Australia’s top e-waste recycler Sircel crashes owing over $60m
Australia’s biggest e-waste recycler - which was on a mission to eradicate electronic waste from landfill - has collapsed into administration with debts over $60m. But that figure could soar.
One of Australia’s biggest e-waste recyclers, Sircel, has collapsed into administration with debts running into the tens of millions.
The Sydney-based green tech company - with a mission to eradicate electronic waste from landfill and redirect valuable commodities back into the circular economy - recycles items including computers, kitchen appliances, TVs, phones and solar panels to extract metals such as steel, aluminium and copper.
It has six sites across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland and had diverted 8,557 tonnes of technological waste from landfill.
Four entities under the group, which is estimated to employ over 70 staff, were appointed administrators late last month.
At least $25m is owed to creditors, alongside more than $35m in additional related party debts – but the actual amount owed could be far higher – with one company claiming it’s owed a mammoth $647m, minutes from the first creditors meeting reveal.
Secured creditor Grith Gold is listed as being owed $647,222,834 from Sircel Refining and $647,519,227 from Sircel Limited, but it’s unclear whether the same debt has been included twice in the document lodged with ASIC.
There is no further information about why the debt is owed.
Other listed creditors include investment group Wintergreen Capital, who claim they are owed $18.5m, Techtonic Investment Management ($3.2m), Boutique Capital ($6.5m) and Tasman Pacific Investments ($625,521).
Various employees are listed as being owed money alongside trades including industrial equipment supplier Nordfab ($136,974) and business Mainframe ($106,176).
The company continues to operate during the receivership and administration process as the insolvency experts examine its finances and determine the best path forward.
All staff have been retained to support ongoing operations, according to a notice published to the company’s website.
“We continue to maintain our licences, compliant operations, all accreditations, and all industry memberships and holdings,” it reads.
“We remain committed to our operations and our important role in Australia’s recycling sector and our circular economy.
“Further updates will be provided as they become available.”
A secured creditor, understood to be Grith Gold, appointed Richard Albarran, Cameron Shaw, Brent Kijurina and Roberto Crispino of Hall Chadwick as receivers on October 31.
Receivers are typically appointed when a company can’t pay its debts and has broken loan terms – often when secured creditors are wanting to recover the money they’re owed.
On the same day, Richard Tucker and Ryan Rabbitt of KordaMentha were appointed as voluntary administrators.
It was previously reported in September that Sircel was attempting to raise $10m in a private round at a $190m pre-money valuation.
It is not yet known what has led to the company’s financial collapse, but industry challenges, including a lack of feedstock and high logistics costs, have placed significant pressure on solar-panel recyclers across Australia.
Sircel had recently shifted its focus to solar panels, including the launch of a world-class PV panel processing facility in Parkes, New South Wales, partly funded by $5m secured from venture fund Kilara Capital.
The business also bought the relevant parts out of e-waste company Scipher Technologies, based in Dandenong, Victoria, when it went bust in 2024.
Sircel’s CEO and founder, Anthony Karam, started operations in 2017 after being struck by the scale of the “e-waste crisis” upon witnessing massive landfill dumps in Africa, according to the company’s website.
“At the same time, he was exposed to emerging, but mostly untested, new technologies aimed at solving complex challenges,” it reads.
“These experiences ignited a passion and kickstarted an investigation into what was really happening with the world’s stockpile of e-waste.
“After seven years, tens of millions invested in R&D and equipment, months spent travelling the world, false starts, failed attempts, and thousands of questions, the Sircel team has done what many along the journey thought was impossible – developed an end-to-end solution with the first plant operating right here in Australia and a growing capacity to expand across the globe.”
Company documents list the current directors of Sircel Limited as Mr Karam, John Rawicki, Chang Lee, Angie-Kate Bradbury, Michael Utsler and Nandan Balachandran.
The administrators this week filed a Federal Court application seeking a six-month extension for the second creditors’ meeting, pushing the deadline to May 29.
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Originally published as Australia’s top e-waste recycler Sircel crashes owing over $60m
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