One of Australia’s biggest paper recycling facilities will be built in South East Queensland with plans to turn 220,000 tonnes of waste paper and cardboard from across Queensland and northern New South Wales into pulp annually for export.
The Federal and Queensland Governments have partnered with Brisbane-based national company AusWaste Recycling to build a $137 million waste paper recycling facility at Brendale.
The Australian Recycled Pulp and Paper Project (ARPPP) is supported by a joint government investment of $40 million through the Recycling Modernisation Fund. Industry is also playing a key role, contributing $97 million to the total project cost.
Construction of the ARPPP is expected to begin in mid 2024 and be completed in mid 2025. It will support about 195 construction jobs and 58 ongoing jobs.
The ARPPP will process waste including used packaging, newspaper, coffee cups, milk cartons and office paper into value-added paper pulp for paper mills.
Tanya Plibersek, Minister for the Environment and Water, said the new facility will supercharge recycling in Queensland.
“And this is just one of 24 recycling projects that we are funding across Queensland. These projects are creating 740 jobs and will process an extra 364,000 tonnes of waste. That’s the equivalent to more than 27 Story Bridges of waste being kept out of landfill every year,” she said.
“This is a win for the environment, a win for jobs and a win for Queensland.”
“We’re creating a market for waste paper and recognition that it’s a valuable resource in the global circular economy.”
The ARPPP is waste-paper processing and recycling on a scale never before seen in Queensland, according to Steven Miles, Queensland Acting Premier and Minister for State Development.
Leanne Linard, Queensland Minister for the Environment and the Great Barrier Reef, said the project will contribute to the government’s long-term vision and established targets to facilitate the sustained growth of the recycling and resource recovery sector and emissions reduction.
“By providing the capacity for waste paper processing at scale in Queensland, we’re creating a market for waste paper and recognition that it’s a valuable resource in the global circular economy,” Linard said.
AusWaste Recycling Director, Vincent Liang said the company was pleased to be part of a national approach to resource recovery that recognises the opportunity to use an existing global supply chain to achieve the scale needed to create a meaningful impact on how Australia manages waste and recycling.
“Our core business is the export of commodities like processed pulp from waste paper which are sought after in foreign markets,” Liang said. “The ARPPP will strengthen our national recycling industry, increase capabilities and create new jobs.
“Instead of baling and shipping waste paper we’ll be processing and manufacturing a higher-value product. We already have well-established relationships in Asia with paper mill operators who are seeking paper pulp and the ARPPP will mean we’re ideally positioned to provide it to them.
“We see South East Queensland as the ideal location for a new facility that can process waste paper supplied from across the state and into northern New South Wales.”
For more information, visit: www.minister.dcceew.gov.au
Related stories:
