The project involves a strong desire for local recycling solutions, innovative sorting technology, and an end product that is both useful and a powerful example for Australia’s growing circular economy1.
Efficient recycling, sustainable products
With the support of Tetra Pak, APR Kerbside – a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Victoria, Australia – has recently implemented a recycling robot that uses Artificial Intelligence to accurately identify and sort used Tetra Pak beverage cartons.
According to Vikas Ahuja, Sustainability Director at Tetra Pak Japan, Korea & Oceania, the key to better recycling is better sorting. He explains, “Tetra Pak is incredibly proud to be pioneering this exciting innovation with APR Kerbside to ensure our cartons are recognised as circular and low-carbon packaging for food and beverages. To be one of the first markets outside of the U.S. to introduce this AI-recycling robot is a testament to our progress on recycling in Oceania.”
Efficient recycling, sustainable products
With the support of Tetra Pak, APR Kerbside – a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in Victoria, Australia – has recently implemented a recycling robot that uses Artificial Intelligence to accurately identify and sort used Tetra Pak beverage cartons.
According to Vikas Ahuja, Sustainability Director at Tetra Pak Japan, Korea & Oceania, the key to better recycling is better sorting. He explains, “Tetra Pak is incredibly proud to be pioneering this exciting innovation with APR Kerbside to ensure our cartons are recognised as circular and low-carbon packaging for food and beverages. To be one of the first markets outside of the U.S. to introduce this AI-recycling robot is a testament to our progress on recycling in Oceania.”
After sorting, the cartons – including the plastic caps and barriers – are recycled into a remarkable building material called saveBOARD. This low-carbon, highly impact-resistant, water-and-mould-resistant material is produced almost entirely from used beverage packages using only heat, pressure and time. The plastic from the packaging acts as glue.
saveBOARD panels can be used for a variety of purposes, such as indoor wall lining, ceiling tiles, panel fencing and roofing substrate. They can also be crafted into furniture. saveBOARD and saveBOARD cuttings can be recycled again and made into new saveBOARD products.
An interesting aspect of saveBOARD is that anyone can see it’s made from recycled packaging. It is even possible to read some text and recognise graphics from the original packages. This serves as an effective advertisement for recycling and the circular economy.
A local recycling solution
From hospitals to supermarkets, offices, housing and fast-food restaurants, projects using saveBOARD products are popping up around Australia. And with more facilities for effective collection and recycling, its potential is growing.
Tetra Pak has supported Australian recycling firm saveBOARD in opening the country’s first beverage carton recycling facility in Warragamba New South Wales, with plans for two more facilities in Victoria and Queensland. The collaboration with APR Kerbside has opened the door to cartons sorted from kerbside recycling collections, to add to the Container Deposit Scheme returned beverage cartons from around Australia already going to saveBOARD.
Growing Australia’s circular economy
Though quite new in Australia, saveBOARD products have been in use in New Zealand for over two years and over 12 years in the United States. As more and more used beverage cartons are collected and properly sorted in Australia and turned into sustainable products such as saveBOARD, they become more visible. The exposed boards are already being used in commercial applications such as KFC and Woolworths stores across Australia. The more prominent they are, the more they will be seen as practical building solutions supporting the circular economy.
Vikas Ahuja explains: ‘What we’d love is for developers, builders, big construction companies to see a viable product and know that they can use it as well.’
Sources
1The circular economy refers to a system in which materials never become waste and are kept in circulation through processes including recycling, reuse and composting. It tackles environmental challenges by decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources. Source: Ellenmacarthurfoundation.org, What is a circular economy?