Visy opens new paper drum pulper at Coolaroo campus in Victoria to boost recycling

AUSTRALIA – Paper, packaging and recycling company, Visy has unveiled a A$42.5 million (US$27.29m) upgrade to its paper recycling and remanufacturing campus in Coolaroo, with Premier Daniel Andrews and Federal Minister for the Environment and Water, Tanya Plibersek, in attendance.

The upgrade is part of Visy Executive Chairman Anthony Pratt’s commitment to invest A$2 billion (US$1.28 bn) over the next decade to reduce landfills, cut emissions and create thousands of green-collar Australian manufacturing jobs.

Pratt said the Drum Pulper system was an Australian first and represented the most advanced paper recycling technology in the world.

It means that any piece of wastepaper that goes through a Victorian kerbside recycling bin now has the capacity to be recycled into new packaging in Victoria. It never has to be landfilled or exported.

“It will double Visy’s kerbside recycling capability in Victoria, diverting up to 180,000 tonnes of paper and cardboard annually from Victoria’s landfills or exports – the equivalent of about 400 Olympic-sized swimming pools,” said Pratt.

Visy will recycle and remanufacture this kerbside paper and cardboard into 100 percent recycled paper and corrugated packaging for pizza boxes, the agricultural sector and food and beverage brands.

“We’ve truly closed the loop on paper and cardboard recycling. So put your used pizza box in the recycle bin and we’ll make another box out of it,” added Pratt.

This latest investment brings Visy’s total cumulative investment in Australia to more than A$10 billion (US$6.42bn) and adds more than 2,500 positions to Victoria’s workforce.

The Drum Pulper was made possible by co-investment from the Victorian and Federal governments.

During the launch of the facility, two other new recycling projects were also announced and will divert an extra 11,600 tonnes of plastics from landfills in Victoria each year.

Located in Moolap, GT Recycling will recycle an additional 7,900 tonnes of plastics including polyethylene pipe and other large plastic products used by the construction and agricultural sectors.

The waste, previously exported due to its size, will now be recycled in Australia and reprocessed into valuable new products.

The other project, EQ Plastics, based in Dandenong, will process an additional 3,700 tonnes of plastic waste each year, which can then be reused and made into new and recyclable PET rigid films used in the packaging and manufacturing industries.

Meanwhile, in May this year, Visy secured US$31.25 million (A$48m) to upgrade its recycling and remanufacturing facility in Gibson Island, Queensland, Australia.

The upgrade includes a new state-of-the-art paper optical sorting plant and an upgrade to the embedded energy facility onsite, which uses waste as a power source as opposed to going to landfill.

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