Amcor’s Australia and New Zealand business has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Australian technology company Licella to invest in an advanced plastic recycling facility.

The new site will be one of the first advanced recycling facilities to be built in Australia. Located in Melbourne, stage one of the proposed facility is expected to process 20,000 tonnes of waste plastic annually, using Licella’s Cat-HTR technology that relies on collections to divert soft plastic waste from landfill or incineration.

Licella’s CEO, Len Humphreys, said: “Licella and Amcor share a vision for a more sustainable future for plastic. We are delighted to partner with Amcor as we develop our first Australian advanced recycling facility, with our Cat-HTR technology that enables soft plastic to be repeatedly recycled into food-grade post-consumer recycled content, which is rapidly increasing in demand both locally and globally.”

President of Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific, Mike Cash, added: “Amcor is proud to be part of the solution, supporting the development of new technologies and creating a local circular economy for soft plastics in Australia. We are proud to be able to help deliver a local supply of food-grade recycled content that can enable more customers to participate in a circular economy.”

Both parties will undertake further discussions on final terms and arrangements, subject to respective internal approvals.

In 2021, Licella and Amcor collaborated with a number of other companies to produce Australia’s first soft plastic food wrapper made with recycled content. Together with Nestlé, CurbCycle, iQ Renew, Viva Energy Australia, Lyondellbasell, REDcycle and Taghleef Industries, Amcor and Licella developed a KitKat prototype aimed at reducing plastic waste in the environment and closing the loop on recycling soft plastics.