Packaging and recycling specialist Visy has unveiled a major $48 million upgrade to its recycling facility on Gibson Island in Brisbane.
The upgrade includes a new state-of-the-art paper optical sorting plant and an upgrade to the embedded energy facility onsite, which uses waste as a power source as opposed to going to landfill.
This technology processes mixed paper from the hundreds of thousands of kerbside bins across Queensland, recycling it back into 100 per cent recycled packaging.
“The upgrade is a part of his commitment to invest $2 billion over the next decade – $700 million of that in Queensland – to reduce landfill, cut emissions and create green collar manufacturing jobs,” Visy executive chairman Anthony Pratt said.
“Recycling is an important weapon against climate change. We’re not just manufacturers, we’re in the landfill avoidance business.
“We can’t make these changes without Government action, and I thank Premier Palaszczuk and the Queensland Government for their vision and dedication to practical environmental reforms.”
The upgrade project carried with a $16 million investment from the state government’s Queensland Jobs Fund.
“This facility will significantly reduce the amount of recyclable paper and cardboard ending up in landfill each year,” Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
“This project is helping to progress Queensland’s 2050 vision of becoming a zero-waste society.
It is expected that up to an additional 39,000 tonnes of material, which is equivalent to 20 kilos for every Queensland household, will be diverted from landfill each year.
Visy is investing $700 million on expanding its recycling and remanufacturing operations across Queensland, including a new $500 million glass food and beverage container recycling and manufacturing facility in Yatala, and a new $150 million corrugated box factory at Hemmant.
The 100 per cent recycled paper will be manufactured back into corrugated boxes for Queensland farmers, food and beverage companies, and more at the new Hemmant facility, which is set to open next month and support over 100 ongoing jobs.
“Expanding Queensland’s circular economy including resource recovery and recycling is part of our commitment to decarbonisation,” Queensland deputy premier Steven Miles said.
“It’s facilities like this one that not only reduce landfill and its associated impacts on the environment, but also create new jobs in the growing resource recovery industry.”
The upgrade project created over a hundred jobs during construction, and has established 11 new, green collar, recycling and manufacturing jobs on site to add to the over 200 strong workforce currently on site.