Fonterra has signed on with Circular Communities Australia’s big bag recovery program, which gives large industrial plastic bags new life by turning them into products made from recycled content.
These products include school and community chairs and water evaporation floating covers.
The program specifically targets woven PP and low-density PE bags, which until now haven’t had a nationally endorsed or structured pathway to recycling and often end up in landfill.
Under the program, Fonterra’s bulk ingredients customers can opt to return these bags to Circular Communities Australia for recycling.
With 14,000 of the one-tonne bulk bags distributed every year, if every bag is recycled, Fonterra and its customers could reduce up to 57,407kg of CO2e emissions annually, comparable to taking 12,480 cars off the road for a year.
Rosie Cotter, Fonterra’s Oceania GM of Sustainability, said the company’s participation in the big bag recovery program in Australia is a vital step in meeting its sustainability goals.
“As well as helping to reduce emissions, recycling these bags has the potential to divert around 40 tonnes of reusable plastic into the circular economy each year, unlocking a valuable resource,” Cotter said.
“The collaboration with Circular Communities Australia is the latest in a range of packaging partnerships for Fonterra in Australia, where we are one of the founding supporters of the National Plastics Recycling Scheme and a member of Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO).
“In addition to reducing the impact of our industrial packaging through this program, we also have around 30 sustainable packaging projects underway in Australia earmarked to improve the recyclability of approximately 250 products on supermarket shelves.”
Circular Communities Australia officially launched the country’s first purpose-built big bag recycling plant, located in Toowoomba, Queensland, on 26 February.
“By providing a dedicated solution for this specialised waste stream, we are setting a new standard for sustainability and innovation in resource recovery and reuse,” Stephen Richards, managing director of Circular Communities Australia, said during the launch.
The facility represents a significant step forward in Circular Communities Australia’s mission to support a circular economy with local jobs, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and minimising landfill waste.
