Australia’s biggest plastics and chemical manufacturer has been plunged into voluntary administration putting 700 jobs at risk across two states and creating fears for the country’s recycling abilities.
The company called Qenos has been hit with multimillion-dollar losses and increased energy costs over the past couple of years and operates factories in Sydney and Melbourne.
On Wednesday, it was announced that it had gone bust with McGrathNicol appointed as voluntary administrators.
Staff were informed of the company’s collapse in meetings on Wednesday, with the firm operating a factory in Altona, in Melbourne’s west, which employs 450 staff, as well as a factory in Botany, Sydney with 250 workers.
The Sydney factory is set to be closed as part of the company’s collapse – although it hasn’t operated since February 2023.
Qenos produces plastic resin products and is one of Australia’s biggest chemical manufacturers and plastic makers.
Experts have previously warned that it would be almost impossible to establish an end-to-end recycling industry for plastic in Australia if Qenos factories were closed down.
The National Plastics Plan 2021 sets out a 70 per cent target of plastic packaging to be recycled by next year.
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