Rawspec turns household soft plastics into durable, Australian-made products
– proving the circular economy can work at scale.

Australian Rural & Regional News interviewed Matthew Holloway, owner and director of Holloway Group, and Danial Gallagher, CEO of iQRenew about their businesses and this breakthrough (below).

Holloway Group, iQRenew, Media Release, November 2025

After years of uncertainty over what happens to household soft plastics, a new Australian partnership is proving they can be recycled, and reused, locally, and at scale.

Rawspec, a new brand launched by Holloway Group, is the first large-scale product range made using certified recycled resin derived from Australian household soft plastics. The material, produced by recycler iQRenew at its state-of-the-art Soft Plastics Processing Facility on the NSW Mid North Coast, is being transformed into durable, Australian-made products, from storage crates and pails to building materials.

The 23-product range will begin rolling out in major retailers and to local councils from November 2025, marking a milestone for Australia’s circular economy and giving consumers their first opportunity to buy products made from their own recycled packaging.

“For too long, Australians have been told that soft plastics couldn’t be recycled,” said Matthew Holloway, Owner and Director of Holloway Group.

“Rawspec proves that’s no longer true, it’s happening now, here in Australia. We’re turning household waste into reliable, high-performance products that people can use every day.”

The partnership closes a long-standing loop in Australia’s recycling system. The collapse of supermarket soft plastics collection schemes in 2022 left the public questioning whether these materials could ever be recovered and remanufactured onshore. With Rawspec, the solution is tangible, recycled soft plastics are now being remade into products Australians can hold in their hands.

“Australians have been calling for a genuine soft plastics recycling solution,” said Danial Gallagher, CEO of iQRenew.

“Through our partnership with Holloway Group, we’ve delivered a new, high-quality material stream that keeps these plastics out of landfill and in circulation as certified resin pellets – a first for Australia.”

The iQRenew facility is Australia’s first of its kind, recycling more than double the annual volume once collected through the REDcycle program. Its output – high-quality soft plastic shred, flake, and pellets – enables manufacturers like Holloway Group to design and produce new products made entirely from Australian-sourced recycled material.

Why it matters

Australians generate more than 538,000 tonnes of soft plastics waste each year, most of which has historically ended up in landfill. Rawspec provides a local, scalable solution that demonstrates how a functioning circular economy can deliver both environmental and economic value – reducing waste, creating jobs, and strengthening local manufacturing. 

About Rawspec

Rawspec is an Australian brand created by Holloway Group to deliver high-performance products made from 100 per cent Australian-sourced recycled resin, including post-consumer soft plastics (LDPE) and recycled polypropylene (PP). Designed and manufactured in Sydney, Rawspec proves that soft plastics can have a valuable second life as strong, practical products for homes, businesses, and industry.

About Holloway

Holloway Group is an Australian manufacturer specialising in innovative plastics solutions across construction, civil, retail, and logistics sectors. With decades of experience in design, tooling, and production, Holloway Group is driving a new era of Australian-made, sustainable manufacturing.

About iQRenew

iQRenew is an Australian recycling company transforming how recyclable materials are processed. Through advanced technology and partnerships, iQRenew maximises resource recovery and minimises environmental impact. Its new Soft Plastics Processing Facility – the first in Australia – can recycle more than double the soft plastics previously collected nationwide, turning them into high-quality recycled resin for local manufacturing partners.

Australian Rural & Regional News found out more from
Matthew Holloway, owner and director of Holloway Group

ARR.News: How did the idea for this new product and the new facility come together? 

Matthew Holloway: The idea behind Rawspec grew from a clear opportunity in the Australian market: manufacturers wanted high-quality recycled materials, but the supply of consistent, post-consumer soft-plastics feedstock simply didn’t exist at scale.

Holloway Group had already committed to building a truly circular product range — we just needed a reliable partner that could turn everyday household soft plastics into a stable, high-performance resin.

That’s where IQRenew’s SPEC facility became pivotal. With their ability to process post-consumer soft plastics into a consistent recycled pellet, and our capability to manufacture durable Australian-made products at scale, the partnership naturally closed the loop.

Rawspec is the result: a locally recycled, locally manufactured material stream that transforms Australian waste into practical products — from crates and pails to custom industrial solutions — helping Australian businesses take real steps toward circular manufacturing.

ARR.News: Big picture. Can you explain how this works: what is turned from what into what where and how and by whom?

Matthew Holloway: Rawspec is Holloway Group’s circular manufacturing stream — taking everyday Australian waste and transforming it into practical, Australian-made products. Here’s how the loop works end-to-end:

• Soft plastics are collected (IQRenew)
  IQRenew manages the collection of post-consumer soft plastics through kerbside programs, return-to-store initiatives and council-led recycling trials. These everyday household materials are aggregated and prepared for recycling.

• Recycling, processing & pelletising (IQRenew)
  At IQRenew facilities, the soft-plastics stream is sorted, cleaned, separated by polymer type and processed using equipment designed specifically for soft plastics. The outcome is a consistent, contaminant-controlled recycled LDPE pellet — the core ingredient for the Rawspec resin blend.

• Rawspec resin blending (Holloway Group)
  Holloway Group blends IQRenew’s recycled soft-plastic pellet with locally sourced recycled polypropylene. This engineered formulation delivers strength, durability and performance suitable for industrial and commercial products.

• Manufacturing with Rawspec (Holloway Group)
  Using the Rawspec blend, Holloway Group manufactures crates, pails, storage systems and custom solutions. This step turns recycled material into real, tangible, Australian-made products.

• Back into the market
  These products are used by businesses, councils, government, logistics and industry — reducing reliance on virgin plastics and completing the circular loop.

ARR.News: Can products made from resin pellets be recycled again (if in the right condition)? Ie is it technically possible to keep recycling them? What happens at the end of their useful life?

Matthew Holloway: Absolutely — the products we make with Rawspec can be recycled again. At the end of the day, we’re working with recognised polymers like LDPE and PP, so if the products are collected and sorted properly, there’s no reason they can’t go back through the system.

For us, that’s the whole point. We don’t just want to make something “from recycled material” once — we want that material to stay in circulation for as long as possible. If a crate or pail reaches the end of its useful life, it can be shredded, reprocessed and turned back into resin again.

So yes, technically it’s absolutely possible, and we design with that in mind. It’s all part of making sure the circular story doesn’t stop after the first use.

ARR.News: What are the types of products that can be made from the pellets, what are the limitations and what is available on the shelves now?

Holloway Group: Right now, Rawspec is already being used in crates, pails, storage tubs and industrial handling products — you’ll see them through partners like Blackwoods and Officeworks.

Most products that use LDPE or PP are suitable: storage, logistics, garage, back-of-house items and a wide range of custom moulded parts.

The main limitations are food-grade applications, high-aesthetic consumer products, and colour flexibility — Rawspec is best suited to black or grey due to the recycled content.

But for high-volume industrial and everyday storage items, it performs exactly as it needs to.

ARR.News: Where to from here? 

Matthew Holloway: For us, the next step is all about scale. We’ve proven the material works, we’ve proven it can be manufactured reliably, and now the focus is getting Rawspec adopted by the big end of town — the Bunnings, Coles, Woolworths, major logistics players, councils, and anyone serious about hitting real sustainability targets.

Large-scale users are the ones who can create meaningful impact. When a major retailer or national distributor switches a crate, pail or storage line over to recycled material, the volumes are big enough to keep this circular stream moving for years. That’s where we see the biggest opportunity.

On our side, we’ll keep expanding what the material can do, developing new applications and working closely with partners who genuinely want to shift away from virgin plastics. The goal is simple: keep Australian soft plastics circulating in Australia, build a reliable local supply chain, and show that circular manufacturing isn’t just possible — it’s commercially scalable.

Australian Rural & Regional News found out more from
Danial Gallagher, CEO of iQRenew

ARR.News: What got you interested in recycling as a concept and as a business prospect?

Danial Gallagher: My interest in recycling grew out of a career spent managing resources in industries like mining, forestry, and resource recovery. In each of those sectors, the challenge was the same: how do we design to use resources efficiently today while remaining resilient and adaptable for tomorrow?

By 2017 it was clear to me that Australia needed a smarter, more future-focused recycling system – one designed around circularity, not just waste disposal. Soft plastics  were the missing piece. Households wanted to recycle them, yet the infrastructure to do so didn’t exist.

As CEO of iQRenew, I got to build that missing capability and create real circular pathways for materials Australia had been losing to landfill for decades.

ARR.News: Are there many other soft plastics recyclers in Australia? Elsewhere? 

Danial Gallagher: Australia has only very limited soft plastics recycling capacity onshore, and very few options for mixed household soft plastics. Internationally, Europe and parts of Asia have more established soft-film recycling, but the capability varies and most countries still struggle with household-grade material.

Our SPEC facility is the first of it’s kind facility in Australia designed specifically for large-scale household soft plastics.

ARR.News: Why is this so hard to do, or at least do at scale?

Danial Gallagher: Soft plastics are difficult because:

• They come in many polymer types—often mixed in the same item;
• They’re lightweight and easily contaminated;
• Sorting film at scale requires highly specialised equipment that historically didn’t exist in Australia;
• The end markets weren’t strong enough to justify investment; and
• Resin consistency is hard to achieve without significant processing capability.

But we’re working through these challenges to build a strong value chain for soft plastics in Australia.

ARR.News: Are you planning to increase the volume of soft plastics you collect and recycle? 

Danial Gallagher: Yes. That is central to our mission, however collection must be matched by demand for the end product. Holloway Group is leading the way in purchasing this new recycled material stream giving value to soft plastics.

ARR.News: How much scope is there to stop more soft plastics going into landfill and to instead recycle them into resin pellets? Are there gaps still to fill?

Danial Gallagher: There is enormous scope. Soft plastics make up a significant portion of household waste streams, and historically nearly all of it has gone to landfill. The gaps that still need addressing are:

• Consistent, nationwide collection;
• Expanded processing capacity;
• Stronger, long-term manufacturing demand; and
• Clear product standards for recycled resin.

We’ve solved the processing side at SPEC. The next step is expanding circular manufacturing partnerships and creating nationwide material flows that match capacity.

ARR.News: Was the facility specifically built to process soft plastics? Are there particular needs for such a facility? Why did you choose to construct where you did, near Taree?

Danial Gallagher: Yes. SPEC was designed exclusively for processing household soft plastics. These materials require specialised equipment for sorting, cleaning, polymer separation and pelletising—capabilities that simply didn’t exist at scale in Australia. Building a fit-for-purpose facility was essential to ensuring consistent, high-quality recycled resin.

We chose the Taree region in NSW because it offers the ideal conditions for a long-term circular manufacturing precinct. Specifically, the site provides:

• Direct connection to a freight rail line;
• A large site suitable for our Industrial Ecology Hub, where manufacturers can co-locate and use recycled materials directly at the source;
• Proximity to major highways and collection program networks;
• A strong local industrial capability and skilled workforce;
• Room to scale as demand for soft-plastics processing grows; and
• A supportive community that values regional manufacturing and circular-economy innovation.

ARR.News: How long has it been in operation now? Are the volumes such that you expect to expand? If so where to and when?

Danial Gallagher: The facility has been operating since 2023. It currently has the capacity to process up to 14,000 tonnes of household soft plastics per year, and demand continues to grow as national recovery programs expand.

We recently secured funding to upgrade and expand the facility, which will increase our capacity to 24,000 tonnes per annum. This is a significant step toward meeting Australia’s rising need for onshore soft-plastics processing.

ARR.News: How many people are working at the plant? Were they locals or have they moved to the area?

Danial Gallagher: SPEC employs approximately 20 local staff—operators, technicians, quality controllers, maintenance specialists, and logistics personnel. Most are from the region, which was important to us.