Re.Group acquires Polytrade

Australian recycling and resource recovery specialist Re.Group has announced its acquisition of recycling service provider Polytrade.

Re.Group operates material recovery facilities (MRFs) for mixed recyclables in the ACT, Qld and SA. It also processes food organics and garden organics (FOGO) in NSW, and operates one of Australia’s largest networks of 10c container refund depots through Return-It, with refund points across the ACT, Qld, WA and NSW.

The company is excited by its next phase of growth, which will integrate Polytrade, one of the leading recycling service providers in both the Melbourne and Sydney markets. Polytrade also has various operations in Brisbane and regional NSW.

The acquisition will allow Re.Group to provide kerbside recycling services for more than 4 million Australians across more than 35 council areas, with 13 operating facilities and a number of additional sites coming online in the next year.

“Australian recycling markets are changing, and this acquisition is a great opportunity to create the scale required to move further into value-adding of end products and positioning for remanufacturing within the domestic market,” said Re.Group Managing Director David Singh.

The immediate focus will be rolling out Re.Group management systems and processes to ensure a consistent and high standard of operation across all sites in the network. Significant additional investment is expected, with details to be progressively announced throughout 2022.

“Re.Group has a strong track record of market development, and of investing to improve the quality of recovered materials,” Singh said. “With the acquisition of Polytrade we will be further building capacity within the Australian recycling sector to deliver high-quality and reliable recycling outcomes that our communities rightly expect.”

Polytrade was founded 25 years ago by Louie Cheng, who is set to remain actively involved in Re.Group.