9 minute read
The Kleinton Waste Management Facility
Amy Bernier Project Manager Project Services, Infrastructure Services Toowoomba Regional Council
The Kleinton Waste Management Facility functions in a network of waste facilities to service the Toowoomba Region.
The $18m project incorporates a new waste transfer station, and it involved the rehabilitation of the existing landfill. The facility is designed for a 25 year life, with an expansion option for 50 years of service. The project has resulted in the optimisation of customer service, a reduction in the amount of waste sent to landfill, and an improvement in the economics of recovering resources. Customers were educated on how to use the facility, but the design was also based on observed customer behaviour. Detailed planning enabled maintenance of customer serviceability on the same land as the construction work, landfill rehabilitation, and minimisation of environmental impacts. Automation and sustainability initiatives have ensured that this facility is designed for the future.
Introduction
Project planning for the Kleinton Waste Management Facility (WMF) began in 2015. The $18m project incorporates a new waste transfer station, and it involved the rehabilitation of the existing landfill. The facility functions in a broader network of waste facilities that are optimally positioned throughout the Toowoomba Region. The configuration of the site was planned to ensure customer ease of use, through the observation of waste facility customer behaviour.
There were several design considerations that were unique to the site, such as the need to maintain waste operations on the same land throughout construction. There were also several environmental protection aspects incorporated into the design. The automation and sustainability initiatives implemented on the site are a key differentiation between the Kleinton WMF and other facilities in the industry. Practical completion of the project was staged, with the main facility reaching practical completion in December 2020, and the final practical completion being achieved in April 2021. A site overview plan is shown in Figure 1.
Waste management as a network
In 2017 a Waste Management Strategy was released to the community of the Toowoomba Region. This strategy describes how Council will build and manage a network of waste facilities. An intent of this strategy is to ensure that 98 percent of the Toowoomba Region can drive to a facility within 20 minutes. Geographical network planning was used to select the optimum locations and sizes for each future site.
The Kleinton WMF is one of the key facilities in the network. Project planning for the Kleinton WMF commenced in 2015 and started with considering how this facility would function within a network of waste management facilities to service the Toowoomba Region. Several locations were considered for the site, however, it was decided that the existing landfill was best situated from a network and community acceptance standpoint. The 16 hectare site will service the Northern parts of the Toowoomba Region for the next 25 years, and can be expanded to offer 50 years of serviceability.
The facility configuration
Configuration planning was of high importance for the Kleinton WMF design. Several concept designs were considered before the final configuration was agreed upon. These designs evaluated constructability, future waste processing opportunities, and suitability for a range of vehicle configurations. The facility layout has increased waste streaming options, optimised resource and cost recovery, and reduced the amount of waste sent to landfill. The design has improved the economics of recovering resources. The clockwise configuration illustrated in Figure 2 is split into four key areas that have the following purposes: • The Bulk Materials Area –
Segregation of green, timber, crushed concrete, and steel waste. • Resource Recover Area –
Separation of recyclables. • Residual Waste Transfer –
Discard of non-recyclables for compaction prior to landfill diversion. • Retail Tip Shop – Resale of recyclables.
Enhancing the customer experience
Customer serviceability and safety were important considerations of the design. The Traffic Impact and Engineering
Figure 1 – Site overview plan
Figure 2 – Facility configuration map
Assessment had to ensure that traffic queuing was kept to a minimum. This was particularly important as the facility entrance is within a 100km/ hr zone, so it would be unsafe if traffic were to queue on the adjoining road. Traffic queuing is considered optimised as the average customer waiting time is less than seven minutes for customers entering the facility during peak opening hours.
The customer experience has been further enhanced by designing the site configuration to suit observed waste facility customer behaviour. To ensure that the site configuration continued to match customer behaviour, a ‘How to Load the Trailer’ educational campaign was run. This campaign taught customers how to separate their waste and load their trailer to enable easy segregation of waste when visiting the facility. The layout and facility operating model have been designed to be scaled up and down across the different tiers of facilities within the Waste Management Strategy. This allows for a customer to have the same user experience across the region, regardless of the facility they visit. The facility has attracted positive customer google reviews, and Council’s operating staff have provided positive feedback around how easy the facility is to operate.
Continuance of serviceability and landfill rehabilitation
The facility was primarily built on an old landfill site that was being operated as a temporary waste transfer station. The site characteristics meant that landfill rehabilitation and continued public serviceability were important aspects of the project. To maintain customer serviceability throughout the construction works, the facility operations had to be fully segregated and relocated three times throughout the works. This required detailed planning, as did the rehabilitation of the landfill.
Appropriate management of the waste relocation and landfill rehabilitation activities was paramount to avoid environmental harm. The Waste Reduction and Recycling Act 2011, Environmental Protection Act 1994, Waste Reduction and Recycling Act 2011, and Environmental Protection Regulation 2008 were adhered to through several measures. These measures included the use of an asbestos spotter, gas monitoring system, and waste handling contractor. The landfill rehabilitation process is shown in Figure 3. The white material that can be viewed in Figure 3 is the geosynthetic clay liner. This liner is one of the many capping layers that ensures that waste does not rise to the surface. The landfill
Figure 3 - Landfill rehabilitation works
was successfully rehabilitated, and a Landfill Closure Plan was developed to highlight the ongoing activities that must be performed to manage the landfill after rehabilitation.
Managing the environmental impacts
Environmental management was a key consideration in the design. Beyond the landfill rehabilitation, additional aspects such as bushfire, and visual screening had to be considered. Visual screening was achieved by implementing a 20 meter vegetated landscape buffer throughout the perimeter of the facility. The vegetation buffer, however, had to be thin enough to accommodate bushfire management requirements. Vegetation works also had to consider the fact that Koalas were present on the site. A wildlife spotter was used to ensure Koala safety and environmental best practice.
Environmental best practice was also achieved through the minimisation of air and noise pollution. Although the site is rural, there are nearby neighbours. To operate the site, crushing and shredding activities must occur regularly. These activities can be loud, so a mulch bund and an acoustic fence were constructed to protect sensitivity receptors from the noise. The site activities, if not managed appropriately can also lead to odor and dust. Odor and dust are managed by a misting system which operates when waste is pushed and loaded. The waste is also transported away from site to the landfill at regular frequencies.
A further environmental consideration was stormwater management. The Stormwater Management Plan was developed in accordance with the Queensland Urban Drainage Manual. It was adapted to ensure that the facility will not generate contaminated runoff, but rather capture contaminated runoff in specialty treatment systems. The Residual Waste Area is enclosed to prevent water from contacting residual waste, and the discharge is channelled to a trade waste sump for treatment. Discharge from the Bulk Materials Area is channelled via a gross pollutant trap and held in a stormwater quality improvement basin. A bio-retention basin has also been incorporated into the design for stormwater quality treatment. Stormwater is appropriately managed.
Automation and sustainability initiatives
The facility has been designed to be self-sufficient from a water and power perspective. The site has 20 kilowatts of solar, 320 kilolitres of rainwater tanks, 24 megalitres of stormwater capture dams, and an onsite bore system. Moreover, automation technology has been implemented for operational efficiency gains. This is a key point of differentiation between the Kleinton Waste Management Facility over other facilities in the industry. The integration of certain automation systems has allowed for the real-time management of the facility remotely.
The key automation technology implemented at the facility and their purposes were:
• Automated electric gates to make opening and closing the facility simple.
• Security and access control to limit public access for public safety.
• Digital and thermal closedcircuit television (CCTV) cameras for security, the capture of facility uses analytics, and early identification of waste fires.
• A building sprinkler system for fast response to fires.
• A building management system to promptly report electrical, sewer, fire system, CCTV, or water pump faults to key operational staff. • A bell system to notify facility operators that customers have entered their area. • Touch screen computers for record-keeping efficiency.
The automation technology on the site is linked. For example, the thermal CCTV cameras in the Residual Waste Transfer area can detect heat and trigger the fire sprinkler systems which are linked to water storage specifically for fires. The building management system simultaneously sends an automatic alert to the facility operators that heat has been detected before the fire alarm systems are triggered. The automation technology is an innovative safety feature which is forward planning.
The takeaways
The Kleinton Waste Management Facility has delivered positive outcomes for the Toowoomba Region. It functions in a network of waste facilities under Council’s Waste Management Strategy. The facility layout has increased waste streaming options, optimised resource and cost recovery, and reduced the amount of waste sent to landfill. The design has improved the economics of recovering resources, whilst optimising customer serviceability and safety. Observed customer behaviour was fed into the design to assist in educating customers on how to use the facility, and to achieve a design that minimises traffic queuing. To maintain customer serviceability on the same site as the construction work, to achieve landfill rehabilitation, and to minimise environmental impacts, detailed planning was required. Automation and sustainability initiatives have ensured that this facility is designed for the future.
Amy works as a public infrastructure Project Manager for Toowoomba Regional Council. Prior to her time in Project Services, Amy worked in the private sector for engineering consultancies. She has experience working as a multidisciplinary project manager, civil designer and a construction superintendent’s representative. She is motivated by challenges and personal engagement.
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