Australia’s largest polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling plant was recently opened in Albury-Wodonga, bringing together industry-leading companies Pact Group, Cleanaway Waste Management, Asahi Beverages and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners to create the Circular Plastics Australia (PET) partnership.
The CPA (PET) vision is to positively impact the environment, community and economy through onshore sustainable plastics recycling partnerships.
The Albury-Wodonga facility will have the capacity to process up to 30,000 tonnes of PET each year. This is the equivalent of around one billion 600ml PET beverage bottles, which will become recycled raw material to produce new beverage bottles and food packaging in Australia. This plant will substantially reduce Australia’s plastic waste and is helping to build a domestic circular economy.
Mondo is proud to have installed a 632 kWh solar photovoltaic (PV) Power Purchase Agreement system and Mondo’s Ubi – an energy management and monitoring system at CPA’s new Albury-Wodonga plant.
Mondo’s rooftop solar system assists in facilitating solar energy to power the plant. This 1421 solar panel system generates the equivalent power to recycle over 1,500 tonnes of PET or over 52 million PET beverage bottles each year. This is supported by added environmental benefits delivered by the plant, including a water treatment unit and rainwater tanks to reuse and recycle as much water on-site as possible.
The $45 million recycling plant has boosted regional jobs and is helping to build a domestic circular economy. During its construction and installation, the plant supported around 225 jobs and will employ about 40 people for its operations, helping to support the local economy.