A South Australian regional bottling facility was one beneficiary of federal Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management Trevor Evans' dash into Adelaide on Tuesday to announce a suite of federal-state funded projects to increase South Australia's recycling capacity
The Orora Group facility at Kingsford (near Gawler) will receive $8 million to expand bottle recycling in the Light region by establishing a glass ‘beneficiation’ plant to recycle and produce high-quality glass containers like wine bottles.
The Group's total expenditure to develop the Kingsford project is estimated to be over $18.8 million.
The federal and state government's contributions to Orora and seven other metropolitan projects are $35.3 million. The projects are collectively expected to create over 500 jobs and divert 205,000 tonnes of waste from landfill.
South Australian environment minister David Speirs welcomed the Orora deal as one of eight to boost the state's recycling efforts:
“The eight projects which are worth $111 million will transform waste management in South Australia and improve our ability to process plastic, glass, paper, cardboard and tyres within the state. They will reinforce South Australia’s position as a national leader when it comes to waste management."
Assistant Minister Evans said SA is leading the way in preparing for Australia's self-imposed ban on exporting raw waste overseas:
“A key aim of the Recycling Modernisation Fund is to ensure that we have new recycling infrastructure operational in time for when the export bans are fully phased in by mid-2024 and I am delighted to say that SA will meet this goal.”
Australia's hand was forced on recycling materials in 2017 when China declared their new 'National Sword' policy would come into effect in 2018. The 'China Sword' ban restricted imports of raw waste material - at one point Australia was exporting over 1 million tonnes of 'recyclable waste' per annum.
China Sword became absolute in late 2020, banning the importation of any raw waste from 1 January 2021.