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Cleanaway partners with Urban Utilities to convert food waste into clean energy
The five-year partnership will convert up to 32 million litres of fat, oil and grease (FOG) waste and liquid food waste into renewable electricity each year
Partnerships - Resource Recovery
August 22, 2022
Highlights
“Food waste is often overlooked as a resource. Through our collaboration with Urban Utilities we have found a cleaner, greener way to repurpose organic food waste by turning it into renewable energy.”
“Our work with Urban Utilities furthers our EfW efforts while helping us promote sustainability across South East Queensland.”
“Food waste is often overlooked as a resource. Through our collaboration with Urban Utilities we have found a cleaner, greener way to repurpose organic food waste by turning it into renewable energy.”
“Our work with Urban Utilities furthers our EfW efforts while helping us promote sustainability across South East Queensland.”
Cleanaway and Urban Utilities entered into an Energy-from-Waste (Efw) partnership which sees the two companies converting organic food waste into clean energy well into 2027.
The partnership started as a trial in 2020 when Cleanaway assisted Urban Utilities in pre-treating its fat, oil and grease (FOG) waste so that it would be suitable to be fed into the utility company’s anaerobic digesters.
Anaerobic digestion is a process that can break down liquid food waste, creating biogas, which is then fed into an on-site cogeneration unit to create clean electricity. This is similar to the Energy-from-Waste (EfW) process that would take place at a landfill.
During the trial, Cleanaway’s Queensland LTS team collected FOG waste and liquid food waste from approximately 6,000 restaurants and supermarkets across South East Queensland and delivered it to Urban Utilities’ Luggage Point Resource Recovery Centre. The 12-month trial proved the feasibility of turning nutrient-rich FOG waste into renewable electricity to help power the Luggage Point facility.
At full scale, the partnership aims to treat 32 million litres of FOG and food waste each year.
Pictured: Cleanaway collects and pre-treats food waste to make it suitable for conversion into clean energy at Urban Utilities’ Luggage Point facility.
Steven Trajceski, Branch Manager at Cleanaway said, “Food waste is often overlooked as a resource. Through our collaboration with Urban Utilities we have found a cleaner, greener way to repurpose organic food waste by turning it into renewable energy.”
“Our work with Urban Utilities furthers our EfW efforts while helping us promote sustainability across South East Queensland.”
Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.
“It is always a fulfilling experience to work with a customer like Toby’s Estate who are especially passionate about improving their recycling.”
Toby’s Estate was one of the businesses that came under the purview of Cleanaway’s Centre for Sustainability in NSW EPA’s Bin Trim Round 4 program which took place from May 2021 to February 2022. This project is a NSW Environment Protection Authority, Waste Less Recycle More initiative funded from the waste levy.
The coffee company’s goal was to identify areas for improvement in its push for zero waste. Through Bin Trim Round 4 assessments, our Centre for Sustainability (C4S) team was able to make recommendations on recycling some of the material that was going into the general waste streams at two Toby’s Estate sites in Sydney – Alexandria and Chippendale.
One of the recyclable materials that came into focus during the assessments was soft plastics. The C4S team assisted the business in setting up a collection system for this waste stream at the two Toby’s Estate sites.
Currently, both clear and coloured soft plastics are collected in bags to be taken away for recycling at our Greenacre facility.
The other waste stream the C4S team looked at was Toby’s Estate hessian coffee bags which were initially categorised as an organic waste stream. However, the business was facing difficulties in getting an organics recycler to accept this material.
The C4S team assisted Toby’s Estate by contacting textile recyclers and enquired on what kind of collection and recycling services they could provide. This search eventually led Toby’s Estate to partner with WornUp, a textile recycler that could recycle the coffee bean bags.
Pictured: Toby’s Estate hessian coffee bean bags sorted for recycling.
Chaff was another potentially recyclable material our C4S team looked into. Chaff is the husk of coffee beans and a problematic biproduct of the bean roasting process. While it is an organic material, it is also very light and usually ended up in the general waste bin.
With the C4S team’s recommendation, Toby’s Estate installed custom equipment to compact chaff and make it suitable for food organics recycling collection by Cleanaway.
Pictured: Toby’s Estate installed specialised machinery to assist with the compacting of coffee chaff for organics recycling.
Toby’s Estate has now increased its total landfill diversion from 24 tonnes per year to 42 tonnes per year.
The volume of waste recovered has also significantly increased at its two sites. The Alexandria site increased from 52% to 86% by volume while its Chippendale site diversion increased from 28% to 84% by volume.
Resource Recovery Specialist Helina Kila says, “It is always a fulfilling experience to work with a customer like Toby’s Estate who are especially passionate about improving their recycling.”
“Finding solutions for their problem waste was made possible with the assistance of the Cleanaway network and knowledge of our staff. We will continue to look for alternative ways to divert additional waste from landfill for the customer to progress their waste management.”
Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.
The ocean is essential to our life on earth. It provides food for the world and livelihood to more than 4 billion people.
We’re excited to be supporting The New Joneses who are on a mission for sustainability with explainers on climate change and how we can all be part of the solution. Each episode features local heroes sharing ‘one thing’ we can all do to protect the planet we love and live on.
Seeing first hand the impact of our actions on biodiversity in the bay, Sheree Marris wants us to aim for zero waste, avoid single-use plastics and recycle right.
Only 9% of all plastic ever made has been recycled. We need to dramatically reduce the amount we use.
Not only is the plastic ending up in our oceans and environment. It’s ending up in US.
On average, we ingest about one credit card’s worth of plastic a week.
Recycle right and precious resources can be made into something new.
Recycle wrong and we waste the resources that made the packaging in the first place.
Recycle Right with ‘four bins’.
1. RECYCLING = paper/cardboard. glass. tin, hard plastics (milk cartons etc.)
Keep these empty, dry, clean + UNBAGGED (no plastic bags ever in recycle)
2. FOOD SCRAPS Do everything to keep food scraps from the bin.
Some councils accept food scraps in the food and garden organics (FOGO) bin. Check yours.
Set up your compost or worm bin to keep these nutrients from landfill where they harm (creating methane, a toxic gas) + get them into the soil where they heal. (Healthy soil draws more carbon out of the atmosphere.)
3. SOFT PLASTICS. Scrunchable chip, lollie + cereal packets go to the supermarket soft plastics bin to get made into new things!
4. LANDFILL – Aim for this bad-boy to be your smallest bin. It’s the stuff we can’t reuse (polystyrene, broken crockery, ceramics, pyrex used tissues, nappies, wipes)
TIPS:
– “It’s only one straw!” said 8 billion people…everything counts.
– Avoid single use packaging. Remember your reusable bag, coffee cup, water bottle.
– Make it easy with 4 separate, clearly labeled bins (as above.)
– Keep recycling loose. Never bagged.
– Textiles in good condition go to charity, repurpose OR landfill.
– Flatten cardboard to maximise space.
– Food + liquids contaminate other stuff in the bin. Empty containers first.
– E-waste (electrical + batteries) start fires! (Check council, Officeworks or supermarket for drop-offs.)
– Look for packaging that’s recyclable, reusable or compostable;
PS: If in doubt, leave it out. We can’t unscramble the egg, so avoid “wish-cycling” (wish-cycling is doing it wrong + wishing the magic recycling fairy will separate it for you. She won’t.)
Visit https://www.thenewjoneses.com/ for more information and contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.
“Cleanaway is an awesome company that have started plenty of conversations through their TradeMutt shirts.”
When former tradies Dan Allen and Ed Ross founded workwear brand TradeMutt in 2018, little did they know that they would ignite a nationwide mental health movement.
A year after they launched TradeMutt, Dan and Ed founded This Is A Conversation Starter (TIACS) a free mental health chat, text and callback service for industrial workers. The service was initially funded by TradeMutt shirt profits and has provided 6,541 hours of free mental health counselling to 8,226 Australians to date.
Recently, the TIACS Alliance was formed to allow industry leaders to make donations directly to TIACS which expands its reach to even more people in need of mental health support.
TIACS is just one of the mental health initiatives kickstarted by TradeMutt. The social enterprise has plans to introduce Funky Shirt Fridays as a positive Australian working tradition and encourage Aussie workers to check in with each other on a weekly basis.
Pictured: TradeMutt co-founders Ed Ross (left) and Dan Allen (right) sporting their characteristically colourful work shirts.
TradeMutt was recently certified as a social enterprise by Social Traders and has been one of Cleanaway’s social enterprise suppliers since 2021. The idea came from Narangba refinery operator Matt Purontakanen, who found TradeMutt through their blog and proceeded to introduce the social enterprise to Cleanaway.
“I’ve dealt with depression and suicide in my family, so mental health is a topic close to my heart,” said Matt.
“I’m glad I had a chance to talk to my colleagues and mates during my worst times, or I wouldn’t be here today. I love the idea behind TradeMutt because they give so many people that opportunity.”
Senior Human Resource Business Partner Katie Foster echoed Matt’s sentiments.
“Our partnership with TradeMutt helps us create a safe space for our employees to start conversations early and share their stories with each other,” said Katie during the launch of the partnership at Cleanaway’s Narangba hazardous liquids site.
Pictured: Matt (front row, left) and Katie (back row, second from right) posing with the Cleanaway Narangba team during the launch of the TradeMutt partnership. TradeMutt’s Dan and Ed are next to Matt in the front row.
In 2021, Cleanaway and TradeMutt kicked off with an initial order of 1,000 high vis shirts featuring a custom design created for Cleanaway by TradeMutt. This year an additional order of 1,374 high vis shirts and 290 corporate shirts was made.
Cleanaway has since made another order after many sizes immediately went into backorder including both high vis and corporate shirts, to spark mental health conversations on site, off site and even online.
Social media posts featuring our recently retired COO Brendan Gill in full TradeMutt gear were hugely popular and received dozens of comments and reactions from employees, customers and business partners alike.
Pictured: Former Cleanaway COO Brendan Gill in a custom print TradeMutt corporate shirt (left) and high vis shirt (right).
The eye-catching workwear has since been spotted in the wild at various Cleanaway sites including at our Milton corporate office. The Milton team marked their first day back in the office this year by proudly donning their TradeMutt shirts.
Pictured: Collections Team Leader Nicolle Hewat (left) and Collections Coordinator Mark Moorhouse (right) in their TradeMutt shirts.
Cleanaway’s past and proposed uniform spend with TradeMutt equates to an estimated 60 hours of TIACS counselling for approximately 76 people. 52% of them would be first-time callers. The nature of these calls includes relationship issues, anxiety, stress, depression and trauma.
“Cleanaway is an awesome company that have started plenty of conversations through their TradeMutt shirts,” said TradeMutt co-founder Dan, who started the social enterprise after unexpectedly losing a young friend to suicide in 2016.
“They’re doing a fine job with driving a much needed social and cultural shift around mental health within their organisation, industry and community at large.”
Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.
Coles Sustainability and Packaging teams visit Laverton Material Recovery Facility (MRF)
The tour was part of our ongoing work to support the supermarket chain’s zero waste goals
Partnerships - Resource Recovery
June 22, 2022
Highlights
“A big thank you from the Coles team for the excellent visit. This was a great opportunity for us to see the MRF in action and understand how our packaging choices can lead to better recycling outcomes.”
“It was truly an incredible tour. Thanks to the team for having us and sharing their wisdom. Here’s to less waste in the future.”
“A big thank you from the Coles team for the excellent visit. This was a great opportunity for us to see the MRF in action and understand how our packaging choices can lead to better recycling outcomes.”
“It was truly an incredible tour. Thanks to the team for having us and sharing their wisdom. Here’s to less waste in the future.”
The Coles Sustainability and Packaging teams visited our Laverton Material Recovery Facility (MRF) as part of our regular discussions about how we can support Coles to achieve its zero waste goals.
The tour provided a first-hand look at how Coles’ own-brand products and packaging is recycled by consumers and processed through our facilities so that we can continue working together to increase that recycling. The team also enjoyed a tour of the Plastic Recovery Facility (PRF) to see how plastic packaging is sorted into five polymers.
Cleanaway and Coles have a strong partnership with an ongoing dialogue to support and educate about the end-of-life process of packaging. We continue to update the Coles teams on our latest resource recovery technologies as well as any opportunities for recycling and diverting waste generated from supermarket products.
Pictured: The Coles team getting a close up look at how recyclables are sorted and processed at the MRF and PRF.
“It was truly an incredible tour. Thanks to the team for having us and sharing their wisdom. Here’s to less waste in the future,” said Eliza Hobba, Sustainability Relationships Manager, Coles.
“A big thank you from the Coles team for the excellent visit. This was a great opportunity for us to see the MRF in action and understand how our packaging choices can lead to better recycling outcomes,” said Katy Mossop, Sustainable Packaging Manager, Coles.
Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.
Cleanaway bolsters environmental and social impact with Soft Landing
Our procurement agreement with this social enterprise makes mattress recycling accessible to even more Australians while creating jobs for those in need
Communities - Partnerships - Resource Recovery
June 15, 2022
Highlights
“Partnering with Cleanaway helps us in our mission to create stable and meaningful jobs for people who are experiencing barriers to employment. Every day we see first-hand the positive impact that having a job can have on a person’s life.”
“Partnering with Cleanaway helps us in our mission to create stable and meaningful jobs for people who are experiencing barriers to employment. Every day we see first-hand the positive impact that having a job can have on a person’s life.”
The Australian Stewardship Council estimates that nearly two million mattresses are discarded by households each year. Most of the mattresses head straight to landfill, marking a premature end for tonnes of recyclable steel, foam and timber.
Soft Landing is working to turn this problem on its head by diverting mattresses from landfill while providing stable employment to refugees, asylum seekers and long-term unemployed.
Last year, the social enterprise recycled 538,000 mattresses. For every 35 mattresses collected and recycled, a job is created for someone in need.
It was this social mission that initially brought Cleanaway and Soft Landing together in 2018. The two companies have since shared a close working relationship to make mattress recycling accessible to Australians while offering opportunities to disadvantaged groups.
Pictured: Kolimullah (left) is a Rohingya refugee from Myanmar while Akhil (right) is originally from Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland. Both came through to Soft Landing via a refugee and resettlement process operated with federal funding by Settlement Services International.
In early 2022, Cleanaway took it up a notch by formally entering into a procurement agreement with Soft Landing, making them our biggest social enterprise contractor. The agreement opens up Soft Landing’s mattress collection service to residents in Victoria (Brimbank, Cardinia, Dandenong, Hobson Bay, Maribyrnong, Maroondah, Melton, Moonee Valley and Mornington) and Western Australia (Bayswater, Joondalup, Malaga, Mandurah and Perth Metro).
Residents in these regions can make bookings for kerbside mattress collections at standardised rates via their local councils. Residents can also make bulk drop-offs for Soft Landing at selected Cleanaway transfer stations in the two states, making it possible to recycle mattresses, furniture and white goods all at one place.
Pictured: Lee is a migrant from Malaysia who joined Soft Landing in 2019 to accommodate the social enterprise’s increasing manual recycling processes. Lee still works at the Smithfield, NSW site along with his colleagues Kolimullah and Akhil.
“Partnering with Cleanaway helps us in our mission to create stable and meaningful jobs for people who are experiencing barriers to employment. Every day we see first-hand the positive impact that having a job can have on a person’s life,” says Soft Landing General Manager Chris Richards.
“We use local suppliers wherever possible and support the communities that we work in. We also see that in Cleanaway.”
“As part of our commitment to making a sustainable future possible together with the communities where we operate, Cleanaway is always looking to strengthen our partnerships with social enterprises such as Soft Landing, as well as with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-owned enterprises,” says Ezra Clough, Cleanaway’s Head of Procurement.
“Our tendering process prefers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suppliers, while our social procurement framework is set up to prioritise and increase our ethical sourcing engagement and spend. Between January 2021 and January 2022, our spend for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-owned businesses was $9.8 million and social enterprises was $3.8 million. We’re working to grow these figures over time.”
Learn more about how we’re bringing to life Cleanaway’s mission for our customers, shareholders, community and the planet in our 2022 Sustainability Report.
Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.
Cleanaway today celebrates the announcement that the TOMRA Cleanaway joint venture will continue in the role of Network Operator under the New South Wales Container Deposit Scheme
Cleanaway today celebrates the announcement that the TOMRA Cleanaway joint venture will continue in the role of Network Operator under the New South Wales Container Deposit Scheme (CDS), ‘Return and Earn’. The Network Operator Agreement has been extended for four years, ending in late 2026.
Since the commencement of the scheme in December 2017, NSW communities and businesses have returned over seven billion containers and significantly improved resource recovery and recycling rates across the state.
Before NSW introduced the ‘Return and Earn’ scheme, more than 160 million drink containers littered our streets, beaches, waterways, and parks. Drink container litter made up 44 per cent of the volume of litter in the state and cost more than $162 million a year to manage.
Cleanaway is proud to play a key role in delivering this enormously successful scheme. Increased recycling rates and good source separation resulting from the network design have supported significant value chain extension investments.
Cleanaway, with its joint venture partners PACT, Asahi Beverages and Coca Cola Europacific Partners have developed a PET plastic pelletising facility that turns used PET containers into recycled PET pellets that can be used to make new packaging. The NSW CDS provides a significant portion of the feedstock for this circular economy solution.
Cleanaway CEO and Managing Director, Mark Schubert said, “Our refreshed Blueprint 2030 strategy centres around delivering sustainable customer solutions and making a sustainable future possible together. We are pleased to be able to continue to deliver an efficient CDS Network Operator service to the NSW community through our joint venture partnership with TOMRA. We look forward to driving even higher recovery rates and greater community access to the scheme in the future.”
Under the extension agreement, TOMRA Cleanaway continues to be responsible for the NSW Container Deposit Scheme network of return points, including Reverse Vending Machines, over-the-counter drop offs and automated depots. The joint venture will also be responsible for recycling collected containers and ensuring this material is sent to appropriate destinations, such as the Circular Plastics Australia facility in Albury. TOMRA Cleanaway has also committed to greater community access to ‘Return and Earn’ by increasing the number of collection points across NSW.
Media
Mark Biddulph
Head of Corporate Affairs
Tel: +61 499 332 601
Email: mark.biddulph@cleanaway.com.au
Cleanaway and Brisbane City Council (BCC) sprang into action to assist in the flood clean-up operations to manage over 100,000 tonnes of waste that was generated by the flooding, including the use of temporary sites to remove flood waste from Brisbane’s streets as part of ‘Operation Collect’.
Cleanaway and Brisbane City Council (BCC) sprang into action to assist in the flood clean-up operations to manage over 100,000 tonnes of waste that was generated by the flooding, including the use of temporary sites to remove flood waste from Brisbane’s streets as part of ‘Operation Collect’.
On the morning of 28 February 2022, record volumes of rain caused the Brisbane River to peak at its highest level since 2011 and within three days, up to 18,000 homes across southeast Queensland were inundated.
Cleanaway and Brisbane City Council (BCC) sprang into action to assist in the flood clean-up operations to manage over 100,000 tonnes of waste that was generated by the flooding, including the use of temporary sites to remove flood waste from Brisbane’s streets as part of ‘Operation Collect’.
Pictured: Adrian Schrinner, Brisbane Lord Mayor addresses media to discuss ‘Operation Collect’ at Cleanaway’s Mt Coot-tha temporary site.
As most of the commercial waste infrastructure in the region was impacted by the floods, BCC commissioned seven temporary resource recovery centres across the city to assist residents with stockpiling waste from recovery and clean-up work.
Cleanaway operated three of these temporary sites, with Mt Coot-tha and Eagle Farm being the two largest sites set up for ‘Operation Collect’.
Pictured: Residents queuing up to unload flood waste at Chandler Resource Recovery Centre, one of the facilities operated by Cleanaway.
Pictured: Cleanaway staff using loaders to gather flood waste in the surge pit at Willawong Resource Recovery Centre. Surge pits provide temporary waste storage space during counter disaster operations.
Cleanaway operates five facilities for BCC – Brisbane Landfill at Rochedale and four resource recovery centres at Chandler, Ferny Grove, Nudgee and Willawong. During the flood crisis, we expanded our efforts to operate 10 facilities in total, including the three temporary resource recovery centres set up specially for ‘Operation Collect’.
BCC commissioned Cleanaway to operate two former landfills in Nudgee and Willawong. Together with Brisbane Landfill and resource recovery centres in Nudgee and Willawong, we were able to facilitate after-hours disposal and bulk haulage transfer 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
We also offered a bespoke household hazardous waste collection service for the council’s street clean-up crews. A dedicated phone number was created for the crews to call the Cleanaway hotline whenever hazardous waste was identified at any of the temporary resource recovery centres. Our Liquid and Technical Services team from Narangba was on hand to assist with this service.
Pictured: Cleanaway’s Narangba Liquid and Technical Services team members inspecting hazardous waste before removing it from the Mt Coot-tha temporary site.
Pictured: Cleanaway fleet delivering flood waste collected from the Resource Recovery Centres to Brisbane Landfill.
During the peak of the flood recovery efforts, we tripled our workforce from 89 employees to approximately 250, including external contractors.
We deployed skilled labour from other Cleanaway sites such as New Chum and Bowhill Road. We were also supported by our Queensland Solid Waste Services teams who provided extra drivers required for the non-stop operations.
Our regional managers, safety and environment business partners and finance and administration teams were all hands on deck to ensure coordination and management of the clean-up effort.
Cleanaway processed approximately 80% to 90% of the 100,000 tonnes of flood waste with residual volumes handled by external facilities contracted by BCC. The operation ran for a total of six weeks, starting in late February and ending in early April.
Pictured: Cleanaway’s high productivity B-double vehicles tipping flood waste at Brisbane Landfill.
Each year, Cleanaway manages over half a million tonnes of waste and recyclables for BCC – the largest local government in Australia.
Cleanaway and BCC officially entered into the Resource Recovery Innovation Alliance (RRIA) in 2018 to manage the city’s post collection infrastructure including the operation of the Brisbane Landfill and four resource recovery centres in Chandler, Ferny Grove, Nudgee and Willawong. RRIA also oversees the bulk logistics of waste and resources flows within this network as well as with third party facilities.
Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.
World-class recycling plant opens in Albury-Wodonga
The largest PET recycling plant in the country is now up and running.
Partnerships - Resource Recovery
March 11, 2022
Highlights
This bottle-to-bottle plastic recycling facility brings the circular economy on-shore to Australia giving everyone a chance to participate in making a sustainable future possible by recycling their bottles and buying beverages in recycled plastic packaging.
This bottle-to-bottle plastic recycling facility brings the circular economy on-shore to Australia giving everyone a chance to participate in making a sustainable future possible by recycling their bottles and buying beverages in recycled plastic packaging.
The largest PET recycling plant in the country is now up and running and will substantially reduce Australia’s plastic waste by recycling the equivalent of around 1 billion PET beverage bottles each year.
The $45 million plant in Albury-Wodonga has boosted regional jobs and is helping to build a domestic circular economy, along with increasing the amount of locally sourced and recycled PET in Australia by two thirds, from around 30,000 tonnes to over 50,000 tonnes per annum.
The world-class facility is a joint venture partnership between Pact Group, Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd, Asahi Beverages, and new partner Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP). While competitors in the beverage market, CCEP and Asahi Beverages have come together for this joint venture to deliver a significant increase in the volume of PET plastics recycled in Australia.
During its construction and installation, the plant supported around 225 jobs and will employ about 40 people, mostly Albury-Wodonga locals, for its 24/7 operations.
About 30,000 tonnes of PET will be recycled each year and will become recycled raw material to produce new beverage bottles plus other food and beverage packaging in Australia, contributing to closing the loop on recycling.
Further important environmental benefits will be delivered by the plant, including reducing Australia’s reliance on virgin plastic and recycled plastic imports. Solar energy is used to power part of the facility, and a water treatment unit and rainwater tanks will reuse and recycle as much water on site as possible.
Today, Federal Minister for the Environment, the Hon. Sussan Ley MP and NSW Minister for Environment and Heritage, the Hon James Griffin MP, and the Mayor of Albury City, Cr Kylie King officially opened the facility, which is located at the Nexus Precinct, 10km north of Albury-Wodonga’s CBD in NSW and is among the first businesses located at the new industrial precinct.
Pictured from left: Local elder Aunty Edna performing the Welcome to Country ceremony at the opening of the facility and the Smoking Ceremony that followed.
The plant was constructed using the knowledge and expertise of each member of the joint venture, which is trading as Circular Plastics Australia (PET). Cleanaway will provide the plastic to be recycled through its collection and sorting network, Pact will operate the facility and provide technical and packaging expertise, while Asahi Beverages, CCEP and Pact will buy the recycled plastic from the facility to use in their packaging.
The joint venture is building a second PET plastic recycling facility which will also have the capacity to recycle the equivalent to around 1 billion PET beverage bottles each year. Construction on the $50 million plant in Melbourne’s west is scheduled to begin in April 2022 and be completed in 2023. The Albury-Wodonga project was supported with nearly $5 million from the NSW Government’s Waste Less, Recycle More initiative, with the support of the Australian Government’s Recycling Modernisation Fund.
Pictured from left: NSW Minister for Environment and Heritage James Griffin and Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley speaking to the media at the opening ceremony
Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley said that as Australia works internationally and domestically to reduce plastic waste it is wonderful to see practical action and commitment coming to fruition in Albury today.
“Pact Group made a $500 million commitment at our first national plastic summit in 2020 and they, along with their JV partners Cleanaway, Asahi Beverages and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, have made that a reality today. This demonstrates commitment to our national packaging targets when the supply chain and government work together,” Minister Ley said. NSW Environment Minister James Griffin said: “Through our $337 million Waste Less, Recycle More intitiative, the NSW Government contributed $4.8 million to this facility, and another $495,000 for specialised equipment inside the plant. This investment is helping us achieve our target of tripling plastics recycling in NSW by 2030, and transitioning to a circular economy.”
Pact’s Managing Director and CEO, Sanjay Dayal, said: “The opening of this state-of-the-art facility in Albury-Wodonga is a game changer for Australia’s plastic recycling industry. We are proud to be part of a sustainable solution to divert plastic waste from landfill and ensure we are recycling and manufacturing our drink bottles and food packaging here in Australia without the need to import plastic material from overseas. Pact Group will continue to work with industry partners and governments to build a strong, local circular economy.”
Cleanaway’s Chief Financial Officer Paul Binfield, said: “This bottle-to-bottle plastic recycling facility brings the circular economy on-shore to Australia giving everyone a chance to participate in making a sustainable future possible by recycling their bottles and buying beverages in recycled plastic packaging. Together with our partners, Cleanaway is working on a network of plastics recycling facilities integrated with our leading collection and sorting infrastructure to provide our customers with the most sustainable and circular solution for their plastic recycling.”
Asahi Beverages’ Group CEO, Robert Iervasi, said: “This recycling plant is a testament to the sustainability commitment of each organisation involved. It can’t be underestimated how significant this project will be – we are providing an industry-wide solution that will benefit all Australians. Asahi Beverages already has a large beverage manufacturing plant in Albury, and we are excited to expand our presence, helping create more local jobs. Our consumers told us they wanted more recycled bottles, and together we have worked out a way to do that that will make a real impact.”
Coca-Cola Europacific Partner’s Vice President and General Manager Australia, Pacific and Indonesia, Peter West, said: “CCEP is committed to playing a leading role in Australia’s circular economy. With our partners, we are working towards creating a closed loop for our bottles where they are used, collected and given another life. This plant, and the future Victorian plant, will complete this loop, help to solve the national rPET shortage and create new jobs for Australian workers. It is a proud moment in our corporate history.”
Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible together with communities and businesses across Australia.
World-class recycling plant opens in Albury-Wodonga
The $45 million plant in Albury-Wodonga has boosted regional jobs and is helping to build a domestic circular economy, along with increasing the amount of locally sourced and recycled PET in Australia by two thirds, from around 30,000 tonnes to over 50,000 tonnes per annum.
Cleanaway has been announced as a foundation partner of Australia’s most ambitious hydrogen mobility project that will see the development of a new energy service station in Geelong. The service station is expected to commence operations in late 2023 and will be Australia’s first publicly accessible, green hydrogen refueling station designed for heavy vehicle use.
Cleanaway CEO and Managing Director, Mark Schubert said, “This project is an excellent example of industry working together to move the whole sector forward with sustainable solutions.”
Cleanaway has initially committed to two side lift vehicles as part of the trial, with more being considered. The trial will explore the performance, impact and real-world experience of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) for fleet owners and operators, customers and other road users compared to traditional diesel vehicles.
“At Cleanaway, reducing the environmental impact and carbon footprint remains a top priority. These hydrogen vehicles will help us to decarbonize our operations and by extension also assist our customers and the municipalities that we serve to reduce their overall carbon footprint,” Mark said.
“Investing in new and emerging technologies is crucial to drive innovation towards making a sustainable future possible together. As a company whose foundations are zero harm to people and the environment, we must be innovative about achieving a zero-carbon future,” Mark said.
Cleanaway has previously trialed electric vehicles and looked at options for natural gas as part of our goal to reduce the environmental impact of our service. Head of Fleet George Gerdan explains, “We’ll continue to explore the performance potential of batteries and diesel alternatives for heavy and light vehicles and, of course, we’re excited to see how the new FCEVs perform.”
Fleet trials explore the payload of heavy vehicles that must operate safely and reliably to service our customers. Trials look at fuel consumption, up-time, bin lift capability, impact on labour, noise and other factors in comparison to a diesel engine vehicle.
The new energies service station will also offer electric vehicle recharging alongside green hydrogen refuelling, bringing together the zero emission technologies that will support Australia’s energy transition. The first station in Geelong is expected to be the catalyst for a network of hydrogen refueling stations from Geelong to Sydney and onto Brisbane.
The $43.3 million project received a $22.8m grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) as part of ARENA’s Advancing Renewables Program and brings together a series of diverse industry partners operating an initial fleet of 15 hydrogen-powered heavy vehicles that will be refueled at the service station. The Victorian Government is also contributing $1 million to the infrastructure build of the service station via the Renewable Commercialisation Pathways Fund.
For further information contact:
Mark Biddulph
Head of Corporate Affairs
+61 499 332 601
