On Friday 28th June the Environment Minister, Hon. Lily D’Ambrosio, will open Australia’s largest plastics recycling plant at Advanced Circular Polymers in Somerton.
Advanced Circular Polymers leads the way in innovative technology and delivers a sustainable solution to the global plastics crisis by removing plastics waste from the environment.
The $20 million-dollar state-of-the-art facility boasts a processing capability of 70,000 tonnes a year – equivalent to almost half of all plastics currently recovered across the state.
Previously, Australia relied heavily on China to process recovered plastics.
Harry Wang decided to take on the challenge of building the recycling plant when he realised an Australian solution was needed for turning plastic waste into a resource.
This new advancement provides a local solution to the challenges posed by China’s import restrictions imposed last year.
“Our process closes the loop and delivers a genuinely sustainable solution that has wide-ranging benefits,” said Founder and Managing Director, Mr Harry Wang.
The recycling plant will transform large quantities of low-value contaminated mixed plastics from household, commercial and industrial factories into high-quality commodities that can go directly into the manufacture of new products.
The process involves using sophisticated artificial intelligence to sort and clean plastic by polymer type specific to customer requirements, with the end result being a high-quality plastic flake that can be sold and made into more plastic products.
The Advanced Circular Polymers plant will provide a significant boost to Victoria’s circular economy, while creating 46 jobs, many of which will be filled by local employees.
The custom-designed plant features cutting edge technologies that sort and clean the plastic by polymer type and to specific customer requirements. The end result is a high-quality plastic flake that can be sold and made into more plastic products such as packaging or polyester yarn.
“We are big supporters of reducing plastic pollution as a first step, but while there is still plastic to be recycled we should be doing our best to capture what we can. We should treat plastic like gold. It is a precious resource that can be used in production again and again,” said Mr Wang.
The recycling plant will be powered by renewable energy produced from Goldwind Australia’s wind farm near Ballarat.
A $500,000 grant from Sustainability Victoria’s Resource Recovery Infrastructure Fund has helped bring the facility to life.
Grand Opening to be held:
/Public Release.
