After almost 24 years as Australian Paper Recovery, APR Recycling has officially launched a new era with the opening of its Dandenong South facility and rebrand.
This latest development reflects the company’s expansion from paper and cardboard recovery into plastics recycling and advanced soft plastics processing.
According to Darren Thorpe, managing director at APR, the rebrand to APR Recycling is about better representing what the company is today and where it is heading.
“Australian Paper Recovery has been a very proud name for us, and it reflects where we started – recovering and recycling paper and cardboard. But after almost 24 years, the business has grown well beyond paper,” he explains to PKN.
“Today we operate across multiple recycling streams, including cardboard, plastics, kerbside material, soft plastics, advanced recycling, and resource recovery infrastructure.
“The rebrand keeps the history and credibility of APR, while recognising that we are now a broader recycling business with a much larger role to play in Australia’s circular economy.
“The timing felt right because we are entering a new chapter – with our expanded Dandenong South facility, our investment in advanced recycling, and the commissioning of our soft plastics pyrolysis plant. It is a milestone moment for the business.”
When APR started in 2002, the company was focused mainly on collecting, aggregating and trading recovered paper and cardboard.
Over time, Thorpe says they saw that the recycling industry was changing, and that customers, councils and brand owners needed more complete solutions, which was the catalyst for the company’s diversification.
“Today, APR Recycling has grown into a business that can manage a much broader range of materials, including commercial cardboard, plastics, kerbside recycling streams and soft plastics,” Thorpe adds.
“Diversification has been critical to our growth. It has allowed us to invest in new infrastructure, build stronger relationships with councils and major brands, and respond to the need for more local recycling solutions in Australia.
“Soft plastics in particular has become a major focus, because it is one of the most difficult materials to recover at scale. We believe there is a real opportunity to turn a problem material into a valuable resource.”
The new Dandenong South facility is a major investment in APR Recycling’s future, with the location chosen due it being a key industrial and logistics location, with strong access to Melbourne’s commercial, manufacturing and transport networks.
The new facility gives APR significantly more capacity, improved material handling, better sorting capability, and the ability to process a broader range of recyclable materials.
It is also an important part of APR’s transition from being known mainly as a paper and cardboard recycler to becoming a more diversified recycling and resource recovery business.
“For APR Recycling, it is one of the most significant milestones in our company’s history,” says Thorpe.
“Soft plastics have been one of the hardest recycling challenges in Australia. They are difficult to collect, sort and process, and without strong local end markets, the material often ends up in landfill.
“Our pyrolysis plant is designed to provide a commercial-scale solution by converting soft plastics into oil, which can then be used as a feedstock to support new plastic manufacturing.
“For the wider industry, this is important because it demonstrates that Australia can build local advanced recycling infrastructure instead of relying on export markets or landfill. It is a step toward true circularity for soft plastics.”
For Thorpe and the APR team, the project represents years of work, significant private investment, and a strong belief that Australia needs local solutions for its own waste materials.
