Pact Group, Cleanaway, Asahi Beverages and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a joint venture to build and operate a new PET recycling facility.
A decision on the plant’s location is anticipated in the coming months and construction is expected to be completed by 2023.
The proposed facility, to be run by Pact Group when it is fully operational, is anticipated to provide a massive boost to Australian recycling by processing raw plastic material collected via container deposit schemes (CDS) and kerbside recycling.
The recycling plant is expected to process the equivalent of around one billion bottles each year to produce over 20,000 tonnes of new recycled PET (rPET) bottles and food packaging, through the use of state-of-the-art sorting, washing, decontamination and extrusion technology.
This project, along with other recently announced JV partnerships that Pact has entered, aligns with the company's strategy to lead the local circular economy through reuse, recycling and packaging solutions.Pact Group CEO and managing director Sanjay Dayal said, “We are delighted to be able to bring a scaled cross-industry solution that solves for the local production of recycled resin.”
“We are proud to have CCEP, Asahi Beverages and Cleanaway as partners creating a local circular economy. This partnership shows the value of a solution that works for industry and consumers,” Dayal said.
Under the MOU, the parties intend to come together to provide an industry model for recycling solutions in Australia. This will include the new facility, as well as the PET recycling facility currently being built through Circular Plastics Australia (PET) in Albury-Wodonga.
The cross-industry solution combines the complementary expertise of each participant.
Cleanaway will provide available PET through its collection and sorting network; Pact will provide technical and packaging expertise and will run the plant; and CCEP, Asahi and Pact will buy the rPET resin from the facility to use in their respective products.
“This project supports Cleanaway’s Footprint 2025 by ensuring we have the right infrastructure in place to create a domestic circular economy,” explained Brendan Gill, Cleanaway’s chief operating officer.
Gill said the new PET plastic pelletising facility will be a “huge win for the environment” by creating a high value, recycled raw material from plastics Cleanaway collects and sorts through its network.
CCEP and Asahi, while competitors in the beverage market, have, for the purpose of the joint venture, joined with Pact and Cleanaway to increase the production and availability of rPET resin in Australia.
“This new joint venture will deliver a collaborative cross-industry solution to recycle the material that we use to produce our products,” said Peter West, CCEP vice-president and Australian GM.
“Together we can work towards creating a circular economy for PET within the beverages industry, ensuring that we are using more locally processed recycled content for the production of our bottles in Australia.”
Robert Iervasi, Asahi Beverages Group CEO, said: “This will be a groundbreaking project that will massively boost PET recycling capacity. It will help transform recycling in Australia by providing a new, local source of high-quality recycled PET.
“Tthe building of this large rPET plant, along with the facility in Albury-Wadonga, is a major step towards helping us deliver a truly circular economy for our consumers.”
