The Australian Government has announced a A$15.6m ($10.5m) investment to enhance soft plastics recycling in Victoria.
The investment is intended to divert more than 43,000 tonnes (t) of soft plastics from landfills annually.
This initiative is part of the new Recycling Modernisation Fund Plastics Technology stream, a collaborative effort with the Victorian Government to address the recycling of hard-to-process plastics.
Pro-Pac Group is set to receive more than A$6m to boost its facility's capacity to transform recycled feedstock into soft plastic with 30% recycled content, producing up to 11,000t of Australian soft plastic packaging each year.
This expansion is expected to create 14 direct jobs.
Similarly, Naula has been granted more than A$5m for advanced sorting and processing technology, which will handle up to 32,000t of soft and mixed plastics annually.
The aim is to refine these materials for new plastics production, including food-grade packaging, and generate 61 direct jobs.
Sustainable Plastic Solutions is also a beneficiary, with more than A$4m allocated for recycling technology to process an additional 8,000t of agricultural plastics per year.
These materials, such as films, grain tarps, and baling twine, will be converted into high-quality resins for remanufacturing. The project is expected to create 25 direct jobs.
Australian Environment and Water, Minister Tanya Plibersek said: "This funding is supporting new recycling infrastructure, helping to solve challenges with plastic waste and stop soft plastics from going to landfill, while supporting innovation and delivering jobs.
“It’s great to see state governments committed to getting soft plastics out of landfill and working with industry to see a circular economy for soft plastics in Australia. This is great for the environment, but it’s also great for the economy and jobs growth.”
The A$60m Recycling Modernisation Fund Plastics Technology stream is a national initiative designed to boost Australia's recycling and recovery rates for challenging plastics, scale up collection schemes, and facilitate the transition to a circular economy.
The first project under this stream was a A$20m investment in a South Australian recycling facility to process soft plastics.
When combined with co-investment from states and industry, the Recycling Modernisation Fund is set to contribute a A$1bn enhancement to Australian recycling.
This increases the nation's recycling capacity by more than one million tonnes per year and creating more than 3,000 jobs, including over 525 in Victoria.
