Driving innovation through industry collaboration

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN). Established in 2016 with financial backing from the NSW Government, NSSN was created to build on the state’s existing research and industry strengths and drive innovation through industry collaboration. 

The network works with industry and government partners to gain an in-depth understanding of their challenges, then draws upon the strengths of the leading research universities in NSW to develop tailored solutions. 

NSSN’s $1.5 million Increased Recycling of Plastics by Sensing and Treating Label Contamination program has convened scientists and major Australian businesses to boost Australia’s recycling capability. The partnership received $650,000 in federal funding through a Cooperative Research Centre Project (CRC-P) grant. 

NSSN industrial futures lead Dr Don McCallum said the project fully supports Australia’s transition to a circular economy. 

“There’s a lot more that can be done across the whole print and recycling sector. We want to get to that full circle economy, for the environmental reasons and because it makes economic sense,” he said. 

High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is a high-quality plastic commonly used in packaging consumer goods. Rigid HDPE currently has a 25 per cent post-consumer recovery rate and contains about one per cent recycled content. One significant barrier to recycling HDPE is removing the glue fixing the labels on the containers.

Read more in the Australian Printer (page 40) here.

Media: Shahrzad Abbasi - 0466 548 145