Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has announced a $44 million federal government cash injection into Western Australian recycling at a facility in Bibra Lake this afternoon.
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has announced a $44 million federal government cash injection into Western Australian recycling at a facility in Bibra Lake this afternoon.
Bibra Lake recycling facility owner and operator Veolia was one of a number of beneficiaries of the co-investment initiative announced today, and hosted Ms Plibersek onsite for a tour as the spend was revealed.
Veolia will get $8.3 million towards new equipment at Bibra Lake, which will allow it to scale up by introducing secondary sorting of mixed fibre at the facility.
The upgraded sorting facility has been designed to accept 40,000 tonnes of mixed paper and cardboard per annum.
Veolia was the headliner among a range of WA initiatives to get a cash injection.
AusWaste Recycling was the biggest beneficiary, receiving $10 million towards a facility to process 50,000 tonnes of paper and cardboard waste each year.
Today’s announcement comes three-and-a-half years after the state and federal governments said they would contribute $30 million toward an $86 million pulp mill to be developed jointly by Auswaste and global waste company Suez.
That project, designed to recycle 100,000 tonnes per year of paper and cardboard, did not proceed.
The recent state waste infrastructure plan identified the lack of cardboard and paper recycling facilities in Perth as WA’s top issue.
It predicted Perth will need facilities to process 391,000 tonnes of cardboard and paper by 2030, if the state is to meet its waste recycling goals.
Matters Enterprises will get $5 million to set up an end-of-life, off-the-road tyre collection, sorting and grading hub in Newman.
Pro-Pac Packaging Group will get $2.5 million towards upgrades at its industrial and agricultural manufacturing facility in Kewdale.
A grant of $8.5 million will be given to Remondis to expand its plastic waste processing in Jandakot, and CTS Tyre Recycling will get $4.5 million to expand its tyre rubber crumb recycling program at Neerabup.
CTS said the investment would allow it to add major additional capacity to its under construction Neerabup operations - including remanufacturing.
The company plans to build a recycling plant to turn waste tyres into crumb rubber, tyre derived products, reusable high tensile steel wire and reusable textile.
With the spend, CTS plans to install a remanufacturing line at the new facility.
“This is a really exciting development, not just for us as a company, but for the broader push towards sustainability,” managing director Leigh Cometti said.
“We will not only be recycling, we will be remanufacturing.
“Until relatively recent times, we took materials from the Earth, made products from those materials, and eventually threw the products away as waste; a simple linear process. And that is what generally happens with the largest mining tyres.
“In a circular economy, by contrast and where we can, we stop waste being produced in the first place. And we find ways to reuse, or recirculate, waste materials, preferably at their highest value.”
D&M Waste Management has received $4.3 million worth of Pilbara land to allow it to establish an end-of-life pipe management system for remote minesites. East-West Pilbara Rubber Recycling will be given $675,000 worth of land to set up an off-the-road tyre recycling facility at Port Hedland.
The Shire of Exmouth will get $255,000 for a horizontal bailer machine and storage facility.
