AU invests $40M in university-led initiative to solve plastic waste 

The University of Sydney has received $40 million from the Australian Government to address the problem of plastic waste and establish a circular economy that gives plastics a financial value at the end of their lifecycle. 

The Solving Plastic Waste Co-operative Research Centre, which will be led by Griffith University, will bring together experts like Professor Thomas Maschmeyer and Dr Alex Yuen from the Faculty of Science at the University of Sydney, as well as commercial partner Licella Holdings. 

The deputy vice-chancellor of Research at the University of Sydney, Professor Emma Johnston, expressed enthusiasm regarding the university’s role in addressing this environmental issue. 

“Tackling the plastic waste crisis is a key environmental challenge of our time. I am delighted that, thanks to generous funding from the Australian government, the University’s expertise will be leveraged to heed this pressing concern,” Johnston said. 

Professor Thomas Maschmeyer, a major contributor from the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney and a co-founder of Licella, talked about the university’s long-standing commitment to reducing plastic waste. 

“The University of Sydney and its partner Licella Holdings have been engaged since 2007 to develop and commercialise the revolutionary Cat-HTR process, which allows the conversion of any plastic, including mixed end-of-life consumer plastic, into oils that can be returned to the petrochemical value chain creating new plastics, enabling true circularity,” said Maschmeyer. 

The commitment to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 is exemplified by the government’s $127 million investment in methane emissions and plastic pollution, which aligns with the National Reconstruction Fund’s priorities. 

“Advanced chemical recycling is a transformative technology by which we can truly keep plastics in the circular economy of the future, without compromising on materials’ performance or sustainability,” Co-chief investigator, Dr Alex Yuen said.