An Australian developer of world-leading plastic recycling technology that could sharply lift the industry’s poor reuse rate will see the commissioning of the first commercial plants to use the technology in Britain and Japan later this year because policy support is lacking in Australia.

Sydney-based Licella, founded by Len Humphreys and University of Sydney inventor Thomas Maschmeyer, is poised to reveal partners for a proposed plant on the Dow Chemical site at Altona, in Melbourne’s west, in coming weeks.