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Mondelēz International has teamed up with Amcor to invest in Australian recycling technology company Licella. The initiative will help promote a circular economy for plastic packaging in Australia. The investment will support Licella in advancing the construction of one of Australia's first advanced recycling facilities. By utilising Licella's catalytic hydrothermal reactor (Cat-HTR) technology, Licella will recycle end-of-life plastic back into a crude oil substitute to produce fresh food-grade plastic packaging.

Anticipated to initially process approximately 20,000 tons per year of end-of-life plastic, the new Australian facility, named Advanced Recycling Victoria (ARV), has plans for future expansion to reach a capacity of 120,000 tons per year. Mondelēz aims to use recycled materials from this facility through its partnership with Amcor, to meet a significant portion of its soft plastic packaging requirements in Australia. This move is said to reduce the company's need for virgin plastic in Australia. Christine Montenegro McGrath, senior VP and chief global impact and sustainability officer at Mondelēz, said: “While plastic plays an important part in the security, quality, protection and preservation of food products, there is a gap in sustainable local recycling solutions". She continued: “Our packaging strategy is focused on using better packaging and helping to build better systems. This investment brings together multiple stakeholders in the supply chain to scale the infrastructure and technology needed to help create a more sustainable future for plastics and is part of our longer-term focus on working toward our goal of net-zero packaging waste by supporting circular economies.” Len Humphreys, Licella's CEO, commented: “This is the leading technology of its kind globally, and it was developed here in Australia. This investment will help advance our Australian facility at a time when demand for sustainable plastic solutions, that also help provide food-grade recycled content, is growing exponentially." Mike Cash, president of Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific, added: “Amcor will be able to meet increasing customer demand for recycled content in the region with this investment, as well as take another step closer to achieving our target of 30% recycled content across Amcor’s portfolio by 2030”.