Close the Loop is helping to transform problematic soft plastics into a high-quality asphalt additive for councils across the country. Steve Morriss of Close the Loop explains the importance and the story behind the creation of ‘TonerPlas’.
Steve Morriss’ passion for sustainability and the success of the waste sector is evident.
In 2000, Morris’s’ entrepreneurial spirit and drive to improve the “out-dated” processes and infrastructure used by the waste sector led to the foundation of Close the Loop.
As Morriss explains, the company’s foundation was driven by a desire to provide an alternative end-result for used and new print cartridges ending up in landfill.
“In 99’ the ‘a-ha’ moment came when I realised that the concept of mechanically recycling complex waste streams, with zero waste ending up in landfill, would be an attractive proposition to global print consumable brands,” he says.
“Back then – and way ahead of time – we set up a voluntary product stewardship program and the big brands supported us.”
To this day, Close the Loop has maintained favourable relationships with global print brands while expanding their capabilities into new markets, including cosmetics, soft plastics, and e-waste.
Now as part of the Close the Loop Group following their merger with O F Packaging, Close the Loop provides services to a variety of manufacturers of a range of materials. They’re helping businesses to minimise their environmental impact while producing products to contribute to the circular economy.
This includes the development of suitable solutions for the roads and infrastructure sectors, including its TonerPlas product, an asphalt additive manufactured from recycled inputs for inclusion in road construction.
The elephant in the room
According to the Federal Government’s National Plastic Plan summary (2021), one million tonnes of Australia’s plastic consumption is single use, with 84 per cent of plastic being sent to landfill and just 13 per cent being recycled.
The soft plastics waste stream in particular is difficult to process when it comes to recycling and reuse.
Soft plastics consist of a variety of polymer types that are laminated together in a single structure. This makes these materials difficult to recycle, especially when combined with the challenges presented by mixed and contaminated waste from kerbside collections.
As Morriss explains, previous efforts to process this waste placed an emphasis on collection, but this was just one step in a process that required more investment. He says it’s important to understand that merely collecting soft plastics is not recycling, that designing out waste and then finding end-markets for these materials are both key for circularity.
“If there aren’t markets for products of recycled content, then there is no use in collecting that material,” Morriss says.
“It’s challenging to extract value because the scope of specification for soft plastics goes everywhere from a LDPE plastic bag, to complex high-barrier packaging laminates and more, which is relatively easy to get value out of as long as it’s not contaminated.
“But it’s an entirely different ball game when you throw the post-consumer into the mix. Then the waste is usually contaminated. You bundle these factors together and you end up with a problematic waste stream that not many traditional recycling companies ever thought of dealing with, let alone had any interest with.”
“But we were in the right place at the right time.”
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Closing the loop
Existing infrastructure was inefficient and unsuitable to recycle this material at a council level, with landfill previously being the only viable solution to process soft plastics, mainly due to the inability to extract value from these materials.
The TonerPlas asphalt additive is a black pelletised product that is added to an asphalt plant to produce a polymer modified binder.
TonerPlas has been designed to melt into and extend the bituminous binder mastic and as Morriss explains, can improve the properties of asphalt.
“The industry has always used virgin polymer for road construction, but this method can be very expensive, and the price wasn’t within reach for the average road construction. What we did was take that knowledge and we tested extensively both with Downer and independently. And the results are fantastic,” Morriss says.
“We get less fatigue and improved resistance to deformation. And both of those characteristics add up to a more durable asphalt which also means lower maintenance costs. TonerPlas also provides more resistance from water and it’s more resistant to oil and petrol products, which are dropped from vehicles on the road.
“There’s a wide suite of benefits available for roads that contain TonerPlas.”
TonerPlas is targeted for use in state and local council roads and has been used by more than 60 councils nationally.
Its first use was with in 2018 with the Hume City Council in Melbourne. In addition to soft plastics, glass, toner and more than 4500 printer cartridges were used to construct the local road.
Morriss says Hume is close to Close the Loop’s heart, with the company situated just off the Hume Highway.
“We’ve always been in Hume and we’re a proud ‘Hume business’. We’ve been recognised by the Hume Business Awards many times over the years. And we’ve contributed back with community initiatives, including seminars, webinars and training programs and events,” he says.
“This is a classic example of a council that understands the concept of collaboration as part of our transition to circularity.”
a material that has traditionally been difficult to treat or recycle.
The future of council circularity
Close the Loop has recently signed an “unprecedented” deal with the City of Greater Bendigo for a circular contract. This contract will see the council use TonerPlas as part of its local road construction, with the volume that will be used to match the equivalent weight of soft plastics, which have been collected from the Bendigo
region and diverted from landfill. This material will be sent to Close the Loop for processing and use in TonerPlas.
The contract focuses on providing viable solutions for collection, processing and reuse.
“It’s game changing and it’s going to be the precedent by which all councils start to operate now,” Morriss says.
“Sometimes programs can fail – people don’t commit or follow up. That was the key to this partnership and hats off to the City of Greater Bendigo. This will be seen in the future as a watershed moment for Close the Loop and the council.
“Pardon the pun, but we’re paving the way for others to do the same.”
He adds that a collective effort by industry and government is required to maintain the momentum being made towards sustainable solutions for road construction.
“We can’t leave that up to a few passionate entrepreneurs to forge ways into established industries,” he says. “We need as a society need to get behind those products that are Australian and have recycled content. Particularly if you’re a procurement professional in any level of government, because you’ve got the control, you’ve got the power for change.”
Get in touch
Close the Loop is equipped to tailor similar programs for interested councils and government for road construction. The enthusiastic team at Close the Loop can support the development of similar ‘take-back’ programs.
“We’ve got the passion and willingness to talk to anybody in any council at any time,” Morriss says.
For more information, contact: steve@closetheloop.com.au or visit closetheloop.com.au
This article was originally published in the May edition of our magazine. To read the magazine, click here.