Asahi, Pact, Cleanaway and CCEP unveil plans for PET recycling plant

Asahi Beverages, Pact Group, Cleanaway Waste Management and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) plan to build a new PET recycling facility in Australia.

The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to form a joint venture that will build and operate the new plant.

Pact, Cleanaway and Asahi Beverages are already collaborating to build a PET recycling facility in Albury-Wodonga – expected to be completed later this year.

The newly announced proposal for an additional facility aims to increase the production and availability of recycled PET resin in Australia.

The proposed facility is expected to process the equivalent of around 1 billion bottles each year to produce more than 20,000 tonnes of recycled PET bottles and food packaging.

The partnership will see waste management company Cleanaway provide PET through its collection and sorting network, and Pact provide technical and packaging expertise, while CCEP, Asahi Beverages and Pact will all buy the recycled material from the plant.

Construction of the new facility is expected to be completed by 2023, with a decision on its location anticipated in the coming months. When fully operational, the plant will be run by Pact.

Peter West, CCEP vice president and general manager Australia, Pacific and Indonesia, said: “This new joint venture will deliver a collaborative cross-industry solution to recycle the material that we use to produce our products”.

“Together, we can work towards creating a circular economy for PET within the beverages industry, ensuring that we are using more locally processed recycled content for the production of our bottles in Australia.”

Asahi Beverages Group CEO, Robert Iervasi, added: “This will be a ground-breaking project that will massively boost PET recycling capacity. It will help transform recycling in Australia by providing a new, local source of high-quality recycled PET”.

“The building of this large rPET plant along with the facility in Albury-Wodonga is a major step towards helping us deliver a truly circular economy for our consumers.”