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Images above and below: Prof Veena with Jamestrong CEO Alex Commins at the Jamestrong aluminium plant undergoing a major investment including provision to incorporate SMaRT's new Green Aluminium MICROfactorieTM recycling technology.
UNSW SMaRT Centre's Green Aluminium MICROfactorieTM Technology is being included as part of Australia's latest newly expanded Aluminium manufacturing plant.
Jamestrong Packaging officially launched its new aluminium casting line at the company’s Taree manufacturing site, marking a major milestone in reshoring vital manufacturing processes to Australia and reinforcing the company’s commitment to regional jobs and sustainability.
The launch, celebrated at a staff and family day attended by local dignitaries, marks Jamestrong’s $8 million investment to bring aluminium slug manufacturing back onshore, and SMaRT Director Prof Veena spoke at the event taking about the benefits of SMaRT MICROfactorieTM Technologies.
See this Packaging News news story
The new facility will allow the company to produce slugs on-site from aluminium ingots supplied by Tomago Aluminium - reducing import dependency and cutting thousands of kilometres in shipping emissions. These aluminium slugs form the base material for producing more than 100 million aerosol cans each year at the Taree site.
The investment secures existing jobs at Taree while creating new employment opportunities and facilitating Jamestrong’s partnership with the UNSW Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) Centre to use its Green Aluminium MICROfactorieTM Technology to develop recycled aluminium manufacturing processes.
Jamestrong CEO Alex Commins said: “Today marks a significant milestone for Jamestrong and the MidCoast community.
“This $8 million investment brings manufacturing of aluminium slugs home - from Thailand to Taree - and ensures that the next generation of aluminium aerosol packaging is proudly Australian-made.
“It’s a tangible demonstration of our long-term commitment to regional jobs, sustainable manufacturing, and a stronger local economy.”
NSW Member for Myall Lakes Tanya Thompson said: “The NSW Government is proud to have supported this project through a $240,000 grant from the Regional Job Creation Fund.
“This investment has not only contributed to local jobs but also supported regional innovation and sustainability - ensuring that world-class manufacturing remains part of Taree’s future.”
Federal Member for Lyne Alison Penfolds said: “Jamestrong’s decision to reinvest in Australian manufacturing strengthens national supply chains and demonstrates the capability of regional industry to compete globally in sustainable manufacturing.”
Professor Veena Sahajwalla, Director of the UNSW SMaRT Centre, said: “Jamestrong’s investment in aluminium recycling and reshoring is helping to redefine how we think about circular manufacturing, or remanufacturing using waste as a resource, in Australia.
“Through the planned integration of our Green Aluminium MICROfactorie™ technology at the facility, we will demonstrate how waste materials that were once considered too difficult to recycle can be transformed into manufacturing feedstock to create high-value products such as aerosol cans.
“Thanks to the Federal Government’s Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy program, we’re taking our Green Aluminium MICROfactorie™ Ttechnology beyond the lab to create jobs and drive a truly circular economy.”
Once fully integrated, the MICROfactorieTM process will enable the use of post-consumer recycled aluminium waste as feedstock, advancing circular economy outcomes and reducing carbon emissions.
About the Project
The Jamestrong Aluminium Casting Line will produce locally made aluminium slugs for aerosol can manufacturing on-site at Jamestrong’s Taree aerosol can manufacturing site, replacing imported materials and in the future incorporating recycled content through collaboration with UNSW SMaRT Centre. The project supported 30 jobs during its construction and increased the Jamestrong Taree workforce by 15 per cent, strengthening the Taree plant’s position as a major local employer and contributor to regional sustainability.
Background below from original announcement of the JS and SMaRT partnership:
A new partnership between Jamestrong, a regional manufacturer of metal cans for leading Australian and international brands, and the UNSW SMaRT Centre are developing a ground-breaking project to revolutionise aluminium manufacturing and recycling in Australia.
The partnership will establish Jamestrong as the one of the first aluminium aerosol can producers in the world to not only make aerosol cans from recycled content, but from waste currently not recycled because it contains mixed materials including plastics.
Funded by Jamestrong and UNSW under the Australian Government sponsored Trailblazer for
Recycling and Clean Energy (TRaCE) program, this Green Aluminium partnership will commercialise UNSW SMaRT Centre’s advanced MICROfactorieTM recycling technology into Jamestrong’s can manufacturing process at its plant in Taree, New South Wales.
Jamestrong CEO, Alex Commins said Jamestrong was excited to be at the forefront of recycling initiatives in the metal packaging sector, creating a more sustainable future for Jamestrong and its customers. He said the Green Aluminium MICROfactorieTM partnership would boost local employment at the plant and pave the way for continued progress in sustainable packaging globally.
“With UNSW SMaRT Centre we are advancing our aluminium casting line capabilities in the existing footprint of our plant in Taree, which will reshore the manufacture process of aluminium slugs that we currently import from Thailand. The UNSW SMaRT Centre partnership will mean recycled aluminium will be introduced into Jamestrong’s aerosol can production process, and the slugs produced on the new casting line will be used in the plant’s extrusion process to manufacture more than 100 million aerosol cans per year," he said.
Professor Veena Sahajwalla, Director of the UNSW SMaRT Centre said the partnership with Jamestrong had the potential to transform the use and re-use of aluminium by aligning recycling and manufacturing of mixed waste content that is currently not subject to traditional recycling processes.
“Our Green Aluminium MICROfactorieTM technology is able to recover aluminium from a range of mixed waste feedstocks including waste packaging. The innovative recovery of the recycled aluminium will be incorporated directly into the manufacturing process producing slugs, with varying degrees of recycled content available depending on production requirements."
"Every atom of aluminium that exists in our society, whether in multi-layered form or any other format, can actually be regenerated and brought back to life over and over again, and that's what we're doing with Jamestrong right here in Taree."
Jamestrong is one of the largest private company employers in Taree, with 85 FTE people operating the can manufacturing site which celebrated its 30-year anniversary in 2021. The new casting line will employ an additional 30 FTE staff during construction and 15 FTE in operation. As part of the partnership with the UNSW SMaRT Centre, additional technicians and scientists will also be on-site.
While an exact date for implementation is yet to be determined, it is expected that the initial phase of creating a new $8 million aluminium casting line will be completed by about the middle of 2024.
Once operational, technologies developed at the UNSW Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) Centre micro-factory will be tested at the Jamestrong site, supplying a real-time production environment to fully evaluate the recycling processes.
Read the AuManufacturing news story