great for the environment, but it’s also great for the Victorian economy. For every job in landfill, there are three jobs in recycling.”

Picture: The federal Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek, and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus (at left) visited APR Plastics processing facility for the announcement of $1,000,000 in grant funding provided via the Victorian Circular Economy Recycling Modernisation Fund