We are committed to inclusive project development that benefits the local community. Guided by our values of sustainability, innovation and respect, we are prioritising meaningful engagement with stakeholders and community over all stages of the project.
For plastic to be mechanically recycled it usually needs to be sorted by type, with contamination removed. This is challenging for soft plastic and nearly impossible for multilayer plastic packaging.
Advanced recycling, also known as chemical recycling, is a process that breaks down plastic waste back into its basic chemicals, which can then be reused to make new plastics with recycled content.
It complements mechanical recycling by processing mixed, multi-layer and contaminated plastics that are difficult to recycle and often end up in landfill.
Licella’s Cat-HTRTM platform is an advanced form of hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). HTL uses water under high pressure and temperature to sustainably transform waste plastics back into the chemical building blocks they were made from.
Effectively, the compressed steam (known as supercritical water) breaks down the long chemical chains in the plastic to more simple chemicals, forming a recycled oil similar to refined fossil oil.
Advanced recycling can process a range of plastic but targets those that are difficult to mechanically recycle, such as mixed soft plastic.
The proposed facility will target waste streams of the following plastics:
Understandably, we know you will have questions. Below we have collated some information that we hope is helpful.
We look forward to developing this as we commence conversations with the local community, and progress through our environmental permitting process.
Licella are global technology pioneers in hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), the next-generation of advanced recycling.
Our first Cat-HTR™ Pilot Plant was commissioned in 2007 in Somersby in NSW.
Since 2017, we have adapted this technology to process End-of-Life plastics. In 2019 we established a small pilot plant in Somersby for specific use with plastics. The first full scale commercial advanced recycling plant to use our Cat-HTR™ technology is complete and in final commissioning in the United Kingdom (under technology licensee Mura).
ARV’s Advanced Recycling facility proposes to use recycled industrial water, with potential supply from Greater Western Water (GWW).
GWW produces 100% recycled industrial water at its Altona water treatment plant. The use of recycled industrial water for ARV’s Advanced Recycling facility will mean that there is no impact on potable water usage for the rest of the community.
As with the community, we believe air emissions should be minimised. The proposal meets Victorian air quality standards.
However, we know that some members of the community feel these standards can be improved. We had the Advanced Recycling project air emissions modelling completed twice to exceed the standards using European and British emissions reduction technology, to ensure the least impact on the surrounding community and environment.
The facility will produce the following air emissions:
For Licella, any leftovers from the process is a business cost impacting our bottom line. The experience to date from our two other operating plants (in NSW) show that apart from steam and some heat from the reactor, there are minimal unintended products from the process. We are confident in operating a clean and green facility.
We understand there are historic examples of facilities accepting wastes beyond their original intention. We know this happens when operators fail to find viable amounts of waste to process, leading them to search for other wastes, which may or may not be acceptable to community standards.
Therefore, we would like to assure the community that at this stage the proposed facility will target waste streams of the following plastics:
The development of this proposed facility follows an extensive Pre-Feasibility Study conducted by Licella, in conjunction with independent consultants, to verify that the above-mentioned suitable feedstock was available for the facility.
The first stage of our project will process at least 20,000 tonners per annum. From our Pre-Feasibility Study conducted in 2021, we found an estimated 649,000 tonnes of End-of-Life plastic was available for processing.
Our commitment is to be transparent and working alongside community, this includes any opportunity for expansion in future.
Our initial proposal is for a first module that will process 20,000 tonnes of mixed plastic waste. However, we anticipate that the ongoing supply of plastic waste will remain high and that demand for the recycled product will also increase. As such, it is likely that the facility will be expanded over time.
All future plans will be subject to community feedback and regulatory licencing.
Plastic is a complex issue. Waste plastics packaging that is fit for purpose plays a key role in food safety, product longevity and product protection which reduces food waste.
We see Advanced Recycling as a bridging solution to a lower carbon future, it works within the Waste Hierarchy by reducing the total amount of virgin plastic we use. As a bridging solution, we are not enabling the plastic industry, we are helping it evolve to a more sustainable future.
Truck movements in the residential areas will not be increased. The Advanced Recycling project is proposed to be located within existing industrial corridors.
We are pleased to provide the community with the below documentation that supported our development licence applicated with EPA Victoria.
Licella Holdings Ltd
Level 14, 111 Pacific Highway,
North Sydney, NSW 2060 Australia
A renewable oil used in place of fossil oil to produce a range of biomaterials and biochemicals, or advanced biofuels.