Page 25 - Packaging News Magazine Jan-Feb 21

January-February 2021 | www.packagingnews.com.au SUSTAINABILITY | CIRCULAR ECONOMY
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The strong local demand for the recycled material has only intensi- fied even further since the impacts of COVID-19 disrupted international supply chains.
With all these recent develop- ments, Wang hopes to drive innova- tion in plastics recycling to help pro- tect the environment, while also assisting the industry catch up to many other countries in this space.
“We are 10 years behind many other countries, not only in terms of recycling capacity and technology,
but in terms of community aware- ness, education and commitment to recycling,” Wang explained.
“In 2016, I recognised the opportu- nities opening up in the recycling industry – China’s National Sword Policy was about to come into effect, preventing Australia from sending its recyclables to that major offshore market.
“I thought, surely we should be able to process all our plastic waste locally. It seemed crazy that we were sending our waste to China for
processing then Australian manufac- turers were buying the imported plastic flakes back.”
Most recently, ACP received $2 million from Round 10 of the Federal government’s Cooperative Research Centre Projects (CRC-P) initiative.
ACP will use the funding to further develop and commercialise an AI-enabled autonomous plastics sort- ing system, which will see it increase its capacity by 42,000 tonnes per year, while diverting around 17,000 tonnes of plastic from landfill. ■
Australian Circular Recycling
www.marpetaustralia.com.au
(03) 9791 5633
Martogg is an Australian, privately owned business, who has serviced the Australian and Regional Plastics industry since 1975.
In recent years, Martogg saw the need for a sustainable alternative to virgin PET for rigid packaging applications and in October 2016 commissioned the first of three Vacurema® lines, to produce food grade recycled PET.
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g Group’s own brand of recycled PET, marPET®, is produced in Victoria using Vacurema® Technology. As demand for food-grade rPET is growing worldwide, Martogg have committed to expanding their capacity to support Australia’s packaging manufacturers. Martogg recently started up its second rPET processing line and will have added a third line by mid-2020, this will increase their total marPET® recycling capability to 23,000 tonnes per annum.
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sustainability targets, through supply of locally produced rPET, which is recognised globally for it its quality.
is committed to working with businesses and brands to achieve corporate