Confectionary lovers can now snack assured knowing that the wrappers for Cadbury and other Australian-favourites are recycled food-grade plastic.
The packaging of much-loved confectionery brands, Cadbury, The Natural Confectionery Company and Pascall owned by Mondel International will now use treated plastics that would usually end up in landfill as Australia’s first advanced recycling facilities has been announced.
The snack brands along with sustainable packaging company Amcor and have agreed to partner with Licella Holdings (Licella) to recycle end-of life-plastic into new food-grade plastic packaging.
Licella, the developer of the patented advanced recycling platform: the catalytic hydrothermal reactor (Cat-HTR), will use this technology to recycle end-of-life plastic back into a crude oil substitute suitable to produce new food-grade plastic packaging. The Australian-developed technology uses advanced hydrothermal liquefaction technology, including hot, pressurised water on normally unrecyclable plastic.
The facility will be located in Melbourne and named Advanced Recycling Victoria and is estimated to initially process up to 20,000 tonnes a year of end-of-life plastic. This could rise to 120,000 tonnes a year.
Amcor will supply Mondel? International with the recycled content from the site to meet the company’s soft plastic packaging needs in Australia, significantly reducing its need for virgin plastic in Australia and promoting a circular pack economy.
Licella’s chief executive Dr Len Humphreys said this was the kind of leadership needed in industries to bring Australia closer to more sustainable plastic waste solutions.
The investment would help advance the partnership to the next stage of viability, “moving towards construction of this Australian first advanced recycling facility.”
Mike Cash, president of Amcor Flexibles in Asia Pacific, said the deal will help meet increasing customer demand for recycled content.
President of Mondel? Australia, New Zealand and Japan, Darren O’Brien, said his company was “set new ground when we sourced the equivalent of 30 per cent recycled content for our Cadbury family blocks, but our ambitions are much greater than this.
“We’re on a mission to becoming the most sustainable snacking company in Australia and New Zealand.”