PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2021

9 NEWS PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 09/21 www.petpla.net New PET recycling facility to be built by industry partnership Pact Group, Cleanaway, Asahi Beverages and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) have announced they have signed a Memorandum of Under- standing (MoU) to form a joint venture that will build and operate a new PET recycling facility. Under the MoU, the parties intend to come together to pro- vide an industry model for recycling solutions in Australia. This will include the new facility as well as the PET recy- cling facility currently being built by Pact Group, Cleanaway and Asahi Beverages through Circular Plastics Australia (PET) in Albury-Wodonga, which is intended to be completed later this year. The proposed facility is expected to provide a massive boost to Austral- ian recycling by processing raw plastic material collected via Container Deposit Schemes and kerbside recycling. It will process the equivalent of around 1 bil- lion bottles each year to produce over 20,000 t of new recycled PET bottles and food packaging. The facility will use state-of-the-art sorting, washing, decon- tamination and extrusion technology. The cross-industry solution combines the complementary expertise of each participant to enhance their individual sustainability goals. Cleanaway will pro- vide available PET through its collection and sorting network, Pact will provide technical and packaging expertise and CCEP, Asahi Beverages and Pact will buy the recycled PET from the facility to use in their respective products. The plant, when fully operational, will be run by Pact. A decision on the plant’s location is anticipated in the coming months and construction is expected to be complete by 2023. CCEP and Asahi Beverages, while competitors in the beverage market, have, for the purpose of this joint venture, joined with Pact and Cleanaway to increase the production and availability of recycled PET resin in Australia. The parties are proud to work with one another to advance the cause of sustain- ability and recycling. This proposed plant is an important step forward in creating a local plastics circular economy in Aus- tralia. This new self-sustaining industry is expected to create dozens of new jobs during the construction phase and opera- tion of the plant. The arrangements set out in this announcement remain subject to the finalisation of legally binding docu- ments between the parties. www.pactgroup.com product development caps & closures design high cavitation moulds multi-component moulds closure production systems after sales service competent – professional – inspiring +43 5572 7272-0 | sales@z-moulds.com | www.z-moulds.com Mould at FAKUMA 29/25mm 3-start water 24-cavity @Ferromatik Milacron, booth B3-3202 Amcor expands global network of innovation centres Amcor, a global leader in developing and producing responsible packaging, announced plans to build two new state- of-the-art innovation centres. The new facilities in Ghent, Belgium, and Jiangyin, China, will welcome customers as of mid- 2022, with full build-out over the next two years. The total investment is expected to be approximately $35 million. The new centres expand the global reach of Amcor’s innovation network, which currently includes flagship sites such as Neenah, Wisconsin, and Manchester, Michigan, in the US, as well as smaller sites around the world. The broader network will allow customers globally to tap into the company’s deep material science expertise and packaging development capabilities. The centres will include differentiat- ing features that are in high demand from customers:  Immersive customer experience facili- ties to generate consumer insights, run co-creation sessions and conduct rapid prototyping.  Advanced analytical and material sci- ence labs.  Dedicated pilot manufacturing equipment.  Packaging machinery that replicates customer operations to run trials with- out disruption to customer production.  The latest packaging recycling and composting know-how across multiple materials. Amcor dedicates more than $100 million annually to its industry-leading research and development activities. The company claims that it was the first packaging solutions pro- vider pledging to develop all its products to be recyclable or reusable by 2025 and is on track to meet that commitment. www.amcor.com