New soft plastic recycling technology for South Australia

More than 14,000 tonnes of soft plastics will be diverted from South Australian landfills annually, thanks to a $20 million investment in advanced recycling technology by the Australian Government.

Recycling Plastics Australia in Kilburn will clean and purify soft plastics such as shopping bags, chip packets and food wrappers to create feedstock for new soft plastic packaging. The project will deliver 45 jobs.

Peter Gregg, Chair, Recycling Plastics Australia, said the funding will help the Kilburn site become the prominent soft-plastic recycling processor in the country. Materials recycled at Kilburn will be sold into local and global packaging markets.

“Recycling Plastics Australia has a proud history leading the circular economy by recycling plastics that are difficult to process,” Gregg said.

Delivered in partnership with the South Australian Government, the project is among the first announced under the new Recycling Modernisation Fund Plastics Technology stream.

The $60 million stream funds solutions that increase Australia’s recycling and recovery rates for hard to recycle plastics, enables collection schemes to be scaled up over time, and helps drive Australia’s transition to a safe circular economy.