Australian paper, packaging and recycling company Visy opened its modernised glass recycling plant in Laverton, Melbourne, in February 2024, enabling the production of new glass bottles and jars with an average of 70% recycled content.
The upgrade has doubled the facility’s recycling capability in Victoria to up to 200,000t of glass per year.
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Visy announced its plans to enhance the glass recycling facility in April 2021, committing an investment of A$35m ($22.85m) into the upgrade of its glass beneficiation operations at Laverton. The total investment eventually increased to approximately A$50m.
The company obtained approval for the upgrade from Wyndham City Council and secured a development licence from the Environment Protection Authority of Victoria to expand its existing glass recycling operation in Laverton.
The upgrade created 92 jobs during the construction phase and an additional six permanent positions after completion.
The upgrade aligns with Pratt’s 2021 pledge to invest A$2bn over the next decade to reduce landfill contributions, lower emissions and create thousands of “green collar” manufacturing jobs in Australia.
Location
The facility is located at 46-52 Dohertys Road, Laverton, Melbourne.
Laverton glass facility upgrade details
The upgraded cullet (recycled glass) facility utilises 20 state-of-the-art optical cameras capable of sorting glass particles as small as 3mm, an improvement from the previous minimum size of 10mm. The enhancement brings more glass into the circular economy.
The facility is designed to process 40t of recyclable container glass per hour, a significant increase from the 24t per hour capacity of the former installation. The plant not only removes non-glass materials but also sorts the remaining glass by colour, ready for remanufacturing into new bottles and jars.
The plant produces furnace-ready recyclable container glass cullet for the production of new glass containers.
The resulting glass cullet is utilised in Visy’s glass container production furnace located in Spotswood. The Spotswood factory houses Victoria’s sole glass container furnace for manufacturing new glass jars, bottles and containers. The additional recycled glass is not only used for Australian food and beverage companies but also in asphalt and the construction of road bases.
The Laverton facility handles materials collected through the container deposit scheme and supports the rollout of Victoria’s new kerbside glass bins, thereby enhancing the state’s glass-to-glass recycling capabilities.
Marketing commentary on Visy
Visy is the largest manufacturer of recycled glass bottles and jars in Australia and New Zealand, recycling 512,000t of glass containers, jars and bottles and remanufacturing them into 3.2 billion bottles and jars annually.
The company also provides a range of packaging solutions for industry, including beverages, dairy, fruit and produce, meat, non-food items and packaged food.
Visy’s Re+ Glass product line stands out by incorporating a higher percentage of recycled content into its glass packaging.
With a workforce of 7,000 across 150 sites, Visy offers a variety of services and products including automation, cans, cardboard, logistics, packaging, paper, PET (polyethylene terephthalate), plastics, point-of-sale displays, recycling and resource recovery.
The company operates a network of six glass remanufacturing facilities, ensuring the availability of locally produced glass. Visy is committed to significant investments in glass recycling and remanufacturing, particularly in Laverton in Melbourne’s southwest and Yatala, south of Brisbane, aiming to enhance the recovery and repurposing of glass into packaging.
