Licella partners with Amcor to deliver recycled content from Australia’s first plastic advanced recycling facility

Licella partners with Amcor to deliver recycled content from Australia’s first plastic advanced recycling facility.

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Licella Holdings (Licella) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Amcor Australia & New Zealand (ANZ), a global leader in responsible packaging solutions, towards investment in Licella’s first Australian facility.

The Australian-first plastics advanced recycling facility will be constructed by ARV in Altona (Victoria). The Victorian Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved the Development Licence for stage one of ARV’s Altona facility, which will process 20,000 tonne per annum of waste plastic, diverting it from landfill or incineration.

The MOU represents a joint effort between Licella and Amcor ANZ to collaborate on the ARV project and make a circular economy for plastics in Australia a reality.

Licella and Amcor ANZ recognise the importance of food-grade post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic material in providing the value uplift that can underpin the viability of widespread waste plastic collections, aggregation, and processing activities, as well as the need for thought leadership and practical real-world actions.

It builds upon an existing partnership between Licella and Amcor evolving from Licella’s Feasibility Study, which played a crucial role in validating a local supply chain to produce food-grade PCR soft plastic and demonstrated the critical economic and environmental benefits of the proposed facility.

Licella’s Cat-HTR™ platform, is the world’s leading Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL) technology, the next-generation of advanced plastic recycling. The Cat-HTR™ uses supercritical water to convert waste plastics into the highest-yield of oil of any plastic to oil technology.

The HTL oil, also known as Plasticrude, can be used as a drop-in substitute for fossil oil in the plastic manufacturing process. As an advanced recycling platform, Cat-HTR™ enables the production of food-grade Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) plastics, that are in high demands by brands globally.

Licella and Amcor see this commercial collaboration as an example of substantive steps that must be taken to ensure that plastic never becomes waste or pollution.

Both parties will be undertaking further discussions on final terms and arrangements, which will be subject to respective internal approvals.

Mike Cash, President, Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific, said that Amcor is proud to be part of the solution, supporting the development of new technologies and creating a local circular economy for soft plastics in Australia.

“We are proud to be able to help deliver a local supply of food-grade recycled content that can enable more customers to participate in a circular economy.”

Dr Len Humphreys, Chief Executive Officer, Licella Holdings said, “Licella and Amcor share a vision for a more sustainable future for plastic. We are delighted to partner with Amcor as we develop our first Australian Cat-HTR™ facility. Our vision is for a circular economy where soft plastic is repeatedly recirculated into food-grade recycled content, so that it never ends up in landfill or the natural environment.”