Page 119 - AMEFT Journal 2021-4
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SIG-backed upcycling project
An SIG-backed beverage carton re- cycling project has won a A$1.74 million grant from the Federal and New South Wales (NSW) Government towards setting up a A$5 million facil- ity that will turn post-consumer bever- age cartons and paper cups into high performance building material. The project is funded by the Australian Government’s Recycling Modernisa- tion Fund and the NSW Government’s Waste Less, Recycle More initiative.
The Australian and NSW Govern- ments and the companies behind the project expect the facility will create confidence in a new market for recy- cled construction materials, similar to roads made from recycled glass, and enable more packaging to become 100% recyclable, in line with Australian national packaging targets.
The project is the first collaboration between SIG and Tetra Pak in Australia under the umbrella of the Global Recy- cling Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (GRACE) and is a joint initiative with saveBOARD and its sup- porters Freightways and Closed Loop.
SIG Combibloc Australia & New Zealand, General Manager, Adam Lip- scomb says SIG is delighted to sup- port this first full upcycling solution for beverage cartons on Australian soil:
“Cartons are the premier sustainable choice for food and beverage packag- ing in Australia, and the announce- ment further strengthens our lead- ership position. This project is a key milestone towards achieving full circu- larity for beverage cartons in Australia, and we look forward to seeing it come to fruition.”
The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) says this is a fan- tastic step forward for beverage car- tons and for the brands and consum- ers that use this important type of packaging.
“It is great to see this level of collab- oration across the entire supply chain, addressing post-consumer materials by putting in place effective local end- market solutions,” says Brooke Donnel- ly, APCO CEO. “This is a prime example of the collective impact model in prac- tice which will help establish a manu- facturing capacity in Australia. Led by industry with the support of govern- ment, APCO will continue to support this type of collaboration as we work to transition to a circular economy for packaging and meet the 2025 National Packaging Targets.”
saveBOARD co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Paul Charteris says making high-performance low-carbon
building materials using 100% recycled materials from everyday waste is a game-changer that will transform the construction industry in Australia.
“It will enhance the construction industry’s drive towards more sus- tainable construction practices.”, said Charteris.
The first Australian saveBOARD plant will reprocess liquid paperboard bever- age containers, including both alumin- ium-lined aseptic packages and non- aluminium-lined containers collected through the container deposit scheme and coffee cups collected through the ‘Simply Cups’ recycling program. It will also source material from document recycling company Shred-X.
Together with supplementary mate- rial from industrial processes, these items will be used to manufacture high-performance low-carbon building products to substitute plaster board, particle board, and oriented strand board (OSB) that can be used for inte- rior and exterior applications.
The saveBOARD process uses heat and compression to bond materials, eliminating the need for glues or other chemical additives, to produce a clean product with zero volatile organic compounds (VOCs), suitable for use in homes and commercial buildings.
www.ameft.com
AMEFT 4 2021 119
TECHNOLOGY & SUSTAINABILITY
  An SIG-backed beverage carton recycling project has won a A$1.74 million grant from the Federal and New South Wales (NSW) Government towards setting up a A$5 million facility that will turn post-consumer beverage cartons and paper cups into high performance building material.
(Source: SIG/saveBOARD)
















































































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