The process involves discarded PET bottles being taken to the Circular Plastics Australia (PET) factory by Cleanaway and then sorted, washed and converted into the granules which are then used by Asahi, Coca-Cola and the Pact group, which makes meat trays and bottles.

Asahi group chief executive Robert Iervasi said the resin was formed into bottles at various plants run by his company, including South Albury where Cool Ridge, Frantelle and supermarket-branded water is bottled.

"We turn the recycled material into bottles, plastic bottles, which we would then fill with our liquid, that's a Cool Ridge bottle that we would make here in Albury," he said.

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It means old bottles can become new in about a week from their dumping to resurrection.

Currently 20 per cent of PET plastic is recycled in Australia, so the Ettamogah factory will boost that figure and cut imports of new PET.

Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley, whose bureaucracy supported the plant, said it represented the government's "practical environmental mission".

"When people pick up a plastic bottle, they want to know that it's made from recycled material and preferably that's it's been recycled here in Australia," Ms Ley told those gathered for the opening, including NSW Environment Minister James Griffin, Albury MP Justin Clancy and Albury mayor Kylie King.

The joint venture factory is in Albury Council's Nexus industrial hub.

It employs 37 staff, including the site's manager Paul Miskell.

It can process 100 tonnes of PET plastic per day, with around 200 bales of bottles, the equivalent of four B-double truckloads, being dropped off each day.

Up to 800 tonnes can be stored on-site.

The bottles are taken along various conveyor belts and those with contaminants are removed before entering a granulator where they initially become flakes and then resin granules.

A scanning machine then checks for impurities before the resin leaves the factory after what is a 12-hour process.

There is a laboratory at the factory where staff test granules for composition, colour and physical characteristics.

They have to meet US and European food safety authority standards to ensure they can be recycled into packaging suitable for beverages and meat.

The factory line is also subject to live data analysis with 50 cameras set up to provide feedback on what is unfolding.

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