Page 20 - Packaging News magazine March-April 2022

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SUSTAINABILITY | www.packagingnews.com.au | March-April 2022
Landmark $260m
investment in
advanced recycling
Global plastics recycling company Brightmark is to construct an advanced plastics recycling plant in Parkes, NSW, bringing thermo-chemical recycling technology to
IAustralia for the first time. Lindy Hughson reports.
N a boost to regional NSW, the new population, or through any number of mixed plastic recycling facility will international ports overnight.”
be located in the Parkes Special San Francisco-based Brightmark Activation Precinct, with construc- has developed plastics renewal facil- tion due to start in mid-2023 and the ities using advanced thermo-chemical plant operational by 2025. The proj- recycling in the US and its process has ect is expected to create 100 new been proven at full-scale for continu- local jobs. ous operation.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Brightmark founder and CEO Bob
to incineration/combustion which requires fire/oxygen) so that the raw materials can be broken down into their original chemical chains, recap- tured, then transformed into other useful products, like fuels and wax or even into new plastic products.
The company says its process is “93 per cent efficient and provides a high-quality, consistent output, even with an inconsistent input of mixed- stream plastics”.
A big step forward for plastics recy- cling in Australia is that Brightmark’s plastics renewal technology can accept and process all plastics – types one through seven – even those that are co-mingled with different types of plastic or that are “contaminated” with food, dirt, moisture, or paper. The company says using its technology it has been able to generate consistently high-quality end products.
Brightmark’s stated goal is to divert 8.4 million metric tons of plastic from landfills or the environment and use that plastic waste to produce 1.7 mil- lion tons of feedstocks necessary to remake plastics and create a “truly circular process by 2025”.
Brightmark senior vice president, Global Plastics Development and Origination Shakil Rahman said the facility in Parkes will be the largest of its type outside the United States.
“The Parkes facility will process 200,000 tonnes of plastic waste, diverting that waste from landfill, to create alternate usable plastic products that are delivered back into the circularity market, assist- ing Australia to lower its carbon footprint,” Rahman said. ■
200,000
tonnes of plastic waste will be processed at Brightmark’s facility in Parkes.
ABOVE: A big step forward: Brightmark’s plastics renewal technology can accept and process all plastics.
Regional NSW Paul Toole visited Parkes to announce that Brightmark will bring its innovative waste solu- tion technology to the Central West.
“This is a huge opportunity for Parkes to get a slice of the $66 billion global plastics recycling industry which will bring strong economic growth and jobs to the region,” Minister Toole said.
“Parkes offers unparalleled access to Australian markets, as the only intersection of Australia’s two major rail spines. The industrial precinct offers the potential for businesses to move their goods to 80 per-cent of the
Powell said the company is excited to be expanding its waste solution footprint into Australia, setting the new gold standard in advanced plastic recycling.
“Collaborating with the NSW Government in the Parkes precinct is ideal due to the sustainably-minded business environment and commu- nity; the focus on circular economy and its location as a transportation and logistics hub,” Powell said.
Brightmark’s technology oper- ates in an anaerobic environment and uses the process of pyrolysis to break the chemical bonds in plastic in the absence of oxygen (in contrast