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A $10 million clean tech start-up will flip traditional recycling on its head with 100 per cent of plastic waste converted to durable goods.
JET World Recyclers will use international breakthrough technology where all seven codes of co-mingled plastic will be turned into products, including building materials.
Jet Global Holdings is chaired internationally in Geneva by founder Philippe Julien and the subsidiary will be headed up in Australia by Nev Hyman (pictured). Hyman is the surfing hardware innovator behind the Firewire brand and is planning a recycling project in the Yatala industrial precinct. He is one of four major shareholders in the company – the first of its kind in Australia.
“I saw it as an investment opportunity at first, but quickly realised the dire effect of plastic and what it’s doing to our oceans and marine life,” says Hyman.
“I have spent my whole life in the ocean and built companies reliant upon it, including Nev and then Firewire. Some plastic in the Pacific Ocean has been identified as up to 60-years-old and it’s these plankton-sized pieces that are in the food chain, releasing toxins into the reproductive systems of mammals and ending up in the food we eat.
“Current plastic recycling, despite our best intentions, is a system flawed. At best only three of the seven plastic codes are actually recycled with the rest ultimately end up as landfill and increasingly in our oceans and waterways.”
The company will use Julien Environmental Technology (JET) that allows every class of plastic to be recycled together - without needing to be cleaned and divided into types. The company will use its exclusive Oceania licence to set up and operate the most advanced waste plastic recycling facility in Australia – the first to be rolled out in the Southern Hemisphere.
“The technology converts previously nonviable waste stream into quality, everyday, sustainable products,” says Hyman.
“Once established we intend to expand on our JET Oceania licence and develop technology with the sale of sub-licences in regions such as New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, PNG and other states and territories within Australia.”
JET has sold and installed 162 machines in 26 countries over the last 42 years with the mantra, 1 kilo of mixed waste = 1 kilo of consumable product.
Govaerts (www.govaerts-recycling.be/intro/UK/bedrijf.php) is one plant in Europe producing a broad array of products using the system.
“It will be a turn key, low maintenance, zero emission and low skill set facility,” says Hyman.
The company has approval to build a $40 million plant in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is collaborating with America’s Schools Program to educate children about recycling using JET technology.
It is also partnering with Pacific Free Ocean where Dubai Ports World in the UAE is using the technology to create and build fully recycled marinas.
Preliminary talks with Gold Coast and Brisbane city councils are expected to be progressed, to bring South East Queensland to the forefront of recycling and to better position Queensland as a world leader in sustainability.
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