qenos, australia's largest plastic manufacturer, recently signed a memorandum of understanding with cleanaway, a leading waste management company. they jointly launched a "plastic-to-plastic" advanced recirculation feasibility study project in new south wales and victoria.
the project is to study the feasibility and environmental benefits of converting up to 100,000t of soft plastic waste and mixed plastics per year from australian households into raw materials for use in existing circular polyethylene production equipment of qenos. otherwise, these plastics will be landfilled.
circular polyethylene shares the same properties as original polyethylene, which can be for food contact and high-performance applications. therefore, it conforms to australia's national packaging objective 2025 formulated by the australian packaging covenant organisation (apco).
stephen bell, ceo of qenos, said "qenos can help solve the soft plastic waste problem, and qenos, as australia's only operator with a complete portfolio, will produce advanced circular plastics." this joint study project leverages the combined resources of australia's leading plastic waste management and plastic manufacturing companies.
qenos will lead the study on one or more recirculation equipment and convert the plastic waste pre-treated with cleanaway using its existing steam cracking furnace and polymerization facilities. by means of its existing collection and processing infrastructure, cleanaway will study new methods for collecting, sorting, and pretreating soft plastics after consumption to provide advanced and appropriate circular materials.
mark schubert, ceo of cleanaway, said "we are very pleased to work with qenos on the advanced recirculation project, and this will be a supplement to our existing reprocessing platform and mixed plastics that can not be mechanically recirculated can be treated, helping customers improve the resource recycling rate and producing sustainable results for their plastic wastes."
in the cooperative plan bidding of mmi, cleanaway is one of qenos's partners. the project also brings together 50 partners and supporters across the supply chain, from raw material production to supermarket shelves, and, with the help of the federal government, australia's new fully independent manufacturing ecosystem will come into being.
mr. stephen bell still said "the project will mark a major step forward in australia's plastic recirculation economy and local companies will realize the national packaging objective. qenos and cleanaway are playing a leading role in ensuring that australia's manufacturing industry is fully engaged in new global industries (it is expected to attract usd 680 billion in investment by 2050)."
the joint feasibility study is expected to be completed in july 2022 and the final investment decision will be made later this year. the first recirculation facilities are expected to be put into operation in 2025 with satisfactory results.