Tackling NSW’s Plastic Waste Crisis: Plasrefine’s Solution

Plastic plays an important role in our society. It is cheap, light and durable and is an essential component to so many of the items we rely on today – from life-saving medical supplies to consumer goods like clothing and electronics. While plastic is versatile, it’s also increasingly threatening our natural environment through littering and nearly every piece of plastic produced also emits greenhouse gases at every stage of its lifecycle, contributing to carbon emissions and climate change.

The NSW Waste Strategy highlights that currently, about 99% of plastics are made from fossil feedstocks, plastic production involves significant energy consultation and if current production rates continue, carbon emissions of plastics are forecast to comprise 15% of global emissions by 2050. With renewed focus on pollution reduction and resource conservation comes acknowledgement of the need to reduce the amount of waste ending up in landfills where the embodied energy and utility value of many resources are lost. The increasing focus on the waste hierarchy and circular economy underpins efforts to divert waste otherwise destined for landfills and drives effort towards increased recycling and more efficient waste management.

An RMIT report for Sustainability Victoria (Carre et al 2015) identified that recycling one tonne of mixed plastic can lead to a net avoidance of 320 tons of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas emissions, 1.2 kilograms of non-methane volatile organic compounds (ie. smog) and 26 kiloliters of water. The 2020 National Waste Report (Blue Environment 2020) provides an overview of Australia’s current performance for waste and recycling. It estimated that the Australian plastics consumption in 2018-19 was 3.36 million tons, with approximately 2.1 million tons (85% of discarded plastics) sent to landfill. The 2020 National Waste Report also provides data and commentary on the generation, recycling and end destination for the key waste streams in NSW. It shows that there are significant quantities of plastic waste generated in NSW.

The DPIE (2021c) NSW Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy: A guide to future infrastructure needs (the Infrastructure Needs Report), identifies that 760,000 tons of plastic entered the waste management system in NSW in 2018-19. Of that, only 19% was recycled into new plastic products or recovered as refuse derived fuel. Therefore over 424,000 tons of potentially recyclable plastics were disposed in NSW landfills in 2018-19. The NSW Waste Strategy also notes that at current rates of generation and recycling, putrescible landfills servicing Greater Sydney are likely to reach capacity within the next 15 years.

There is therefore a strong need to develop additional plastic recycling and reprocessing infrastructure to provide the capacity and technology to divert plastic waste from landfill, increase plastics recycling and keep existing plastics in use in the economy. The Infrastructure Needs Report acknowledges that a mix of facilities is needed to handle increasing volumes of plastics across NSW, including commercially viable secondary processing (flaking and pelletizing). There is a large potential domestic market for plastic products, however as plastics are currently largely imported, local plastic manufacturing would need to increase to support this.

At Plasrefine Recycling Pty Ltd, we are keen to collaborate with local councils, businesses, and industries to create efficient waste collection and recycling programs, invest in state-of-the-art technologies to tackle the challenges of mixed and contaminated plastic waste, educate communities, businesses and our children about the importance of responsible plastic disposal and recycling.

We are proud to be part of the solution, working to make NSW a leader in sustainable waste management and helping the state achieve its ambitious recycling targets!