CEMAC providing for the future of recycling

Australia's recycling industry has been through a transformational few years with the challenges of managing a Covid affected workforce and the opportunities presented by the Recycling Innovation Fund. CEMAC technologies' Eric Paulsen shared with AWRE the business’ plans for the future and how this engineering solutions provider is keen to promote world’s best practice.

“The tide is turning for the plastics recycling industry as both consumers and manufacturers are increasingly seeing significant benefits of choosing recyclable and recycled materials,” said Eric. “People are beginning to understand that while it’s more expensive to produce quality recycled plastics, the environmental benefits are worth the monetary costs,” he said.

Brand and consumer pressures for a switch to recycled materials are also being supported by Government initiatives, however Eric doubts that true progress will be possible without European style content targets and disincentives to choose virgin plastics.

“Many of our customers truly want to do more, however there’s significant cost pressures to select cheaper options which are almost always virgin materials,” said Eric. “We are going in the right direction, but to really keep up with the progress being achieved in Europe, we need to do more,” he said. “The impact of Australia’s current initiatives might see us achieve maybe 10 per cent of plastics being recycled but probably not much more than this – which is way short of our targets of achieving up to 30 per cent,” said Eric.

CEMAC assists businesses both new to recycling and those with a more advanced strategy, however the key to success is always a tailored solution for each business case. “No two businesses are the same and we relish the opportunity to work beside internal teams to engineer the solution that’s going to work for them,“ said Eric.

The business is keen to reconnect with customers at AWRE after such a long absence from the trade show. “After two years of seeing clients on Zoom calls, it will be great to connect again face to face,” said Eric. ”It will also be great to get back to new business development and AWRE provides a unique opportunity to start new relationships. With substantial recycling projects, it’s very important to get to know the people you’re considering working with and we look forward to having these conversations,” he said.

The next few years for CEMAC are likely to be focussed on plastics recycling with the Government’s  export ban and the Recycling Innovation Fund fast-tracking investments. According to Eric there are many opportunities within plastics film recycling and this will be a main focus for the CEMAC stand at AWRE. “There are exciting new technologies in film recycling and we are looking forward to speaking with our existing and new customers about new reprocessing technologies that can take post consumer waste back into consumer products without many of the previous issues such as odour,” said Eric.

The CEMAC team are looking forward to opening conversations at AWRE and conducting robust conversations to uncover the best recycling strategies utilising the world’s latest technologies. “All successful recycling plants need the right project, the correct materials and a suitable market,” said Eric. “We can’t wait to meet all the clients that have supported us over the past two years and hear about the interesting new projects that are undoubtedly being planned throughout Australia,” he said.

CEMAC Technologies will be exhibiting at Stand E6 at AWRE this August. Be sure to meet the team and find out more about their solutions in-person by registering free online here – don’t miss out!