In February 2019, Container Exchange (COEX), the not-for-profit organisation who established and manages Containers for Change in Queensland, joined 26 organisations from a diverse range of industries to participate in Australia’s first Circular Economy Lab. An initiative of the Queensland Government, the Lab was designed to facilitate cross-industry collaboration to launch innovative projects showcasing the opportunities in a circular economy.

As part of the Lab experience, COEX partnered with leading plastic waste processor Astron Sustainability, global minerals processor Rio Tinto, Australia’s second largest aluminium smelter Boyne Smelters, product commercialisation experts Evolve Group, and digital provenance enterprise Everledger to develop a pilot project – United for Change.

The vision of the pilot was a true circular economy in which 100% of containers sold are collected and then recycled, re-birthed or reused in Queensland. Using the Containers for Change scheme as a collection solution, the project explored the benefits in local recovery, recycling and remanufacturing of aluminium and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic drink containers collected through the Containers for Change scheme.

Benefits of the pilot included increased local employment and, when compared to processing new materials, significant reductions in both energy requirements and carbon dioxide emissions.

Lab teams presented their pilots in a pitch style environment vying for a share of a $100,000 prize pool provided by the Department of Environment and Science. United for Change received $20,000 and used the investment to develop a Track and Trace trial focussed on PET collected through the Containers for Change scheme.

The trial demonstrated that 100% of PET containers collected and returned in Queensland were recycled into other products and introduced back into the market to be used again by Queenslanders, demonstrating the circular economy in action.