By Laura Michell
A recycling plant capable of processing 70,000 tonnes of plastic a year has opened in Somerton.
Advanced Circular Polymers’ $20 million facility is expected to be able to recycle half of all plastics currently recovered across Victoria.
Advanced Circular Polymers founder Harry Wang decided to build the plant three years ago, when he realised an Australian solution was needed for turning plastic waste into a resource.
The plant will be powered by renewable energy from a wind farm near Ballarat and features cutting edge technology which can sort and clean plastics by polymer type and to specific customer requirements.
“Rather than plastic being collected, sent overseas, reprocessed then sent back to Australia, we saw an opportunity to close the loop and find a sustainable solution,” Mr Wang said.
“We are big supporters of reducing plastic pollution as a first step, but while there is still plastic to be recycled we should be doing our best to capture what we can.
“We should treat plastic like a gold. It is a precious resource that can be used in production again and again.”
The state government provided $500,000 from its resource recovery infrastructure fund for the plant.
Energy, Environment and Climate change Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said the plant would help make Victoria the home of recycling.
