Amcor, Mondelez invest in Licella’s advanced recycling facility

Thursday 10 August 2023

Construction is set for one of Australia’s first advanced plastic recycling facilities following a groundbreaking announcement on Aug 10, 2023 that Amcor and Mondelez will invest in Licella’s innovative Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor (Cat-HTR™) technology. This innovative technology enables plastic to be recycled back into crude oil substitute at its end-of-life, producing new food-grade plastic packaging. 

APCO applauds this key milestone in the development of a circular economy in Australia. This commitment demonstrates to the nation not only what can be achieved through collaboration, but that there is a clear signal and viable roadmap to the recovery of soft plastics recycling in Australia.  

APCO will continue to work across the value chain to prepare Australia for the reinstatement of soft plastics large-scale collection. Enhancement in thresholds and improved recycling labelling have continued with the ARL program, to ensure that only high-quality materials are in circulation. We will continue to work with supermarkets, brand owners, the National Plastics Recycling Scheme, the Australian Council of Recyclers (ACOR) with Material Recycling Facility (MRF) operators, and with local councils to identify the suitable collection and recovery pathways required to ensure that high quality materials get back into the manufacturing process. APCO also support government-mandated domestic recycled content targets to create demand and underpin the investment confidence needed for this project to scale up and for others to follow suit. 

Australia has the opportunity to be a world leader in circular manufactured packaging – it is vital that, across the supply chain, we all act decisively and work to make this a reality.