When Cleanaway became the first operator of a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) to be granted a licence to export single polymer plastics recently, the value added by one of its teams became very clear.

The licence approval was testament to how Cleanaway’s in-house commodities trading desk (CTD) has demonstrated it can grow a circular economy for commodities in Australia while continuing to sell to reputable offshore recyclers.

The CTD team, which manages Cleanaway’s commodities supply chain, is preparing for significant growth, which is forecast to significantly lift sales of recyclable commodities over the coming years.

Commodities Trading Manager Brian Dalitz said he expected the CTD’s Australian sales to increase by up to 90 percent by FY24 as Cleanaway continued to execute its ‘Footprint 2025’ strategy, bans on exports of unprocessed materials such as plastics, paper and glass took effect, and the development of new onshore reprocessing facilities increased domestic demand.

He said additional sales would be driven mainly by growth in processing volumes from material recovery facilities (MRFs) at Laverton in Melbourne, South Guildford in Perth and Blacktown and from new container deposit schemes (CDS).

Additional demand would come from new processors needing feedstock like the $45 million PET pelletising plant being built in Albury by a joint venture of Cleanaway, Pact Group and Asahi Beverages, along with other plastic and glasses plants planned around the country.

“We are hiring commodities supply chain specialists as the team evolves from running an export oriented business to managing a commodities supply chain that extends from waste collections through container deposit schemes to processing customer sales,” said Mr Dalitz, who has worked in commodities trading for international companies for 25 years.

“The market is restructuring, Cleanaway is restructuring and the CTD is restructuring, as the recyclables market evolves and matures to being more like typical supply chains such as agriculture and resource-based commodity markets.

“It’s a very different business compared to five and 10 years ago when it was mainly pushing all our supply to China.

“We have a capability and footprint that is not matched by anybody else in the Australian market, which gives Cleanaway a competitive advantage.”

The CTD is the central point of coordination for Cleanaway’s commodities, maximising value via price, managing supply chain costs, and optimising product quality through additional sorting.

These activities, supported by enhanced recycling market intelligence, allow Cleanaway to improve the utilisation of its collections volumes and support investments in processing and landfill diversion.

The commodities include plastics, aluminium, steel, paper, cardboard and glass, which are collected from kerbside bins, commercial customers and CDS sites, and transported to MRFs, where they are sorted, inspected, compressed into bales and packed for transport in Australia or overseas.

“Our job is also to manage commodity execution and price volatility to protect against any downside risks,” Mr Dalitz said.

“The team is not only creating economic value but also helping create a circular economy by ensuring products are diverted from landfill and recycled, consistent with our mission of making a sustainable future possible.”

Mr Dalitz said the CTD was demonstrating the value of recyclable commodities and ensuring they were increasingly recognised as long term resources.

“For example, aluminium is one of the highest value commodities, trading at more than $2,000 per tonne, and most single polymer plastics fetch between $400 and $900 per tonne,” he said.

“That’s a lot more than wheat or iron ore.”

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