Tasmania to get three new plastic recycling facilities

Three Tasmanian plastic recycling plants that received grant support under the Recycling Modernisation Fund have been announced.

According to a statement from federal environment minister Sussan Ley, the facilities would reprocess 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste annually and receive a combined $20.3 million in federal support.

Plastics at the three sites would be reprocessed into products including wood plastic composites for home timber decking, fully-recyclable framing for transporting goods, and other products for the aquaculture, agriculture and construction industries.

“Not only will they turn a waste product into something of value, but they will do so while creating more than 50 jobs for local business – it is good for the economy, good for jobs and good for the environment,” said Ley.

The RMF was announced in July 2020, and applications were opened state-by-state early this year. The program provides matched state and federal government grant support to private businesses. 

The federal government has a resource recovery goal of 80 per cent by the end of the decade.

The news comes the day after a ban on mixed plastic waste exports came into effect on July 1, and questions about the recycling capacity available to stop this from ending up in landfill.

Rose Read, CEO of the National Waste and Recycling Industry Council, told the ABC this week that slow progress was being made, “But are we ready for the 1st of July? No.”

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