Step 01 · Intake
Raw materials in
Baled kerbside plastics are delivered and fed onto the infeed belt and shredder.
A first for Australia · Est. 2013
Turning everyday recycling into new material.
From Narrabri in North-West NSW, we run a recycling plant unlike any other in the country — one that simultaneously sorts and processes kerbside 442 plastics into clean PET and HDPE flake, ready to be made into something new.
442
Kerbside feedstock we process
40%
PET in every load
40%
HDPE in every load
20%
Mixed colour & contamination
2013
Established in Narrabri, NSW
Who we are
A family-built plant with a purpose beyond plastic.
Australian Recycled Plastics Pty Ltd was incorporated in 2013 by Dale and Helen Smith, with the purpose of building a plastic recycling plant in North-West NSW, Narrabri. Apart from the mining sector, our regional community had seen no significant diversification of industry.
Dale and Helen recognised the need to establish new industry, and saw an opportunity to be proactive — introducing an environmentally friendly manufacturing process that is a front-runner in providing a sustainable, stable business that is drought and flood proof, whilst creating longevity for employment and, in turn, spending in the local and broader community.
Read our story
The feedstock
What is “442”?
442 is the kerbside-collected recyclable plastic that most Australians put out each week. It arrives as a mixed waste stream — and we sort and process it, all at once, into re-usable flake. Very few plants worldwide can process 442 materials.
♻ Reduces landfill
🌱 Environmentally sustainable
🚜 Drought-proofing a rural community
Inside the plant
One continuous line, seventeen precise steps.
Raw materials arrive, and leave as clean PET and HDPE flake — sorted by magnets, eddy currents, ballistic separators, colour sorters, hot-wash and sink-floats along the way.
Step 09 · Separate
HDPE floats, PET sinks
Magnets, eddy currents and sink-floats split the stream into pure material types.
Step 17 · Out
Clean flake out
Dried, colour-sorted flake is bagged and loaded, ready for re-manufacture.
What we produce
Recycled flake, ready to be re-made.
Our end product can be repurposed by many other industries. Here is a taste of what leaves the plant.
PET Flake
10 mm cut size, colour-sorted and dried.
HDPE Flake
Clear (8 mm) and coloured (12 mm) grades.
Polypropylene & fines
PP flake plus PET and PET/HDPE fines.
In pictures
Life at the plant.
Our site at Narrabri, the production line in motion, and the local team that makes it run.
★ Recognised innovation
2016 Northern Inland Innovation Awards — Manufacturing Category Finalist.
Part of the Smith Group of Companies, working alongside our sister company Namoi Logistics.
Get in touch
Buying flake, selling bales, or looking for work?
We’d love to hear from you. Reach the team at Narrabri directly.