About
Who we are
What is advanced recycling?
What is advanced recycling?
ARV is part of Licella, an Australian technology development company. ARV is looking to build an innovative advanced recycling facility in Altona, utilising Licella's next-generation advanced recycling platform.
What is advanced recycling?
What is advanced recycling?
What is advanced recycling?
Also known as chemical recycling, advanced recycling helps to close the loop on plastics that currently go to landfill. It complements mechanical recycling and enables a circular economy for soft plastic.
Working with the community
What is advanced recycling?
Working with the community
ARV and Licella are committed to working alongside the community throughout this project. Find out more about our proposed facility and let us answer some frequently asked questions you may have.
Plastic challenge
The challenge we are trying to solve
Currently, most recycling of plastic is done mechanically. Soft plastic packaging makes up 40% of all plastic globally. However, mechanical recycling of soft plastics is challenging because it cannot be used to produce food-grade quality material. Advanced recycling closes the loop on soft plastic.
our technology
Our proposed solution
Cat-HTR™ is a form of advanced (chemical) recycling developed in Australia by Licella. Cat-HTR™ uses “hydrothermal liquefaction” (HTL), which means it uses water under high temperature and pressure to chemically transform plastic back to its original building blocks, a synthetic oil (comparable to refined fossil oil).
This oil can be used in the existing plastics supply chain to produce new food-grade plastics. All plastics produced through advanced recycling of waste plastic can be food-grade, complementing mechanical recycling.
Advanced recycling is an efficient and environmentally sustainable way to recover plastic that is difficult to recycle mechanically. Independent modelling has shown that using the Cat-HTR™ to recycle plastic contributes to the circular economic and creates about half the CO2 emissions of incineration (also called Waste-to-Energy).
The waste plastics this facility will process are currently disposed of in landfill, or in the future may be incinerated.
We believe the facility will prevent a significant amount of plastic going to waste, alongside reducing the demand for new plastic from fossil resources. Also, a great environmental outcome.
How does advanced recycling create a more sustainable future for plastic?
We see advanced recycling as a bridging solution to a lower carbon future, it works within the waste hierarchy by reducing the total amount of virgin plastic we use. As a bridging solution we are not enabling the plastic industry, we are helping it evolve to a more sustainable future.