Recycling Plastics Australia (RPA) has gone into voluntary administration, putting around 60 jobs in Adelaide at risk.
The development has also added to criticism from within the sector over the federal government’s decision not to roll out a national packaging scheme during the present term.
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KPMG partners Tim Mableson and Edward ‘Ned’ Swifte were appointed voluntary administrators of Recycling Plastics Australia and related entity Blackburn Inwood No.1.
They have started an immediate review of the businesses’ finances and day-to-day operations.
Creditors are due to meet for the first time on 10 September.
The company operates from Kilburn in Adelaide’s inner northern suburbs, where it turns mixed rigid plastics into granulated and pelletised material for reuse.
Its entry into administration has also cast uncertainty over a planned advanced mechanical recycling facility intended to handle 14,000tpa of soft plastics.
In July 2024, the Australian Government said it would provide A$20m ($14.3m) to that project under the Recycling Modernisation Fund’s Plastics Technology stream.
The overall development was estimated at A$40m and was forecast to generate 45 positions.
The proposed plant was intended to wash and refine shopping bags, food wrappers, chip packets and other flexible plastic items, creating material that could later be used in fresh packaging products.
Recycling Plastics Australia had previously secured A$8.89m through a separate government recycling infrastructure funding round in 2021.
That allocation was meant to support upgrades to mixed-plastics sorting, grinding, washing and pelletising at the Kilburn site as part of an A$25m programme.
