INSIDE WASTE: August/September 2017 by Mayfam Media

Official Publication of the

ISSUE 79 | AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017

www.insidewaste.com.au

INSIDE

The plastic bag issue is a real bear but kudos to Woolies and Coles for taking a significant first step by banning lightweight plastic bags in their stores across Australia from July 2018. (Pictured: a sculpture made from recycled carrier bags in the UK. Credit: Kirk Laws-Chapman, Flickr CC)

24 40 years of CDS 36 Mapping the world’s waste 84 What’s on at AWRE

WMAA elects new president

National waste working group formed

PP: 255003/07055

ISSN 1837-5618

A national waste working group has been set up by the heads of EPAs (HEPA) across Australia to find ways to harmonise regulatory policies. And the group, chaired by the NSW EPA, had its first meeting in mid-July. At a Waste Management Association of Australia (WMAA) NSW industry update in July, NSW EPA director waste and resource recovery Steve Beaman said HEPA - an informal organisation - decided to form this waste working group as discussions within COAG tended to focus on issues such as container deposit schemes and plastic bag bans, and there is “a bit missing where there’s a need for regulatory policy and for the states to get together to harmonise.” Beaman said the working group

would meet “fairly frequently” and as a start, would be principle-based although the intent is to get into the details “fairly quickly” “We’re hitting all the highlights that most people have been talking about for a while, such as standardising the approaches to waste levies. There are a lot of different options that we’ll be talking about and what that means,” Beaman said. “The other states are also interested in the proximity principle so we need to think about how we can make proximity work on a national level... For instance, with waste tracking, we’ve done some interesting things like WasteLocate so we’re saying to the other states, we’re happy to give you that IP if we can

come up with a national approach. “My approach is, let’s pick five to 10 things, the things that are a pain for everyone, and [look at] how we can make it more efficient so we end up with a national approach.” Beaman also highlighted an opportunity to standardise the terminologies used in the sector. “What you’ll find is we’ll first end up with the principles and from that, we’ll work through the detail,” he said. “What has happened in the past is people have gone to the details too quickly and I want to go back to the heads of EPAs, the CEOs, and say, yes we need proximity and get their general agreement at a CEO level across the EPAs and then get into the detail.”

THE Waste Management Association of Australia (WMAA) has appointed Re.Group business development manager Garth Lamb as its new president. Lamb replaced Miranda Ransome, whose four-year term had come to an end, and he commenced the role of national president at the WMAA AGM on June 21. Lamb, whose term will last for two years, began his career in the sector more than a decade ago as a journalist and editor of Inside Waste, followed by four years working with Hyder (now Arcadis) as its national business leader for the waste and resource management team. Lamb is also an active WMAA member and in 2016, was elected as the WMAA NSW branch president. WMAA and the Board also thanked Ransome for the many years of her tireless work with the association. Ransome has been a WMAA member for more than 21 years, serving the last four years as WMAA president, and vice-president before that. WMAA said her commitment to the highest standards of responsibility, corporate governance and representing the interests of all members from all sectors had contributed greatly to building a stronger association. WMAA and the Board also thanked Geoff Webster for nominating to run for the position of WMAA national president. More on page 22.

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Editor’s note // Official Publication of the

Winds of change AND just like that, we’ve now entered the second half of 2017. How time flies. If the events of the last eight weeks are anything to go by, we may be in for an interesting Q2, with many positive changes on the horizon. Having remained largely unchanged since it was introduced in 1995, Queensland may soon have a new waste-related environmentally relevant activity (ERA) framework, with the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP) releasing a consultation regulatory impact statement in July that reviews this framework as well as the state’s regulated waste classification. Waste Recycling Industry Association of Queensland (WRIQ) has been advocating for change for the last 10 years and applauded the department for its efforts. However, it is pushing for the framework to take shape by the end of the year - ahead of the state election. More on page 41. As NSW draws closer to the container deposit scheme roll-out date of December 1, NSW EPA director waste and resource recovery, Steve Beaman, told those who attended a WMAA NSW industry update

event in July that rumours the scheme would miss its start date were untrue, adding that “all the bits and pieces that make the scheme work are now starting to come to fruition”. Beaman also revealed at the event that a national waste working group has been set up by the heads of EPAs and the group had met for the first time in mid-July. The aim of the working group, which Beaman said would meet “fairly frequently”, is to discuss national approaches and ways to harmonise regulatory policies, “hitting all the highlights that most people have been talking about for a while, such as standardising the approaches to waste levies.” Also at the event, NSW EPA manager waste and recycling infrastructure, Robbie Beale, unveiled the findings of the regulator’s latest infrastructure needs analysis conducted by KMH. At the moment, NSW has more than 280 facilities that sort, process, and recycle waste and the results show where the state’s infrastructure gaps are, based on projections to 2021. More on page 30. Turning to new technology, French

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company 3Wayste has a vision to simplify household waste sorting and has a plant in France that is capable of sorting and recycling municipal solid waste from a single collection while ensuring 90% diversion from waste. In July, the 3Wayste team flew to Australia to talk to industry players about their patented 3Wayste system and they believe that conditions here are ripe. More on page 44 You may have noticed that this issue of Inside Waste is just a tad heavier and that’s because it’s time once again for the annual Australasian Waste and Recycling Expo, which will be held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre on August 23 and 24. All the highlights, stories and exhibitor details can be found from pages 84 to 57. All you have to do is flip the magazine around! We hope you enjoy the issue. Note: Profiles will return in the October issue of the magazine. Correction: In the June issue of Inside Waste, we wrote that the Woodlawn mine that houses Veolia’s MBT is on the outskirts of Lismore. It is in fact, just outside of Tarago.

Senior Editor: Jacqueline Ong (jacqueline.ong@mayfam.net) Journalist: Jan Arreza (jan.arreza@mayfam.net) Advertising: Alastair Bryers (alastair.bryers@mayfam.net or 0431 730 886) Creative Director, Patterntwo Creative Studio: Toni Middendorf Published by Mayfam Media Phone: (02) 9267 1166 Web: www.insidewaste.com.au COPYRIGHT WARNING All editorial copy and some advertisements in this publication are subject to copyright and cannot be reproduced in any form without the written authorisation of the managing editor. Offenders will be prosecuted.

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Trish Hyde ends tenure as APC CEO TRISH Hyde has abruptly ended her tenure as the Australian Packaging Covenant’s (APC) CEO, a little over a year since taking up the position in March 2016. After Inside Waste reported on June 9 that Hyde had left, the APC released a statement officially announcing her departure, saying: “Trish Hyde, APC’s CEO has left the company to pursue personal interests. APC and the APC Board extends its gratitude to Trish for her dedicated leadership of the APC and wishes her the very best.” Hyde also reached out to Inside Waste, saying she was extremely proud of what she had achieved as APC CEO. “The APC Board have issued a statement stating that I resigned, and regardless of any statements and rumours, I can confirm that I am no longer CEO of the APC,” Hyde said. “Achievements made during

my tenure are something of which I’m proud of, especially the revitalisation of the Covenant and re-engagement with industry and governments. “I believe the commitments made in the Strategic Plan are good for industry and the environment and would not want to see them watered down.” She added that during her tenure as CEO, the APC threw off the “shackles of serving vested interests”. “We committed to the principles of impartiality and evidence-based methodology in everything we did,” Hyde said. “This did not always win friends, but it did win respect. “I thank the industry for the opportunity to have served and wish everyone well in their endeavours to improve environmental performance.” The APC has engaged Beaumont People to recruit its next CEO.

Daily news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

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No levy for asbestos

SKM battles blaze again

AS of July 1, new solid waste levy charges were applied in South Australia. These charges, which are applicable for disposal of waste at landfill, were: • the solid waste depot levy for waste produced in metropolitan Adelaide, which is now $87/tonne; and • the solid waste depot levy for relevant waste produced in non-metropolitan Adelaide, which is now $43.50/tonne. Significantly, from July 1, packaged asbestos waste will attract no levy (i.e. both metro and non-metro: $0/tonne). This follows on from the initial reductions in the solid waste levy in September 2016 for the disposal of packaged asbestos waste to $31 per tonne for metropolitan asbestos waste and $15.50 for non-metropolitan asbestos waste. Typically waste disposal fees by service providers incorporate both the waste levy and their operating costs. The removal of the levy on packaged asbestos waste is designed to minimise disposal fees to further encourage

SKM Recycling’s facility in Coolaroo, 19km north of Melbourne, was up in flames in July for the third time this year; the first and second incidents occurred in February and June. More than 100 households were told to evacuate as some 30 firefighters in about 50 trucks reportedly fought the blaze, which started at 9am on July 13, in windy conditions. The Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) told The Age on the weekend after the fire began that earthmoving equipment had been used to pull apart piles of rubbish while firefighters suppressed the smoke using foam and water. On July 17, the Victorian EPA, which was continuing to monitor air quality around local schools in the Dallas and Coolaroo areas, said the fire was under control. As part of its efforts to “hold SKM to account”, the EPA, Wyndham Council and the MFB carried out an inspection of SKM’s other facility in Laverton North on July 14 and according to The Age, the regulator found a “backlog of unsorted waste” at the Laverton North site. The EPA has reportedly served SKM

people to take the appropriate steps to ensure safe and secure disposal of this hazardous material at an approved depot or landfill. Asbestos waste is any “asbestos or ACM removed and disposable items used during asbestos removal work including plastic sheeting and disposal tools” where “asbestos containing material (ACM) means any material or thing that, as part of its design, contains asbestos”. Packaged asbestos waste is material that is packaged and disposed in accordance with: 1. Chapter 8 of the Work, Health and Safety Regulations 2012, or 2. the requirements for lawful unlicensed removalists as set out from time to time at www.asbestos. sa.gov.au and excluding asbestoscontaminated soil. Meanwhile, residual waste from the shredding of scrap metal at defined metal recycling operations will also effectively be maintained at $62/tonne (non-metro: $31/tonne) across 2017-18.

three notices including a demand for a temporary sorting line to clear the waste. EPA chief executive Nial Finegan told the newspaper the regulator would hold SKM and other operators of similar sites to account, adding that EPA staff had met with SKM’s company director to “gain an understanding of waste movements”. Firefighters battling the blaze at the SKM facility in Coolaroo. (Photo: Twitter/@MFB_News)

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Veolia acquires regional waste business VEOLIA has acquired Ellwaste Waste and Recycling Services, a regional waste management business currently servicing rural New South Wales and Victoria. Simon Tori, Veolia’s group general manager for Victoria and Tasmania, said the acquisition was aligned to Veolia’s strategy to grow its waste services business, to further promote landfill diversion and to enhance its offering for regional commercial, industrial and municipal waste customers.

Veolia’s presence in Victoria already includes a number of depots in Keysborough, Brooklyn, Corio, Morwell, Shepparton, Wodonga and Wagga Wagga. “In the last two to three years, we’ve opened up the depot in Wagga and in Albury-Wodonga, and given that we already have a presence in Shepparton, amongst other regional areas, it seemed a good opportunity to look for an acquisition that would complement our existing branches up north and all

the regional areas,” Tori said. “We knew from market intelligence that some other companies had prospectively looked at Ellwaste without getting to the final stage, so about six months ago we decided to engage in conversation with Ellwaste, which culminated in the recent announcement that we are taking control of the business. “With this acquisition, we will be able to leverage growth in North West Victoria through expansion of

our regional footprint, allowing us to increase our service offering to both new and existing customers. “We are also aiming to further expand our leading landfill diversion strategies and implement new technologies to increase waste processing efficiencies across the state.” Tori added that Ellwaste was highly regarded in rural Victoria and NSW for its customer centric consulting and dedication to the introduction of waste and recycling solutions.

business activities in the Surat Basin region of Queensland and will enable Toxfree to realise synergies by integrating the two businesses,” Toxfree said. “Toxfree’s existing business provides services to Origin operations and GLNG production under contract. JJ Richards has major contracts with Schlumberger for Origin production drilling, as well as several other industrial clients in the region. All clients, employees and

assets will transfer to Toxfree as part of the transaction. “Toxfree is delighted to announce this transaction with JJ Richards. The CSG sector in central Queensland is a very attractive market for Toxfree and we expect to realise synergies and improve our returns through consolidation with our existing industrial services business in Roma,” Toxfree managing director Steve Gostlow added.

Toxfree and JJ Richards swap assets TOX Free Solutions and JJ Richards have swapped assets of equivalent earnings (EBITDA) and asset values, with the former saying the strategic alignment will drive an improvement in return on invested capital. As part of its efforts to improve return on capital and earnings per share, Toxfree identified a number of assets that were not in alignment with its strategy, including the Tasmanian and Rockhampton businesses, which

were acquired as part of the 2013 Wanless transaction. Both these businesses provide a combination of municipal and commercial solid waste and recycling services. Toxfree has turned to JJ Richards’ business in Roma, which the company said is a “strong fit with Toxfree’s strategy to service the coal seam gas resource sector in Queensland.” “The JJ Richards business will complement Toxfree’s existing

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QLD introduces CDS and plastic bag ban in Parliament THE Palaszczuk government introduced two initiatives - a container refund scheme and a plastic bag ban into Parliament in June as part of amendments to the Waste Reduction and Recycling Act 2011. Commenting on the proposed CDS, Environment Minister Steven Miles said: “To make the program as simple as possible, refunds will be available from reverse vending machines or at designated container refund points. “We even have bipartisan support in Parliament, reflecting the overwhelming community support for both the refund scheme and the plastic bag ban.” Toby Hutcheon of the Boomerang Alliance and Wildlife Queensland said the container refund scheme and the ban on plastic shopping bags would have enormous positive impacts on the environment. “These two measures can reduce litter volumes particularly plastic litter by at least 50% in Queensland,” Hutcheon said. The container refund scheme

and shopping bag ban will start on July 1, 2018. The government is working closely with beverage manufacturers, retailers, local government, the waste and resource recovery industry, and the community on both proposals to ensure a smooth transition and operation of the initiative. Following the introduction of these initiatives, the newly-formed National Waste Recycling Industry Council (NWRIC) has called on the NSW government to push back its CDS start date from December 1, 2017 to July 1, 2018. The NWRIC says aligning the commencement date of the NSW and Queensland CDS will ensure the success of both schemes, highlighting that Miles had previously said his government would work closely with NSW to deliver a CDS in both states. The council is also concerned that an earlier start date for the NSW scheme would negatively impact the Queensland launch. But that is not all. Like many others in the industry,

it raised the point that the December 1 start date comes only six months after the mechanisms governing the scheme were released and could result in administrative hurdles that could delay the orderly roll out of the scheme.

NWRIC chairman Phil Richards said moving the start date back by seven months means both states could also prevent cross border transport of beverage containers and stockpiling issues.

Plastic recycling company shuts ADELAIDE plastic recycling company, Plastics Granulating Services (PGS) will soon be shutting its doors, with its managing director pointing to high power bills having crippled the business. PGS, based in Kilburn, a suburb in the inner north of Adelaide, was founded 38 years ago and had plans to expand. Managing director Stephen Scherer pointed to an increase in the company’s monthly power bills - from $80,000 to $180,000 over the past 18 months - as the reason the company is being placed in liquidation.

Speaking to New Limited, Scherer said he was “absolutely devastated” but the price hikes could not be absorbed and were “the final straw”. “I literally kept a close daily monitor on electricity prices and at the end of the day we were simply unable to wear the extra expense as we attempted to maintain an appropriate [profit] margin across the business,” Scherer said. Liquidator Stephen Duncan told the New Limited he was working with the directors and other stakeholders to either sell or restructure the business.

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Governments back EfW project AUSTRALIAN Paper has received $5 million from the state and federal governments for a feasibility study into an energy from waste plant at its Maryvale paper mill in Victoriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Latrobe Valley. The governments will contribute $2.5 million each and Australian Paper will match the commitment with $2.5 million of its own funding. The study will look into the proposed $600 million EfW project at the mill.

If the plan is viable, the facility would receive some 650,000 tonnes of waste from Gippsland and south eastern Melbourne and process that into base load energy to run the mill. Australian Paper chief operating officer, Peter Williams, told The Herald Sun the plant could address some long-term landfill challenges. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Generating energy from municipal waste at Maryvale would help address

southeast Melbourneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s long-term landfill issues, and also create valuable new construction and manufacturing jobs in the Latrobe Valley,â&#x20AC;? Williams said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This project would be a major boost for regional paper manufacturing and we are excited to be investigating this important opportunity.â&#x20AC;? The paper making process at the Maryvale mill uses thermal power to create steam and Australian Paper is

confident that the EfW model it is studying, which it says isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t common in Australia, is a good fit. If the project goes ahead, the facility is expected to save half a million tonnes of CO2-e a year, and support 800 jobs during construction and 46 ongoing jobs - surely a welcome outcome after the job losses that followed the closure of the Hazelwood coal-fired power plant.

government has a vision for a $1 billion sustainable, export-oriented biofuels sector. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Since coming to office, my government has formulated a 10-year Action Plan and Roadmap to grow the industry and committed nearly $20 million to develop the biotechnology sector,â&#x20AC;? Palaszczuk said. Energy and Biofuels Minister Mark Bailey said data from the first three months of the mandate show that sales of ethanol have increased by nearly 38% since this time last year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is a strong indication that the

mandate is achieving its policy objectives to boost the Queensland fuel industry and the jobs that come with it. In the last 12 months, over 150 additional fuel sites have been upgraded to sell E10, and more are on the way as fuel sellers continue with conversion programs,â&#x20AC;? he said.

$18M biofuels plant opens THE $18 million Northern Oil Advanced Biofuels Pilot Plant in Yarwun, Queenslandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first commercial-scale facility, is now open. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This plant is the start of a whole new industry for Queensland. It will take agricultural waste such as bagasse from sugar production and turn it into biofuels,â&#x20AC;? Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who attended the official opening of the plant, said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It offers to create sustainable jobs and deliver a new source of power that would have a minimum impact on our precious environment.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We still have a long way to go to establish an internationally-competitive biofuels industry, but today is a significant milestone on that journey.â&#x20AC;? Member for Gladstone, Glenn Butcher, said the pilot plant was an investment boon for Gladstone and would be in addition to the $70 million waste lube oil re-refining plant, which Southern Oil Refining currently operates. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Significantly, Gladstone is once again at the forefront of a new industry for Queensland just as we have been at the forefront for the LNG industry,â&#x20AC;? he said. The Premier said that the Queensland

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SA waste authority expands footprint; appoints new CEO THE Northern Adelaide Waste Management Authority (NAWMA) is expanding its footprint beyond its facilities at the existing Edinburgh North site. It has also appointed Adam Faulkner as its new CEO. In July, NAWMA, the regional subsidiary of the Cities of Playford and Salisbury and the Town of Gawler, announced that while the Edinburgh North site remains strategically

important, it had made an $8.5 million investment in a 1.918-hectare site at Woomera Avenue, Edinburgh Parks. NAWMA said the Edinburgh Parks site features extensive factory accommodation to house a new material recovery facility for sorting recyclables, an existing building with multi-story offices, training and storerooms, and a dynamic Environment Education Centre. “Investment in the new premises

housing state-of-the-art equipment, along with the introduction of new contractual waste management arrangements and partnerships, will deliver new capabilities to reduce reliance on landfill operations,” NAWMA chairman, Brian Cunningham, said. With the new site almost complete for commissioning, it was officially announced on June 30 that East Waste general manager, Adam Faulkner, would

become the new CEO of NAWMA. Faulkner, who also holds positions as non-executive director of the Waste Management Association of Australia and non-executive director of KESAB environmental solutions, will take up the position at NAWMA on July 25. He succeeds retiring executive officer, Brian King, who has headed NAWMA’s executive team for the past 21 years.

Brisbane awards SUEZ collection contract BRISBANE City Council (BCC) has awarded SUEZ a 16-year waste collection contract totaling close to $900 million. The waste giant has also won a seven-year contract in Parramatta, 23km west of Sydney. Under the renewed contract with BCC, SUEZ will manage general, recycling, and green waste collections for Brisbane and will invest more than $50 million in new equipment, including 150 new collection vehicles featuring on-board computing technology to offer Council real-time tracking of vehicles and collections, as well as access to detailed information about the services provided to residents.

“Brisbane City Council’s waste collection operation is the largest in Australia, providing services to households from multi-unit dwellings through to rural properties in the outer suburbs as well as Council parks and street litter bins across the city,” Mark Venhoek, CEO of SUEZ in Australia and New Zealand, said. “We look forward to our ongoing partnership with Brisbane City Council and providing a safe, reliable and efficient collection service to one of Australia’s fastest growing capital cities. It takes a team of 180 people to provide

more than 125,000 waste collection services every day and we’re proud to continue this work,” he said. The contract commenced on L-R: Peter Hudson, state general manager recycling & recovery Queensland, Mark Venhoek, July 1. CEO SUEZ Australia & New Zealand, and Over in Parramatta, SUEZ has Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Cr Graham Quirk. been awarded a contract to collect general waste, recycling, garden standards,” SUEZ state general manager organics, and hard waste from the NSW & SA, John Hassett said. region’s 230,000 residents. The company “Our real-time reporting system and will also process and compost the city’s on-board computing system will also garden organics and will provide a new provide Council with access to detailed fleet of 33 vehicles. information such as GPS tracking, “We’ll be investing in 33 brand new including maps of streets awaiting to Mercedes trucks with Euro 6 emission be serviced.”

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Equipment news //

Eriez provides competitive edge in scrap metal market WITH best-in-class metal recovery rates and grade improvement, Eriez says its innovative CleanStream process is revolutionising ferrous processing in the scrap metal market. The process consists of a PokerSort to extract long troublesome pokers early in the process, as well as a single or pair of P-Rex Drum Magnets to recover up to 99% of the ferrous product. It also includes the Shred 1 Ballistic Metal Separator to improve the product’s grade by reducing its copper content to low limits, which is typically below 0.20%. The PokerSort extracts pokers like automotive leaf springs, tie rods, steering and axle components and other generally uncooperative long shapes directly from the shred before the drum magnet. As pokers exit the shredder, alignment guides on the incline conveyor position poker-type objects parallel in the flow, which increases the chances of tearing the belt. With Eriez’s technology, pokers are held in place by the magnets on

the drum and as pokers reach the end of the conveyor, they are magnetically pulled over the PokerSort into a chute and collect in a bin or bunker. Eriez says the P-Rex is by far the strongest drum magnet available on the market today, with P-Rex permanent rare earth circuit design delivering 40% greater strength than typical electromagnets. The P-Rex also provides edge-to-edge performance and has enormous pick-up, resulting in greater recovery rates of up to 99%. The new Traction Plate incorporated with the P-Rex aids cleaning by reducing the “clumping” effect on the cleats, and therefore, less fluff and dirt is entrained. The Shred1’s ballistics enable operators to automatically produce a premium #1 low-copper ferrous product. Its highspeed processing sends clean, high-grade ferrous on a different trajectory than “mixed metals” like meatballs and wire harnesses that contain some copper mixed metals degrade the ferrous product and often render the frag fraction to low value uses such as rebar production. The Pronar MPB 20.55 mobile trommel screen arriving at Lincom Group’s Unanderra Depot (NSW).

First PRONAR mobile trommel screen lands in Australia THE first PRONAR MPB 20.55g (tracked) trommel has arrived in Australia and is available through exclusive distributor Lincom Group. The 20.55g features a 5.5m-long by 2m diameter drum, which allows for excellent throughput. And with a transport length of 10.7m and width of 2.8m, plus weight of approximately 20,000kg, it can be easily moved in every state. Standard inclusions on the MPB 20.55g are a CAT engine, tele-radio remote control system, clean-fix system fitted to the engine radiator and hydraulic cooler, tipping grid, Danfoss hydraulic components, and a central greasing system. The MPB 20.55g has also been built and tested at factory to suit Australian conditions. Albert Toal, general manager at Lincom Group, said: “We are delighted to have the first MPB 20.55g arrive into Australia and represent such a progressive and astute manufacturer as 18

PRONAR. While being very competitively priced, PRONAR has not compromised on quality in the build of the MPB range. Using only the best components and latest manufacturing techniques, the MPB represents excellent value.” The PRONAR trommel range includes the MPB 14.44, MPB 18.47, MPB 20.55, and MPB 20.72. Thanks to a solid design and build, plus ease of operation, the PRONAR range of mobile trommel screens are perfectly suited to work with various materials such as soil, compost, municipal waste, coal, aggregate, and biomass. The trommel can be set up according to customer requirements with the addition of any of the optional equipment such as an electric drive in lieu of a diesel engine, air separators, magnetic head drums, vibrating tipping grid, in-drum bag cutters and extra hydraulic pumps. More: www.lincom.com.au or 1800 182 888.

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The Eriez CleanStream process.

The Shred1 not only offers low copper frag, but data shows labour costs can be reduced as only 25% of the total product will report to the picking station. There is more accessibility to pick copper bearing materials efficiently so fewer pickers are required. Eriez’s innovative CleanStream Process sets a new standard in scrap metal separation with PokerSort,

New JCB EcoMax engine fuelled to last JCB Construction Equipment Australia (CEA) has brought fuel-efficient EcoMax engines to its backhoe loader range to deliver improved efficiencies. According to Glenn McLeod, JCB CEA national product manager for backhoes, the new EcoMax Stage IIIB/Tier 4i and Tier 4 Final engines offer the latest technology with reduced fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, with the new units tested for 110,000 hours in 70 different machines. The JCB engines do not require a Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) so the backhoes retain their low bonnet line for visibility to the wheels and attachments, providing increased operator safety and a more spacious engine compartment to allow for easier maintenance. Both the JCB EcoMax Stage IIIB/Tier 4i and Tier 4 Final engines boast the new Auto Idle, Auto Throttle and Auto Drive (Automate) features as standard. These features allow operators to pre-set idle modes when switching between excavator and front loader operations, cutting fuel consumption, engine noise and emissions.

P-Rex, and the Shred1 Ballistic Metal Separator. Working in tandem, this equipment leads to better recovery and a higher-grade ferrous product while delivering it at a lower cost per tonne. Eriez will be exhibiting at the Australasian Waste and Recycling Expo, Stand C11. More: www.eriez.com/Products/Index/ Cleanstreamprocess or 03 8401 7400.

The new EcoMax Stage IIIB/Tier 4i and Tier 4 Final engines offer the latest technology with reduced fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

“The new standard control panel featured on all Stage IIIB/Tier 4i backhoes allows operators to access a comprehensive menu and view fuel economy data too, and service intervals can still be carried out entirely from ground level without the need to remove side panels or climb access filters,” McLeod said. “All engine checks are carried out and reported automatically by the engine management system, meaning an end to daily under bonnet checks and faster diagnostics to a first time dealer fix.” Both models include JCB LiveLink with seven report screens available for operators to view machine utilisation, productivity, travel time, fuel usage, work modes, engine start, run time and carbon emissions. More: www.jcbcea.com.au or 1300 522 232.

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news

From the CEO’s desk I have now held the role of WMAA CEO for six months. In this time, I have been fortunate enough to visit almost every state and meet with many individuals engaged in the waste and resource recovery sector. From the many conversations had, what strikes me is the lack of, and the need for, national consistency in our sector. As a lawyer, I have always favoured the states and their role in Federation. I am, however, becoming increasingly aware that if I operated a business in Australia which crossed state boundaries, I would feel frustrated and confused given the many different laws, regulations and approaches that apply to this sector by each state, which undoubtedly results in additional and unnecessary expense for business. I support free trade under s92 of the Constitution. Certainty and consistency between the states does not prevent this and if anything, it may in fact encourage it.

NSW has attempted to address what it saw as concerns with the South Australian system. In particular, the potential monopolisation by the beverage industry, the lack of investment in technology and the real need to get the scheme operating state-wide. NSW has developed a unique scheme, to commence on 1 December 2017, which it considers has addressed these concerns. Queensland’s scheme, which will commence on 1 July 2018, appears to be an Extended Product Responsibility scheme relying heavily on the South Australian model. With a discussion paper due out soon, it is unclear what Western Australia plans to do. All that is known is that the scheme will be implemented on 1 January 2019. Victoria is still not committed. The ideas in each jurisdiction probably come from the right place, with different teams wanting to make adjustments to make their own approach as good as possible. However, who is considering the relative costs and challenges of inconsistency, and is making sure that any really smart adjustments are implemented across each state?

Let’s take a recent example of the Container Deposit Scheme. This year, South Australia is celebrating 40 years of having this litter reduction initiative in place, which was introduced even before kerbside recycling, making it very innovative for its time. Northern Territory introduced the scheme in 2012.

It seems likely that by 2019 we will have at least five different schemes operating in Australia, and in all likelihood, every person in Australia will be paying an additional cost for their beverages – even if they cannot easily redeem the deposit and their state is not part of the scheme. It seems that there will be different levels of investment across the states and different reporting and operating requirements.

In 2014, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) rejected the national implementation of such a scheme, stating that the cost of implementing the scheme far outweighed its benefits, and it could not be justified. Beginning in 2015, however, a series of state governments – starting with NSW – committed to implementing the scheme. Given the essentially Australia-wide commitment to this policy, this was a golden opportunity to sit down nationally and look at how this scheme was operating in South Australia and Northern Territory, and learn what works and what does not. It also provided an opportunity to apply basic principles of continuous improvement, to develop a national framework that could bring these schemes together, providing consistency for consumers (who travel across states), retailers (the largest two companies sharing almost 70% of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) nationally) and the beverage and waste and resource recovery industries, which also operate nationally. This joint approach could also have been used to improve the existing state schemes, allowing it to reflect current challenges faced by the environment and industry, as opposed to those challenges that existed 40 years ago. For this to be successful, however, states needed to work together transparently and genuinely share their ideas. This did not happen. Instead, it appears that different schemes will operate in every state. So, where are we now?

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No one can honestly say that this is a good outcome for the consumer, retailer, beverage or waste and resource recovery industry – can they? There has to be a better way of delivering good strong policy for our sector that achieves national consistency. It is too important to continue the way it is. Whilst it would be highly impossible to refer these powers nationally to the Commonwealth (like Family Law), states have demonstrated that they can work together (for example, Australian Road Rules) to provide a certain and consistent approach. Issues like levies, proximity principle, licences, waste hierarchy, data collection and publication need to be looked at and agreed to nationally, then implemented consistently by all states. Industry must be a partner in these discussions and not simply be left to ‘repent in leisure’ when the policy makers have moved on to the next project.

Gayle Sloan Chief Executive Officer Waste management Association of Australia

Waste

Regional Waste Management Conference

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11–13 OCTOBER 2017 • MACKAY ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, QLD

Report //

Highlights of the National Waste Report 2016 By Joe Pickin THE new National Waste Report 2016 is now available on the website of the Department of the Environment and Energy. The report provides national, state and territory data on waste quantities, sources, and management for 2014-15. In addition, it presents the most reliable trend data on waste quantities that has been compiled in Australia, extending back to 2006-07. It also includes international comparisons, an account of current and emerging waste issues, and contributions from key industry associations the Waste Management Association of Australia, the Australian Landfill Owners Association, the Australian Council of Recycling, and the Australian Organics Recycling Association. The data was mostly supplied by the states and territories with additional input from industry and national government sources. States and territories entered their data into a custom Excel workbook using an agreed framework that transparently converts and supplements their data to a nationally consistent presentation. A similar compilation method was applied to data from five other financial years to generate the trend. The 2014-15 workbook, including the trend data, was released simultaneously with the National Waste Report 2016 and is available at the same web address. The report and workbook were prepared by Blue Environment and Randell Environmental Consulting under contract to the Department of the Environment and Energy.

Total waste quantities In 2014-15, Australia produced about 64 million tonnes of waste, the equivalent of 2.7 tonnes per capita. The proportion recycled was 58%. Excluding fly ash, the total was about 53 million tonnes, or 2.2 tonnes per capita, with 61% recycled (Figure 1). The figures for energy recovery are higher than those reported by the states and territories because the Australian government method considers the production of energy from landfill gas a type of recovery. The estimated quantities of waste that generated this energy are included under ‘energy recovery’, rather than disposal. Figure 2 presents national quantity trends between 2006-07 and 2014-15, the upper chart including fly ash and the lower excluding it. In both figures, 20

the overall quantity of waste increased and there is a trend towards more recycling and more energy recovery. However, energy recovery declined in the last year of the series due to a fall in the quantity of landfill gas collected. Including fly ash, the annual quantity of waste per capita declined slightly but excluding fly ash, waste per capita increased by an average of 0.8% per year. The rates of increase shown differ significantly from some previous analyses. The ABS 2016 Australian Environmental-Economic Accounts estimate that waste quantities increased by an average of 7.7% per year between 1996-97 and 2013-14. We understand this estimate relied on sectoral estimates of ‘waste intensity’ per unit value added. The data in the National Waste Report 2016 covers a shorter period but is collected directly and is likely to be more accurate.

Waste quantities by source stream Figure 3 shows that in 2014-15 Australia produced the equivalent of 565kg per capita of municipal waste, 831kg of construction and demolition waste, 459kg of fly ash, and 849kg of other commercial and industrial waste. The recovered proportion was more than half for MSW and almost two-thirds for C&D and C&I waste (excluding fly ash). Figure 4 shows the trends in waste generation and fate by source stream. Generation of MSW changed little over the nine years despite increasing population. Generation of C&I and C&D waste increased on a total and per capita basis. The recovery rate rose across all three streams, albeit only marginally for C&D waste. The fall in MSW per capita is linked to a decline in use of glass packaging, lighter plastic packaging and falling newspaper circulations.

Waste quantities by material Figure 5 shows waste generation and fate by material in 2014-15. Masonry material, organic wastes and fly ash were the largest waste streams, representing nearly twothirds of waste generated. The highest recovery rates were of metals, masonry materials and paper and cardboard. The lowest rates were for plastics, ‘other’ and fly ash. Trend analysis presented in the National Waste Report 2016 shows that some significant material streams - paper and cardboard, glass and fly ash

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// Report

- are declining. Waste metals, organics and plastics also appear to be reducing, at least on a per capita basis. Masonry materials from demolitions, on the other hand, are increasing.

Establishing the national waste data system A robust system for collating waste data nationally has been sought since the 1990s. Various ‘one-off’ national collations were produced during the 2000s, but coverage and their compilation methods were not wholly consistent. In 2010, the Department of the Environment and Energy established a framework compilation method in consultation with the states and territories. This was transparently applied to generate the data for the original National Waste Report 2013, based on 2010-11 data. Afterwards, to improve transparency and consistency,

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the Department developed the workbook used for this new iteration of the report. This workbook was also applied to previous data sets back to 2006-07, again with the cooperation of the states and territories. As a result, for the first time, Australia now has: • an agreed compilation method for national waste data that can readily be reused; • a reasonable waste data trend extending back nine years; and • the ability to maintain the data trend should methods or assumptions need to change in future.

Dr Joe Pickin is a director of the consultancy company Blue Environment. He co-authored and was primary data analyst for the National Waste Report 2016. Contact: joe.pickin@blueenvironment.com.au iw or 0403 562 621.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 INSIDEWASTE

Q&A //

From journo to president By Jacqueline Ong If you’ve met Garth Lamb, you know he loves to talk rubbish and when he starts, there’s no stopping him. He’s been called upon numerous times by Inside Waste for comment, is a bit of celebrity - did you hear him on ABC Radio? - and was one of four speakers at the TEDxSydney Salon in September last year. Now, Re.Group’s business development manager, former Inside Waste journalist and editor, and former Hyder Consulting (now Arcadis) consultant is the Waste

Management Association of Australia’s (WMAA) new president - and quite possibly the association’s youngest president as well. Inside Waste (IW) caught up with Lamb to find out how his first few weeks as president had gone and what some of the challenges and opportunities were for WMAA. IW: Firstly, are you still enjoying your role as president of WMAA? And what was the first thing you did when you heard that you had been appointed president?

Lamb: Yes, I certainly am. I’ve been NSW president for a while so I have a pretty clear idea of what the role would involve. I’m looking forward to going out and talking to my colleagues in other states. The first thing I did was read the board reports because I found out [about my appointment] not long before the AGM and had a lot of background to get up to speed with. But I may have had a glass of red too. IW: What drew you to the president’s role? Lamb: I’ve always tried to make time for WMAA. It really is the industry’s peak body, the only organisation that reflects the breadth and depth of our sector. I grew up with the motto “if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right”. To me, that means if I’m going to back WMAA as the organisation best placed to lead the success of this sector that I love, then I need to be prepared to put my hand up and commit the time and energy required to help it achieve its goals. I’m very happy the members have chosen me to represent them, and I hope the election process has helped inspire more people to think about getting more active in the association too. IW: What have been some of the highlights of your career? Lamb: Starting out in the waste game as a journalist and the editor of Inside Waste provided me a rare and wonderful opportunity to interact with people right across our broad sector. My core job was to talk to as many people as I could, about every issue facing our sector, so that I could report back on the issues that mattered. At the time, I didn’t realise how unique it was to start a career interacting with the leaders of the sector from day one, or to be able to maintain a broad view of the world without getting lost in the detail of a particular project or issue. The eventual frustration of journalism, for me, was the feeling I was waiting for other people to

INSIDEWASTE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017

do interesting things that I could write about. I wanted to get closer to the action, and transitioning to Hyder Consulting gave me that opportunity. I was lucky enough to work on some great projects, with some great people. But our waste team was a small part of a large multinational, and what I also learned was the importance of advocating for my group. It would be fair to say the senior leadership team didn’t always have waste issues on their radar but, to their credit, they did listen to us when we got smarter at presenting information to them. A career highlight for me was winning Hyder’s coveted ‘Project of the Year’ award for the Northern Rivers Regional Waste Strategy project! Moving to Re.Group in 2014 took me even closer to the action. For me, there’s nothing more rewarding than delivering infrastructure and services that actually make a real, tangible impact. I love being able to get out of the office and spending time at our various recycling and resource recovery facilities, as well as talking with potential clients in order to understand their future needs. IW: And what are some of the issues that you feel most passionately about? Lamb: The one issue that gets my goat is the lack of recognition as to how important what we do is. The sector is a victim of its own success in the fact that because the system works so well, people don’t realise how much they depend on it. I find it terribly frustrating - the lack of respect there sometimes is for what we do and how complex it is. I’d like the waste sector to have a stronger profile and to be able to have more respect for what we do. IW: And how do you think the sector can get there? Lamb: I think we need to coordinate our voices and be able to steer the debate, and to be able to encourage

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// Q&A

Garth Lamb, WMAA’s new president.

those discussions and debates and understand what the common themes that everyone holds dear are. The big focus for me is to ensure that WMAA is not only a discussion club but to make sure that WMAA actually makes things happen, to be able to look back and say that’s an outcome that’s been driven by WMAA, that’s what I want to do. We’ve been having discussions and debates and some of the topics that are still relevant today, I literally remember talking to people about 15 years ago. Some of these things just haven’t progressed so what I’d like to see is WMAA being more focussed on delivering rather than just identifying the problems. We will be more proactive in terms of shaping public policy, rather than just responding to external demands. We need people to be more active participants. With this focus on WMAA being more active and delivering, there’s a risk that some people are going to say: “Hang on I didn’t contribute my ideas and my thoughts into that process.” So it is a bit of a call to arms to the rest of the membership - if you want to be part of this and if you want to drive it forward, then get involved. There are so many opportunities - there are the different working groups, the different state branches - all of them work better when we’ve got a mix of people in there. It is a good thing if we can encourage people to be active participants to support the industry’s growth and development. I suspect I may be the youngest president and to me, that makes sense because for those of us who are mid-career or early in our career, we’ve got the longest timeline ahead of us working in the sector and we are going to be working is this sector for the next 30 or 40 years. Thus, now is the time to put your energy, time, and effort into trying to help improve the overall sector so we’ve all got better jobs and a better sector over the full term.

IW: What are some of the challenges and opportunities for WMAA? Lamb: In the advocacy space, the traditional ‘challenge’ for WMAA has been trying to represent a ‘broad church’. In the past, the responses to this has been for the association to remain silent (or very quiet) on a lot of issues. This isn’t how we will be dealing with important issues in the future, and I think some of the recent WMAA submissions show we can be a very effective voice for the industry, even on topics where there isn’t 100% agreement from every member. WMAA will always provide a forum for all members to present their views and help shape the debate, but once we’ve had these internal discussions, we need to - and will - present a strong, united front to external stakeholders. WMAA’s execution of its role has certainly improved a lot in recent times. It’s no secret that the association went through a fairly rough transition between the departure of its long-term inaugural CEO and the appointment of its current CEO, Gayle Sloan. I’ve been thrilled to see Gayle getting out there and working hard for our sector; I think she is doing a fantastic job working with the members, and ensuring WMAA is front and centre in the minds of key stakeholders. In terms of opportunities, there are a number of issues which are creating (or will create) a heightened sense of public awareness in what we do. For example, the ABC’s ‘War on Waste’ program helped expose a huge public interest in what we do. New container deposit schemes being rolled out in NSW, QLD, the ACT and WA present an opportunity to engage with the community and shift the mindset from

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an ‘end of pipe problem’ to something consumers and manufacturers think about too. In NSW, there’s currently a Parliamentary Inquiry into energy from waste, which opened the opportunity for our political leaders to consider some of the real challenges our sector faces.

WMAA is the right vehicle to be front and centre in all of these emerging debates, and there is a great opportunity for WMAA to capitalise on growing interest in our sector by pushing for the sorts of reforms and outcomes that will help our sector iw continue to grow and mature.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 INSIDEWASTE

CDS //

40 years of CDS FOUR decades. That’s how long South Australia has been recovering and recycling beverage cans and containers through its container deposit scheme. And now, 40 years on, three other states- NSW, WA and Queensland - are following in SA’s footsteps, while NT introduced a CDS based on the SA model in 2011. It would be remiss of Inside Waste not to champion the state for its 40-year CDS success. Here’s a snapshot of some of the milestones that SA has met over the course of its CDS history.

1800s SA has a history of recycling beverage containers since the 1800s, with local beer and drink manufacturers operating a voluntary system to recover and refill glass bottles.

1970s Introduction of disposable drink containers lead to a spike in public space litter. Manufacturers also fail to introduce a return system for single-use and non-refillable containers.

1977

2003

2008

Based on the ‘polluter pays’ principle and reinforcing the existing return systems, the SA Parliament passes the Beverage Container Act in 1975. This becomes operational in 1977 and SA’s CDS is born.

The scheme is extended to cover non-carbonated soft drinks, pure fruit juice, and flavoured milk containers.

The refund increases from five cents to 10 cents.

INTERESTING FACTS

HOW THE SCHEME WORKS

• The current network of collection depots originated from bottle agents known as ‘marine stores’. • These ‘marine stores’ were first established by the Adelaide Bottle Company, which collected, washed, and hired glass bottles for reuse by local breweries. • In 2006, the National Trust of SA awarded the CDS a Heritage Icon for its role in contributing to the state’s cultural identity. • There is a penalty for attempting to get a refund for interstate containers - $30,000.

1. Beverage supplier establishes a contract with a super collector and pays deposits and handling fees to the latter to develop a collection system to recover containers. 2. Beverage supplier incorporates costs in the price of the product when selling to the retailer. 3. Retailer passes costs on to the consumer as part of the total price of the product. 4. Consumer collects empty container and takes it to depot or retailer and collects refund. 5. Beverage containers are sorted by material type and returned to the super collector which pays a handling fee to the collection depot. 6. Glass containers are sorted by colour and sold to a glassmaker. 7. Aluminium, steel, liquid paperboard and plastic containers are recycled through markets sourced by the super collector.

“

INDUSTRY EXPERTS COMMENT

KEY FIGURES

• Six billion containers have been returned under the SA CDS. • Average annual return rate of 80%. • All up, some 538 million containers have been recovered and recycled. • Drink containers in landfill represent 2.9% - the lowest in the country. • Community groups are involved in the scheme and more than $60 million are returned to community annually. • Upwards of 800 jobs have been created.

“SA has shown the lead through CDS in implementing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Schemes in Australia, for which they are to be congratulated. It is interesting to now watch other states implement this scheme, with differing approaches. Potentially a missed opportunity for both national consistency and failure to involve the waste and resource recovery sector sufficiently to assist in investment and innovation in this scheme. The release by Green Industries SA of the “Benefits of the Circular Economy for SA”, takes this and other EPR policies to the next level by recognising that waste really is a resource. Another example of SA’s leadership and I hope that the other states will take less than 40 years to adopt.” - WMAA CEO, Gayle Sloan. “SA’s 40 years of CDS has embedded a culture of recycling in the community. This has enabled government to allocate resources to the sector and lead to the most resource efficient state in Australia.” - ACOR CEO, Grant Musgrove. “The SA CDL scheme is a near perfect example of how incentivising behaviour change can lead to powerful environmental outcomes. By balancing a refund model with traditional kerbside recycling, we now see less than 3% of eligible CDL containers in the litter stream. It has been a tremendous success, and we look forward to seeing the rollout in NSW, QLD and WA.” - Adam Faulkner, general manager East Waste, board member of KESAB and WMAA.

Icons created by Dot on Paper - www.flaticon.com, Macrovector, Kbibibi, Bakar015, and Dooder - Freepik.com, and Freepik.

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iw Weekly news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

// Landfill

A solution for contaminated soil By Jacqueline Ong

IN 2015, the Victorian government identified SUEZ’s Taylor Road Landfill in Dandenong South, 45km from Melbourne, as a waste management hub of importance, while highlighting the opportunity to co-locate compatible resource recovery activities at the site. Two years on and the site, which is the state’s only landfill licenced to receive category B solid prescribed industrial waste, will soon house a soil processing facility that will treat a range of contaminated soil to both minimise the material’s impact and reduce the amount of contaminated waste going to landfill. But SUEZ is not doing it alone. It has partnered with one of the largest infrastructure service companies in Australasia, Ventia, to develop the

facility. The new facility will use direct thermal desorption treatment and stabilisation technologies to treat up to 60,000 tonnes of soil a year, ultimately diverting contaminated soils from landfill and recovering valuable material that can be reused. Ventia is no stranger to the process, having thermally treated more than 350,000 tonnes of contaminated soil in Australia since 2009. It also has overseas project experience in thermal treatment, and has completed some of the largest stabilisation projects in Australia. “Direct thermal desorption treatment is a two-stage process. The first step involves feeding soils into a heated, rotating drum, known as a thermal desorber. The desorber heats the soil to 400 degrees Celsius, which removes the contaminants from the soil, forming a

vapour in the process,” SUEZ state general manager Kelvin Sargent explained. “The second part of the process treats the vapour which now contains the contaminants. The vapour is passed through a ‘thermal oxidiser’ and heated to over 900 degrees Celsius. Suitable time and temperature conditions are used to ensure the contaminants are all destroyed through combustion. Thermal desorption results in a clean fill product, devoid of organic matter, including peat or weed seeds.” Meanwhile, stabilisation is used for materials containing contaminants that are either unsuitable or unaffected by thermal treatment, including metals. “This process involves the addition of specific additives to ‘fixate’ or stabilise contaminants to prevent them from leaching to the environment,” Sargent said.

At present, treated soils that meet the clean fill classification will be re-used as cover at the landfill site. As soil treatment is a relatively new industry in Australia, acceptance of clean fill products will take time. For now, the aim is to divert materials from landfill and recover resources that can be reused. “The SUEZ Ventia Joint Venture has identified a number of beneficial reuses for the recovered material, from landfill cover to quarry rehabilitation and development opportunities,” Sargent added. Construction of the facility will commence soon and the joint venture expects to start servicing the contaminated soils market in late 2017. Sargent also said both SUEZ and Ventia “hope to continue to explore other partnerships as a result of this iw joint venture.”

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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 INSIDEWASTE

Bioenergy //

Bioenergy: a circular economy approach By Elizabeth Gwilt and Michael Salt TRADITIONALLY companies have utilised ‘economies of scale’ to become more competitive, ultimately using greater amounts of energy and resources to become more efficient. However, as virgin resources become scarce, those businesses that do more with less will dominate in the era of the circular economy.

So why the circular approach? It is worth exploring what the circular economy is and why Australia needs to shift to circular patterns of design and consumption. According to the MacArthur Foundation, the circular economy is based on a few simple principles: design out waste; build resilience through diversity; rely on energy from renewable energy sources; think in ‘systems’; and utilise waste streams as inputs.1

The traditional linear ‘take-makedispose’ model of modern society is wasteful and characterised by significant loss of resources. In the linear system, disposal of waste into landfill means that the residual value of resources is lost. This waste is buried below the earth’s surface and passed as a problem to our temporal neighbours and children to deal with. Further to this, the use of energy in a linear economy is particularly intensive through extraction of materials and conversion into usable forms. The circular economy, however, places end-of-life waste back into the supply chain and aims to divert as much waste as possible from landfill. A circular approach to energy - bioenergy - aims to minimise the use of extracted fossil fuels in the supply chain. Energy can be extracted from waste through a variety of bioenergy processes including combustion, gasification, fermentation,

INSIDEWASTE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017

pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion, and landfill gas recovery. Food, vegetation, agricultural and biosolid waste streams would then be diverted from landfill towards bioenergy processes to extract energy and economic value, as well as a host of other environmental benefits.

Dollars and sense As populations grow, resources are becoming expensive and difficult to access. The circular economy enables a shift away from energy-intensive materials and primary extraction for the generation of energy. It creates a focus on the reuse and recycling of waste resources. As a circular economy approach, bioenergy reduces the need to extract coal and fossil fuels (gas or crude) from the earth. It provides electricity into the grid at a competitive price to other generation technologies, and

Figure 1. The linear versus the circular approach (Source: http://www.plan-c.eu/en).

economic returns for those who invest in bioenergy technologies. Bioenergy systems also generate by-products such as heat, and nutrient-rich bio-char and digestate that may be used to generate further economic value for plant owners and society. The excess heat may be utilised in industrial processes to offset the cost of operation, while bio-char and digestate can be sold to farms as a soil improver to generate another revenue stream. The Australian community also benefits from mitigation of market volatility and supply risks that could be expected from new forms of energy production and reduced price of energy. Distributed bioenergy plants across Australia would increase the long-term resilience for regional areas and could

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// Bioenergy protect these areas at the edge of the grid from network outages. The benefits of grid stability are currently not valued in dollars and cents, but there may be opportunity in the future for pricing that reflects the dispatchable nature of bioenergy. A circular economy approach to energy supply will spur further innovation and result in new technologies that do more with less. For example, the availability of low-cost, excess heat from bioenergy plants may generate novel solutions to heating and cooling of municipal services in Australia. To make these innovations possible, the National Waste Report (2013) states that approximately 6.6 million tonnes of organic waste reached landfill in Australia in 2010. This presents an enormous economic opportunity to create value for society, by utilising a resource that is already available.

Table 1 Emissions

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation estimated that new projects in bioenergy and energy from waste could avoid up to nine million tonnes of carbon emissions each year by 2020, potentially reducing Australia’s total carbon emissions by 12%2. Australia’s commitment under the Paris Agreement is a 26% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030. Bioenergy from the waste and resource recovery sector could contribute to 12% of that target alone.

Land

Bioenergy diverts waste from landfill, which reduces emission of leachates into soil and groundwater as well as odours and other pollutants. In addition to this, the removal of high volumes of waste from landfill to be recovered in the bioenergy process reduces the demand for land required for landfill. Thus, this land may be rehabilitated and utilised by communities as urban green space. A great example of this is Sydney Park in the city’s inner west, which served as a waste disposal site throughout the 80s and is now the largest park in Sydney, hosting 12km of pathways.

Soil productivity

Higher soil productivity, less waste in the food chain and the return of nutrients to the soil, will enhance the value of land and soil as assets. Moving a higher volume of biological material through the anaerobic digestion or composting process and back into the soil will reduce the need for replenishment with additional nutrients, which are typically replaced with harmful chemically produced fertilisers. Higher land productivity and soil health is difficult to measure, however, WEF estimates land degradation costs $40 billion annually world-wide.3

And you know what else? A circular economy approach generates a range of further benefits for society. These include reduced emissions to the atmosphere; decreased pollutants to land, water and air; and increases in land productivity. A circular economy approach to energy can start to remedy some of these ills.

If not now, when? The era of the circular economy is upon us and Dr Alan Finkel’s ‘Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market’ calls for an energy system that is secure, reliable,

affordable, and reduces emissions. The review notes that bioenergy can provide dispatchable generation with low emissions, and solve the separate environmental problem of what to do with our excess waste. Bioenergy is

noted to be economically competitive with other technologies when waste is used as a feedstock. Bioenergy can help to provide electricity that is secure, reliable, affordable and reduced emissions.

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Bioenergy // Table 2

Figure 2: The circular economy (Source: http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v3/n3/fig_tab/nclimate1842_F1.html).

To summarise Some may be concerned that the circular economy and bioenergy will trigger a downward spiral for those in the waste industry. Yet, the truth is that the opportunity is greatest for those who understand waste streams and their inherent value. By utilising waste in the bioenergy process, we can maximise the value of waste streams and generate decentralised energy that is secure, reliable, and affordable for all Australians.

Elizabeth Gwilt is a waste consultant with Arup and Michael Salt is an Arup sustainability consultant and project analyst. More: www.arup.com Ellen MacArthur Foundation has named Arup as knowledge partner for the built environment. Arup will be working with the Foundation to develop circular economy principles across four key areas including cities, transport, iw energy and water.

Secure

The dispatchable nature of bioenergy can help to maintain frequency in the National Electricity Market (NEM).

Reliable

Bioenergy provides dispatchable power that balances the intermittent nature of other renewable technologies. Decentralised bioenergy plants can help to provide reliable power supply to regional or remote areas at the edges of the grid.

Affordable

Bioenergy technologies provide levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) competitive with traditional coal, wind and solar technologies. Where steam or heat loads are also required, the improved efficiency can reduce the LCOE below that of all other technologies.

Reduced emissions

Bioenergy is considered as a low emissions form of electricity generation. The diversion of organic waste from landfill also results in a reduction in the chemical decomposition of organic waste that emits greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide and methane.

(Graphics from ‘Independent Review into the Future of the National Electricity Market’)

1 https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/publications/EllenMacArthur-Foundation-Towards-the-Circular-Economy-vol.1.pdf 2 http://www.cefc.com.au/media/107567/the-australian-bioenergy-and-energy-from-wastemarket-cefc-market-report.pdf 3 WEF (2015), Intelligent Assets: Unlocking the Circular Economy Potential

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Infrastructure //

Tracking NSW’s infrastructure needs OVER the last 10 years, the amount of waste that has been recycled in NSW has more than doubled. Between 200203 and 2010-11, the volume of waste that was recycled rose from 5.3 million tonnes to 10.8 million tonnes. Significant investment in new recycling infrastructure has played a big part in this jump and over the years, independent infrastructure needs analyses commissioned by the NSW EPA has helped inform the development of Waste Less Recycle More (WLRM) I and the approval of the second initiative. In July, NSW EPA manager waste and recycling infrastructure, Robbie Beale, presented the findings of the regulator’s latest waste and resource recovery infrastructure needs analysis conducted by KMH at the Waste Management Association of Australia’s NSW Branch mid-year industry update seminar. “Our approach to assessing infrastructure needs was to classify

and define resource recovery facility types based on the materials that they process. We also wanted to develop an asset register of the waste and resource recovery facilities in NSW, checking how much they process of each type of material,” Beale said, adding that the needs analysis was based on information provided by facility owners and operators between 2013 and 2017. “We were projecting waste generation by sector and facility type from 20112021 and then checking that against actual generation in 2014, and of course calculating the gap in tonnes and number of facilities between what we have and what we need. “In WLRM I, there was a significant shortfall in resource recovery infrastructure throughout the state. As we get closer to achieving our targets, we need to refine our infrastructure development strategy,

INSIDEWASTE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017

Riverina Western and Murray

which is what we’re developing.” At present, NSW has more than 280 facilities that sort, process and recycle waste. But despite the increase in recycling, 40% of red bins continue to contain food and garden organics as well as dry recyclables (25%). Meanwhile, business waste contains nearly 70% recyclables by weight. Here is an overview of where NSW’s infrastructure gaps are based on projections to 2021.

• There is a mixed waste treatment facility with one energy recovery facility in the region; packaging MRF capacity is over the border in Victoria. • Approved capacity at Albury but there’s still a small need for putrescible organics processing capacity. • The region would have to cooperate with RAMROC to establish one small mixed waste treatment facility with one energy recovery facility or RDF plant.

Northern Rivers • Recovery capacity for C&D and other inert waste is generally low. • Some councils have procured good packaging MRF capacity from capable private contractors. • New putrescible organics processing capacity is met with approved capacity at Tweed and expanded capacity at Lismore and Grafton. • The region could be served by one small mixed waste treatment facility with one energy recovery facility or RDF plant.

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// Infrastructure

Sydney West

Hunter and Central Coast

• The market is responding well to needs, primarily commercial inert waste through C&D processing and non-putrescible waste material recovery facilities (MRFs). • The capacity of packaging MRF is close to projected need and value adding of recovered materials a bigger challenge. • Some capacity for energy recovery may need to be developed depending on the uptake of RDF manufacture and export. • There are clear gaps for mixed waste treatment and putrescible organics processing - at a scale of 50,000 tonnes per annum, five additional food organics and garden organics (FOGO) facilities are needed. • Some existing and planned FOGO activities in the central west may be further developed to address these needs. • At a scale of 100,000 tonnes per annum, six additional mixed waste treatment facilities will be needed.

• A lack of economies of scale means there is a shortage of facilities to source separate C&D waste. • Considerable new capacity for approved non-putrescible waste recovery means the need will almost be met if this goes ahead. • Some capacity for energy recovery may need to be developed if there’s an uptake of RDF manufacture and export. • There is plenty of established capacity for garden organics processing but the industry is still struggling with approvals for putrescible organics processing. A lot hinges on approval and construction of FOGO capacity at Tea Gardens and Buttonderry as they would provide putrescible organics processing capacity. • The Upper Hunter would still need a small facility due to transport. • There are large amounts of landfill capacity particularly for Newcastle and Central Coast, making the business case for mixed waste treatment difficult. • There is a significant shortfall of mixed waste treatment capacity and no pipeline of projects.

Riverina Eastern

Mid North Coast

• Recovery capacity for C&D and other inert waste is generally low. • Some councils have procured good packaging MRF capacities from capable private contractors and not-for-profits. • Approved and existing capacity at Wagga Wagga will meet the need for putrescible organics processing. • The region would have to collaborate with Riverina Eastern Regional Organisation of Councils (RAMROC) to establish one small mixed waste treatment facility with one energy recovery facility or RDF plant.

• Capacity for recovery of C&D and other inert waste is generally low. • Some councils have procured good packaging MRF capacities from capable private contractors. • The organic needs of the region are well serviced in most areas but the result is distorted by new approved planned capacity at Tea Gardens, which will address the FOGO gap in the Hunter region. • There is a need for new and additional mixed treatment facility capacity particularly in the south of the region.

Central and Western NSW • Recovery capacity for C&D and other inert waste is generally low. • There is a lack of listed packaging MRFs but councils in the region have found it more cost effective to transport commingled packaging to Sydney for processing. The gap is likely to be addressed by the Sydney capacity. • There is insufficient putrescible organics processing capacity in the region and most of it is being used to service western Sydney and the Blue Mountains, though there is new capacity approved for Dubbo. • Better transport logistics and transfer facilities would allow this region to service more of Sydney’s bulk resource recovery needs. • The eastern part of the region could be served by one small mixed waste treatment facility with one energy recovery facility or RDF plant.

Across NSW Southern Regions • Capacity for recovery of waste is generally low. • There are some large C&D recyclers in Illawarra and Shoalhaven that have large amounts of spare capacity and should meet the ongoing need. • Existing MRF operators are balancing supply and capacity. • There is sufficient putrescible organics processing capacity but nothing yet in place in Shoalhaven; several smaller facilities or transfer arrangements are still required. • The region could be served by two small mixed waste treatment facilities with one energy recovery facility, which is likely to drive RDF from Sydney so an additional facility could be justified.

• Landfills are currently receiving more waste than they would need to by 2021, assuming diversion targets are met. • Major landfills and planned capacity are concentrated amongst very few local governments and private operates. • There is little direct energy recovery, not refuse-derived fuel (RDF) manufacture, currently in place - two to three have been planned but not approved as yet. • There is sufficient capacity for construction and demolition (C&D) waste recycling in the Sydney metro area but there is a gap in the region.

South Eastern Northern Inland • Recovery of C&D and other inert waste is generally low. • Some councils have procured good packaging MRF capacities from capable private contractors but there’s a shortfall in overall capacity. • The need for putrescible organics processing is met with approved capacity at Tamworth and expanded capacity at Moree and capacity at Armidale. • The region could be served by one small mixed waste treatment facility with one energy recovery facility or RDF plant but material would have to come from across the region.

• Recovery capacity for C&D and other inert waste is generally low. • Some councils have procured good packaging MRF capacities from capable private contractors and not-for-profits. • Apart from Coompost Compost Farm in Cooma, there’s a lack of organics processing capacity in this region and the ACT. • Woodlawn capacity has all been assigned to the Sydney region, however, it’s also well located to serve this region. • Data quality is relatively poor and there could be more going on in the region.

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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 INSIDEWASTE

Disaster waste // The clean-up of debris after a natural disaster can be a colossal task. (Credit: Tony Alter, Flickr CC)

Local emergency waste management planning By Alex Upitis THE waste generated by natural disasters or emergencies can be significant in volume, hazardous in composition, immediate in generation and vast in their geographic extent. The management of this waste can be a colossal task and has the potential to overwhelm any local governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waste management system. And of course, any response is undertaken in addition to the day-to-day critical community

services the local government provides in normal circumstances. Many local governments are reactive to such events and are trying to do the best they can. This approach can be inefficient, costly and may result in large quantities of waste going directly to landfill. This in turn utilises valuable landfill void space with materials that could have otherwise been diverted. Wollongong City Council (WCC) is taking a proactive approach by strategically planning its waste

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management response and recovery for emergency situations (such as natural disasters). By doing so, WCC will reduce the public health risk, manage the waste more effectively, and divert recoverable and recyclable materials from landfill, thereby preserving the valuable void space at its Wollongong Waste and Resource Recovery Park (WWARRP). WCC engaged Talis Consultants to prepare the Emergency Waste Management Plan (EWMP) with the primary objectives to understand the volume and profile of

waste generated by disaster scenarios, and provide a framework to coordinate the waste management response and maximise diversion from landfill.

Waste generation model To obtain an understanding of the waste types and volumes generated from the various key emergency events that could impact the WCC local government area (fire, flood, landslip, severe storm, earthquake and tsunami), a Waste Generation Model was developed.

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// Disaster waste

The Waste Generation Model was based on characteristics specific to the WCC area, identified prone areas, and recorded demographics and land use data. Utilising the Waste Generation Model enabled the estimation of the volume and profile of the waste stream generated by an emergency, dependent on the emergency type, location and severity. This in turn gave a representation of what area would be required to stockpile and process the waste generated. By doing this, WCC could understand if it had adequate capacity to handle the waste at its network of Emergency Management Facilities.

Emergency Management Facilities Emergency Management Facilities were identified by WCC as potential sites that could be utilised during or following an emergency for the purpose of storing and processing materials. The Emergency Management Facilities were evaluated against a range of characteristics, including their location, size, accessibility, current and future usage, and their potential to impact the local amenity, with preferred Emergency Management Facilities typically being closed landfill sites, unused quarries and WCC’s depots or similar. In addition, consideration had to be given to the site’s availability following a certain type of emergency. For example, low lying sites in flood prone areas would likely not be available in a flooding emergency but would likely be available in the event of a fire. This reduced the total storage capacity for some events meaning that additional area or services would be required to store or process the materials. This assessment of Emergency Management Facilities provided WCC with a network of potential sites across the WCC local government area that were suitably located and could be utilised following an emergency for the purpose of storing, sorting and processing materials to prevent mass landfilling at the WWARRP. However, the capacity to store waste materials was also dependant on the type of event as this would impact on the types of waste generated. As each type of waste material would have its own unique properties, the site layouts for Emergency Management Facilities would need to vary as stockpile sizes for each waste type would fluctuate depending on the type and severity of event.

which materials are collected may alter depending on the type of event particularly when certain wastes become saturated, as this can cause greater health concerns if left for extended periods. During an emergency event, if emergency services engage contractors to remove hazardous waste such as asbestos, then the local government is not likely responsible for that waste’s collection, but still may be required to play a supporting role. Typically all remaining waste not managed by emergency services is the responsibility of the local government. The priority order for waste collection also assists in determining the collection method. Guidance is provided in the EWMP on the type of waste collection methods and what approach may be more efficient for a given event and waste type. Obvious waste collection methods include utilising an additional kerbside MGB collection (if the contract allows for it) and bulk household waste collections (on-ground or skip/receptacle). Allowing residents to bring waste to a particular site is another waste collection and transport option, but the pros and cons must be assessed against the waste profile and other considerations as it can result in significant traffic issues and may reduce WCC’s capacity to inspect and monitor unloading. However, by allowing residents to bring their own waste empowers them and provides a sense of ownership which can assist, not only with the recovery, but also with the healing. Consequently, the affected areas are likely be cleaned up far quicker. Key to allowing residents to participate in the clean-up is clear ongoing communication. In particular to notify them of the times and days that their area is allowed to drop-off wastes utilising applicable communication mediums particularly during prolonged power outages.

Conclusion

Waste collection

Planning for waste management following an emergency is a very worthwhile exercise and one that local governments should consider. An EWMP is a practical document which facilitates the efficient coordinated response following an emergency while maximising landfill diversion. The WCC’s EWMP and Waste Generation Model are ever evolving and will be updated over time as lessons are learnt and more waste data is recorded. However this is the sort of waste management we hope is never needed! The project was sponsored by the NSW EPA Waste Less Recycle More Initiative.

During an emergency, the EWMP prioritised the collection of waste based on which types have the greatest potential to impact public health. Interestingly, the order in

Alex Upitis is the waste lead NSW & VIC for Talis Consultants based in the new East Coast office. Contact: alex.upitis@talisconsultants.com.au

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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 INSIDEWASTE

Recycling // The new Townsville MRF.

Cost-effective regional recycling? Yes, we can By Jan Arreza TOWNSVILLE has proven that cost-effective regional recycling can become a reality with the commissioning of its high-tech materials recovery facility (MRF). Townsville City Council has turned to Re.Group, which develops and manages resource recovery services, to build and operate the new MRF under an

eight-year contract that will process the region’s kerbside recycling. And Re.Group has not only invested $5 million in the new plant, it has relied on continuous improvements from its other operations to deliver a range of novel technology at the facility. But credit should be given to Council as well, as it was clear about its expectations from the onset.

Re.Group’s business development manager Garth Lamb said the main thing Townsville City Council wanted was a reliable and efficient processing facility in place for all of the region’s recyclables. “Council did a good job of providing us with a really clear brief and there was nothing too confusing or too onerous in terms of what they wanted,” Lamb said. “It’s been really good working with them as they’ve been clear on what they wanted, and we’ve been clear on how we will deliver that, which led to the roll-out of the new facility.”

Exploring the MRF The MRF has a processing capacity of 15 tonnes per hour and it is expected to process around 15,000 tonnes per annum. It will recover some 175 tonnes of paper and cardboard, 100 tonnes of glass, 13 tonnes of plastics, three tonnes of steel, and 2.5 tonnes of aluminium per week. In addition to servicing the community, the facility will also process materials from various commercial customers, as well as from neighbouring regions, and will offer job opportunities and produce new products that can be used locally. Much of the equipment installed at the Townsville MRF is from Canadian manufacturer Machinex and it incorporates some of the most recent sorting technologies, including different types of discs screens to sort cardboard, newspaper and mixed paper; a ballistic separator to finish the separation of the containers and the mixed paper; and magnetic separators to remove ferrous and nonferrous metals. “In terms of the equipment, there are a couple of things in there that you don’t see in most MRFs like the Krystelline glass implosion technology, 34

INSIDEWASTE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017

which gives us a final product that is very pure and clean,” Lamb said. Essentially, the glass processing unit turns bottles into glass sand, which can be used to replace virgin sand in bulk markets such as road construction and concreting works. “Most people crush or grind the glass down, but the problem with that sort of process is that any contamination that is in the glass stream also gets crushed down into smaller pieces,” Lamb said. “The key benefit of the implosion technology is that there’s a rotor that is spinning at a very high frequency, which selectively shatters the glass and doesn’t destroy the labels and the other bits of contamination.” There is also a drying unit at the MRF, which destroys residual sugars and odours on glass and allows the glass sand product to be used in higher value markets such as sandblasting and pool filtration. The facility also uses Alchemy Optical Sorting, which identifies and separates different types of plastic beverage containers. Rather than exporting a lot of low-value mixed plastic product, the new MRF will sort plastic into grades including PET, HDPE Clear, HDPE Coloured and Polypropylene. The Alchemy sorting technology was installed in a world-first in the Mackay MRF and it has proven its effectiveness for sorting container materials. As such, the system is now being rolled out across all of Re.Group’s MRFs. “At Re.Group and our engineering arm RDT, our key specialisation is selecting the appropriate equipment for the job, working with the best partners from around the world, and bringing the Australian know-how to tie that all together and make sure that it actually works in the local conditions,” Lamb said. “We pick and choose the best parts of a system from anywhere in the world, and

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// Recycling

I believe our real strength is in selecting the right equipment and adapting it to local Australian conditions. “One of the things that we focus on is continuous improvements in all of our operations. We don’t just set and forget and part of having internal engineering capabilities is that we are constantly reviewing our facilities. If there is a way to change things to provide an improved outcome, then we can implement that on the go. That continuous improvement and the ability to continually check, monitor and adjust when we need to means that over the life of this MRF, we will constantly be implementing changes to make it better as we go.”

A regional solution It is hoped that the work at Townsville will encourage other regional councils to view advanced regional recycling as a cost-effective solution. And both Lamb and Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill are vocal about the benefits to be had. “Having a new high-tech MRF in the city will increase the city’s capacity to process recyclables at a higher standard, without having to transport it out of the region,” Hill said.

“As well as having major benefits for recycling in the city, the new facility is expected to create work for 12 local subcontractors and inject $1.2 million into the local economy during construction. “The plant will employ between seven to 10 locals when it’s fully operational and include an educational centre. The new contract also provides certainty for recycling services well into the future.” And Lamb is confident that even if townships do not have big populations, there is always a solution for them. “One of the things that we have proven in Mackay and again in Townsville is that we can invest in local facilities that can provide a fullservice recycling function,” he said. “We can provide an excellent recycling service locally in a manner that provides a lot of value to the local community. From the outset, we’ve been looking to maximise local investments, local jobs and the local economic activity. Everything we do here focuses on having the highest quality product at the end, while being able to do as much as we can locally. We are actively pursuing opportunities to keep building more regional iw recycling facilities.”

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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 INSIDEWASTE

Young professionals //

Mapping the world’s waste By Jacqueline Ong UNITED by their passion to improve waste and resource management, a group of young professionals from 34 countries have come together to make global connections among people, knowledge, and ideas. And Australia’s very own Kat Heinrich, senior consultant at SA-based Rawtec, is heading up the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) Young Professionals Group, which is currently mapping the world’s biggest waste challenges, a project that will be launched at the 2017 ISWA World Congress in Baltimore in September. Heinrich gave Inside Waste a sneak peek into the project, saying the team has so far received 1200 responses from waste experts and professionals across 91 countries to identify the world’s biggest waste challenges. “We have heard a lot about waste challenges around the world but we wanted to hear directly from the experts and professionals in each country to identify the biggest challenge their country is facing. We’re interested in

exploring potential solutions to these challenges, but it’s important to first understand where they exist. That was the inspiration for the Mapping the World’s Biggest Waste Challenges project” Heinrich explained. “The process is straightforward. We kept it simple and made the wording of the question very specific - ‘in your opinion or expertise, what is the single biggest waste challenge facing the country where you live?’ We intentionally didn’t ask people what they thought was the world’s biggest waste challenge because they may have an idea on what it might be elsewhere but they’re best placed to advise on what they actually see and deal with every day. The survey is also not aimed at the general public but waste experts and professionals so we feel that the quality of the data that we’re going to get will be good.” The survey closes at the end of July and the ISWA YP team will then collate and analyse the data, plotting their findings on a World Waste Map. “The map will be colour-coded displaying the single biggest waste challenge in each

country, as voted by the waste professionals and experts” Heinrich said. The project will culminate in a presentation at the World Congress and the team will be working closely with the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) to develop activities including a workshop for delegates. “We will be getting together with some of the world’s leading thinkers in smart technologies, waste and resource management and entrepreneurs to talk about what potential business models and smart technologies may be applied to solve these problems. Our discussions will focus on the opportunities brought about by technologies from the fourth industrial revolution - big data, digitalisation, artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D printing, automatic driving vehicles, etc. in solving these challenges,” Heinrich said. “At the workshop with SWANA, delegates will be split into groups to work on individual challenges and come up with potential solutions. We will also have breakout sessions where keynote speakers will be invited alongside congress participants to have an informal

discussion about their area of expertise and talk about potential solutions to these big waste challenges. We will wrap it up at the end of the congress with a report on what we’ve found.” While Heinrich remained (unsurprisingly) tight lipped about the preliminary findings, she did reveal that the number one problem identified in Australia so far was the same as that in Germany and Sweden. “We’ve started to see common areas and all of this prompts the question, should we be collaborating more closely with our international colleagues to find solutions to these problems we share?” she said. Inside Waste readers can get involved, Heinrich said, by either identifying the biggest challenges in Australia through the survey that can be found at http://bit.ly/2qv9vwz or by attending the ISWA World Congress and taking part in the ISWA YP sessions to identify potential solutions to these challenges.

Closing dumps But that is not all the ISWA YPs are doing.

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Weekly news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

// Young professionals

A project that is close to Heinrich’s heart is ISWA’s campaign to close the world’s most polluting dumpsites. The campaign was launched at last year’s World Congress and the YPs are helping to raise awareness of the issue and urging everyone, both waste professionals and the general public, to sign a petition that calls on global leaders to address the issue. “We’re not talking about sanitary landfill sites but open dumpsites that currently receive 40% of the world’s waste. 64 million people - equivalent to the population of France - are affected by the 50 biggest dumpsites. Their quality of life is impacted because of air and water pollution and many also work directly on these sites in horrific conditions. It’s a big issue,” Heinrich said. “More than 750 people died in the first half of last year because of poor waste management at these dumpsites. On top of that, 40% of the world’s waste that’s going to these sites will contribute up to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. “ISWA’s campaign to close these sites includes a petition and we’re aiming to get 10,000 signatures which we will then put forward to world leaders.” The aim is to close and replace these

We’ve started to see common areas and all of this prompts the question, should we be collaborating more closely with our international colleagues to find solutions to these problems we share?

ISWA chair and Rawtec senior consultant, Kat Heinrich.

sites with safer alternatives, such as sanitary landfills, and ensure that the people previously working at these dumps are provided with support such as education or help in transitioning to an alternative source of income. To date, ISWA’s work has led to the closure of sites in Brazil and Argentina. “This is a global health and environmental emergency. Closing these dumpsites is key to acting on marine litter, climate change, resource scarcity and improving the health and wellbeing of some of the world’s most vulnerable communities,” Heinrich said. To find out more about the campaign, iw visit closedumpsites.iswa.org

WHAT YOU THINK IS THE END IS JUST THE BEGINNING.

Source: ISWA

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E-waste //

Presenting the top eight

By Jan Arreza MOBILEMUSTER recently announced a 25% jump in local government mobile phone recycling collections over the year, and took the opportunity to recognise the efforts of councils that have collected and recycled the most mobile phones and components during that period. Spyro Kalos, managing director at MobileMuster told Inside Waste councils play a vital role in not only acting as collection points, but also in educating their residents on how to manage e-waste. “Communities look to their local councils to provide the resources and tools to help these awards,” Kalos said, adding that the MobileMuster awards encourage all councils to be more active within their own communities. “From my experience, councils are keen to reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill and have an appetite to work with programs like MobileMuster to achieve this; more and more councils are implementing targets for reducing what they send to landfill, especially when it can be recycled,” he said. “In most cases the benefits aren’t only environmental but also make commercial sense.”

The program, through to the end of May 2017, has collected and recycled 1317 tonnes of mobile phones and components. “We all have a role to play when it comes to managing old e-waste, not just mobile phones,” Kalos said. “If devices are working, then we need to look at options on extending the life of them, which includes selling them or passing them on to family and friends. If they aren’t working then it is time to recycle them. “Also, along with that, we need to change our behaviours when it comes to managing e-waste as we are so used to putting things in the bins provided by council, but it may require us to take devices to drop-off points like community recycling centres - that requires more energy and commitment on our part. “It is about industry, government and consumers all working together for the good of the planet.” The MobileMuster awards were presented at the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) National Assembly and top national, state and territory collectors were recognised for their efforts. Eight councils across the country were named the country’s top recyclers and here’s how they did it.

National Top Collector per Capita - District Council of Orroroo-Carrieton (SA)

To date, the program has collected and recycled 1317 tonnes of mobile phones and components.

The winners of MobileMuster’s local government awards.

Manager of corporate and community services, Ann Frick With MobileMuster, we collected 8.58kg, which is up on the previous year when we also won the National Top Collector per Capita Award, though council does not collect e-waste at any of its landfill sites, as we do not have the capacity to store or process it. We regularly promote the MobileMuster collection facility in our monthly Council publication - the Goyder’s Line Gazette, and on Council’s Facebook page. The MobileMuster collection bin is located in our reception area of the Council office, located at 17 Second Street, Orroroo. It was quite a surprise last year when we won the National Award for the Top Collector per Capita, and for us to win it again, we are absolutely amazed. We are the smallest Council population-wise in South Australia and are extremely proud of our achievement. We will continue as we have in the past few years with promoting the MobileMuster recycling facility through the Gazette and online.

SA Top Collector - City of Onkaparinga Mayor Lorraine Rosenberg We collected and forwarded 190kg of phones and accessories for recycling, which is almost double the amount that we sent to MobileMuster the year before. We have 11 drop-off points at community gathering points – our council offices and public libraries and community centres - so there are plenty of places people can go

INSIDEWASTE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017

to drop off their old phones. We didn’t make any significant changes to our service in the past 12 months, but I think our award last year raised awareness that you could dispose of phones in this way. A couple of years ago, we changed to using see-through bins, which we also use for our household battery collections. This makes the collection bins more

Weekly news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

// E-waste

TAS Top Collector - Burnie City Council Engineering systems coordinator, Bev Cumming We’ve got a really well-structured resource and recovery centre. We’ve got outlets for the public to place all of these things and we encourage people to use them – we’ve got containers in our city office and at our tip shop, as well as at the waste centre - so we promote that very broadly through Facebook and through the mayor’s message in print media. But really, Burnie people just have that sort of mindset. It’s just common practice and we don’t even have to invite people to do things much anymore - we put it out there that something is available and people just take it up. A lot of people are generally aware of the best practice in this space. In 2012, Burnie ceased its landfill operations and developed a waste transfer and resource recovery facility. The facility is operated under contract with a built-in educational component. We also have a tip shop, also operated under contract, and they test and tag electronics for resale. Our biggest focus at the moment will be on illegal dumping, so we are trying to encourage people to make better use of the free outlets, or the cheaper outlets, rather than have things end up in the bush. That’s probably our biggest challenge moving forward.

VIC Top Collector - Moonee Valley City Council Mayor Andrea Surace Moonee Valley residents are excellent recyclers and we’re thrilled to have been recognised as Victoria’s top MobileMuster collector! Moonee Valley City Council collected 128,639kg of e-waste, including computers, televisions, printers, cameras, mobile phones and accessories in 2016-17. Our transfer station is well utilised and council regularly communicates with residents about upcoming waste collections and how to recycle unwanted goods. This includes our annual waste and recycling calendar, which details what can be recycled at our transfer station, and updates in our bi-monthly resident newsletter. The transfer station is open every day with the exception of public holidays, which allows residents to drop off their e-waste when it’s convenient for them. Our transfer station offers free recycling on other items too such as batteries, fluorescent tubes, oil, steel and metal, textiles, garden waste and paint. Our residents can also take part in our quarterly re-new collections, where residents can place their unwanted e-waste into their recycling bin for kerbside collection. Along with continuing our ongoing communications in the next 12 months, we’re aiming to make recycling even more convenient for residents as we install special recycling stations in two of our libraries. These recycling stations will allow residents to dispose of mobile phones and accessories, batteries, CDs and DVDs, VHS and cassette tapes, small printer cartridges and fluorescent tubes and globes.

visible to passers-by and as a result, we’ve seen more people remembering to bring their old phones on their next visit to our sites where the bins are located. Apart from promoting MobileMuster initiatives, we plan to trial pre-promoted drop-off days at a local shopping centre in conjunction with promotion of other council recycling and waste minimisation services.

NSW Top Collector - Hornsby Shire Council Communications officer, Belinda Namnoun The award was for mobile phones and batteries, which weighed 180kg. We have been doing this for over six years so we have built quite a good resident interest base across the Shire. As it is funded by the EPA, we will be using further promotion to get the message out there. We collect at easy accessible locations like local libraries and e-waste drop-off points that residents are already coming to. We provide continual communication and reminders to residents, which we overcame with promotion via traditional media and social media. The council is currently working on opening its Community Recycling Centre and we are expecting to receive a lot more items, as residents will be bringing paints and other items, which might include mobile phones.

NT Top Collector - Alice Springs Town Council Environment officer, Hayley Michener We collected 33.8 tonnes of e-waste over the past financial year in addition to mobile phones and cartridges. Alice Springs Town Council has free monthly recycling of computer and televisions at our regional waste management facility and drop-off points for mobile phones at our Rediscovery Centre (tip shop), public library and civic centre. Residents are really keen to recycle whatever they can through existing services. Although freight to interstate recyclers is the main challenge to recycling for most waste streams in Alice Springs, the e-waste collection runs very smoothly. We partner with TechCollect through the National Computer and Television Recycling Scheme. Without this, it would be very difficult to recycle e-waste. The regularity of a monthly drop-off has meant people are quite aware of this service. We have very recently gone out to tender for kerbside recycling and will also be commencing construction of a hazardous waste compound later this year. This month, we are also introducing household battery collection – something that has been unavailable since the closure of a local collection business.

WA Top Collector - City of Sterling Mayor Giovanni Italiano We have collected and recycled 426 tonnes of e-waste over the last 12 months. During this time we participated in the federal TV & Computer Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme. Our biggest challenge during that period has bee the volumes collected – we receive large amounts from across WA due to our central location, so our storage and collection points for recycling needed to work together very well. We’ve never needed to advertise the recycling of this product since we started in 2009, but we still have been continuing to increase our tonnages annually. So it will be business as usual moving forward.

QLD Top Collector - Brisbane City Council Waste minimisation manager, Christine Blanchard our resource recovery centres and In the period 2016-17, we collected can include mobile phones. The 680 tonnes of e-waste – note that MobileMuster collection points are this includes all e-waste and not also provided at our resource recovery just mobile phones. MobileMuster centres and Council libraries. sent information separately to say We provide MobileMuster collection that this year we recycled 485kg of options (reply paid bag or box) at our mobile phones from local residents. libraries and customer service centres. The previous year, we collected Collection points are also available at 231kg. E-waste is collected through our four resource recovery centres.

It’s about having people understand there are collection services available at different points. In the next 12 months, we want to continue providing education around what to do with different types of waste, including mobile phones, to inform residents and help them make the right disposal choice.

iw Weekly news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 INSIDEWASTE

Landfill // SUEZ’s Hallam Road landfill, which Select Civil operates, is one site that has implemented CAES.

Best practice landfill management By Jacqueline Ong WHAT does best practice landfill management look like? And how do operators get there? To answer these questions, Inside Waste turned to Select Civil, an established landfill services provider that operates a number of sites across Australia, including Cleanaway’s Melbourne Regional Landfill and SUEZ’s Hallam Road site, both in Victoria. In order to meet the demands of these large landfills, Select Civil

operates a fleet of waste handling bulldozers, waste compactors, articulated dump trucks as well as a range of track loaders, trucks and excavators. However, in addition to its fleet, the company has also not shied away from using technology, specifically Cat’s computer aided earthmoving systems (CAES) to ensure best practice operations and to meet its clients’ demands. And according to Cat, Select Civil has been the “best implementer” in the region. Select Civil managing director Renaud

INSIDEWASTE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017

Benefits of CAT’s CAES • Uniform lift thickness • Plan visible at all times • Redundant passes eliminated Accurate heights = less rework / improved airspace usage • Accurate slopes / toes / crests = better airspace use / improved drainage • Eliminate overspreading at cell perimeter • Accurate / uniform cover = less cover material • Cell capacity extended • Faster start-up overnight & during inclement weather / no waiting for survey • Operator empowerment/feedback • Grade stakes & paper maps eliminated • Airspace savings • 14%+ density increase • $1.4 million/year savings • $2,391/day savings • Daily density tracking

Chauvet told Inside Waste that the company has made substantial investments in technology in order to build trust with its clients by offering them accurate and recorded data through GPS trackers and CAES. And the investment is paying off. “We’ve also used these systems in Sydney at Kemps Creek and Menai and the results have been good. It’s about being more efficient with the use of your machines, achieving maximum compaction without wasting energy, fuel, and hours,” Chauvet said. “Generally, there’s a lot of over compaction and the eye test is not a good test; operators will run over areas that are already compacted and that’s a waste of time and fuel. But with the CAES, you have an algorithm that calculates the deflection under your wheels that basically says three, four or five passes, that’s it, it’s enough. It’s a clear system and [operators] will see the screen gradually turn to green - that’s when they know they’ve compacted well.” In Victoria, Select Civil’s Victorian operations manager Hilton Berry oversees the management of the sites in the state and says the company has realised a number of benefits since moving to the CAES system. “It helps for the operator to know that they are achieving compaction and in utilising some of reports on the system, we were able to identify where we had wastages and where the machines were being inefficient so we could reel in our efficiencies on our production. The more efficient you run any operation, the more cost effective it becomes,” Berry said. Cat estimates that under 20% of landfills across Australia and New Zealand currently use CAES and the hurdles that stand in the way include the initial cost, lack of knowledge on the productivity

benefits, and lack of enforcement of regulations by the authorities. But is this system for every landfill operator? Berry believes so. “If operators knew what the capabilities of the system were and what efficiencies you can monitor out of it, then to me, it’s a no brainer and it’s the reason we use it on all of our sites around the country, from the small landfills to the big ones,” he said. Chauvet however, advises operators to do their sums before going down this path. “It’s a very expensive system and I would say that for a lot of the smaller landfills, it probably doesn’t make sense and you’re better off using drones and surveyors. To me, it only makes sense on big landfills - anything above 300,000 tonnes a year and anything under, I think you’ve got time to firstly, compact properly, and secondly, do manual surveys or fly a drone every once in a while. That would probably be enough because a proper system will cost you upwards of $300,000 and it’s quite a bit of money,” Chauvet said, noting that at Select Civil’s larger landfills, return on investment would take five to six years - typically the length of a contract. He added that it’s also a two-way street when it comes to the use of CAES. “You need two parties to get involved. The data that it gives you is interesting and subject to interpretation but you need to have a willing partner, somebody who will sit down once a month or once a quarter to review the data and understand what’s going on. If you do, it’s perfect, if you don’t, it’s iw more difficult,” Chauvet said.

Weekly news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

// Legislation

10-year wait comes to an end By Jan Arreza THE Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP) has released a consultation regulatory impact statement (RIS) that reviews the state’s regulated waste classification and waste-related environmentally relevant activity (ERA) framework. It’s a long time coming, says Waste Recycling Industry Association of Queensland (WRIQ) CEO Rick Ralph, who noted that the association has been pushing for these changes for about 10 years, changes he says are fundamental for the future direction of the industry. Two options have been presented in the RIS - maintain the status quo or adopt a new rationalised framework with a list of contemporary ERAs and a risk-based regulated waste classification - and the EHP has indicated that its preference is for the latter. The preferred policy option has been developed to clarify regulatory requirements for all waste management activities, classify risk levels associated with waste activities and waste types, provide greater support for new and emerging technologies, and ensure consistent application of the regulatory requirements across the relevant activities. A range of waste-related ERAs and regulated waste classification will be introduced under the preferred option, including a new system to classify regulated waste based on the risk posed to the environment and human health, as well as a new riskbased schedule of five waste-related ERAs that incorporate new waste classification systems. “What it will do is make an equitable fair-level playing field and it’s cleaning the industry of all the rogue operators, of which we have got plenty,” Ralph told Inside Waste. “What I am concerned about is that the cost to licenced operators are out of step with the unlicensed operators, so hopefully this new regulatory framework will bring about a greater sense of transparency, and that is the ultimate hope. “What these regulations do is they change the thresholds, put a requirement for people to be licensed, and simplify the operating framework so there is greater clarity. From that point of view it’s going to be very difficult for people to hide behind a flawed system.”

Under the proposed regulated waste classification system, regulated waste will be classified into one of three regulated waste categories based on the level of risk or a not-regulated category. Each category is based on given threshold values for the identified hazard parameters and these threshold values are based on national and international standards, which are considered to be current best practice. While the release of the RIS and its proposed reforms are a positive step forward, Ralph says it is absolutely critical to get this framework in place before the end of the year - ahead of the election. “The industry will need to have this clarity in regulatory terms so we can then advocate with the incoming government,” Ralph said. “Our biggest challenge now is not only in getting the regulation through, but in clearly defining how the government and the EHP are going to administer and implement these, because their track record on regulation and waste management to date has been appalling,” he added. “You can have all of the regulations in the world, but unless you enforce them, and unless you have a transparent process in how you are going to enforce them, they mean nothing. “What the future framework and policy settings should do is deliver the needs of the industry, so getting the regulations in is fine, but that needs to be put in place well before we have any conversation about policy setting, so that we know the framework that we are doing it in. “We applaud and support the government for what they’ve done, but the devil is definitely in the details and in the deliverables.” Ralph will be consulting with the EHP in the coming weeks to ensure that the regulation reflects what industry wants and “not what the department typically puts out.” “There are issues within this regulatory framework that must be changed. So, our process will be to walk through the issues and work with them, but we would expect that the industry feedback is actually enacted and not just listened too,” Ralph said. “We’ve waited for long enough, we’ve advocated for years for the reforms, and now that we’ve got it, we have to make sure that we are right.” RIS submissions will close on iw August 25.

Weekly news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

WRIQ CEO Rick Ralph.

You can have all of the regulations in the world, but unless you enforce them, and unless you have a transparent process in how you are going to enforce them, they mean nothing.

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Waste crime // An illegal waste site in England, UK captured by Air and Space Evidence.

Tackling waste crime from space By Jan Arreza UK’S Air and Space Evidence has launched a new service - Waste from Space - which the company says offers an effective and commercially viable geospatial intelligence tool that can detect serious waste crime, yes you guessed it, from space. The service is based on Air and Space Evidence’s development of a

semi-automated detection model that utilises satellite data and machine learning algorithms. It enables the company to provide governments with information, including how long an illegal site has been operating, the true extent of the illegality, and how much profit might have been made. “There are two elements to our service. The first and most basic element is using satellite data as evidence once an

INSIDEWASTE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017

environmental regulator has identified a site,” Air and Space Evidence CEO Ray Purdy told Inside Waste. “The second and more advanced element is detecting sites that environmental regulators don’t know about. Again, this is using very recent archived data - primarily from open source.”

Don’t fall behind In 2016, the head of the environment

agency in England called waste crime the “new narcotics” and said “the system hadn’t quite woken up to the enormity of what was going on and was racing to catch up.” Huge amounts are often spent on waste crime but the problem is often dealt with too late and Purdy says there is a need by governments for new investigatory approaches because at the moment, they are several steps behind waste crime gangs.

Weekly news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

// Waste crime

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“We will offer a much-needed, innovative intelligence gathering and analysis service to governments,” Purdy said. “Governments stand to benefit the most from our service, as they lose a significant amount of money because of tax evasion. In some countries, this can be hundreds of millions of dollars per annum. “We can identify waste crime that governments are not yet aware of much quicker, bringing immense value to their work and enabling them to catch more waste crime gangs in the act. “Also, many waste sites are abandoned after a period of time, often leaving the government with the responsibility for clean-up costs if those responsible can’t be traced. “The legitimate waste industry also stands to benefit. They suffer a lot of lost profits having to compete with rogue operators.” The agency says more than 1000 illegal waste sites pop up in England each year, with one single site recently discovered in Northern Ireland believed to contain 1.5 million tonnes of illegally deposited waste.

Spy in the sky Purdy says a key problem the company faced when designing a detection model was that the characteristics of illegal waste sites varied massively over different locations as waste dumps could be concealed, come in different shapes and sizes, and be in a wide variety of locations. “Finding illegal waste sites is a bit like finding a needle in a haystack, but we used all the above data to develop a methodology to detect sites that governments were not aware of,” Purdy said. “We combined a variety of techniques from both radar and optical sensors, aided by mapping data to discriminate standard land use types, concentrating on anomalies,

effectively finding the needle by eliminating the haystack. “This was not a simple thing to do and required a significant number of attempts to make it work over many months. “In the product trials, which took place in Northern Ireland, 71% of sites identified as potential illegal waste sites by Air and Space Evidence were proven to be so. We expect to improve on that percentage as we gain more experience,” Purdy added. In terms of its applications for Australia, Purdy says that Air and Space Evidence is still in the process of understanding regulatory needs in specific countries and can’t yet comment on the applicability of the new waste service here. “What we can say is that Australia is already one of the world leaders in using satellite data in a regulatory context – most states have been successfully using it for many years in compliance checks to check illegal vegetation clearance,” he said. “We know Australia is a country that is very receptive to trying new regulatory methods and is very technologically savvy, and we envisage looking at regulatory needs in Australia sometime in the near future and potentially designing monitoring solutions for specific problems.” Ultimately, Purdy says the solution will not only be used to detect waste crime, but also be used as a tool to deter it from happening in the first place. “If people know that they are much more likely to be detected by satellite if they are acting unlawfully, then a high number of them might stop that activity,” Purdy said. “You can call this the speed camera syndrome except with satellites, there are no camera boxes and people have no idea when they might be monitored iw or the frequency of monitoring.”

Weekly news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

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Recycling // After 10 years of research, 3Wayste has developed a plant that can achieve 100% resident participation and get the remaining recyclables, all organics, and produce a highly stable alternative fuel.

Creating a profitable circular economy By Jacqueline Ong

S AS

“Australia is a friendly business country and there are many landfills as well as political decisions that are leading to the reduction in the quantities of waste and organics being landfilled, alongside waste to energy projects, and multi-level unit dwellings (MUDs) where it is difficult to get a good level of source separation,” 3Wayste general manger Arnaud Claude said. “We are focussed on MUDs because we know that it is difficult, almost impossible, to get good source separation by households in these types

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of buildings. But we have a solution that permits 100% of participation by households and the technology can complement current collection systems to achieve this and get the remaining recyclables, all of the organics, and produce a highly stable alternative fuel.” While the plant in France is achieving over a 90% diversion rate, 3Wayste will commit to an 80% diversion rate in Australia. 3Wayste says it has been to many countries and all have a unique waste make-up that once better

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MASS consumption requires an industrial solution but today, given the number of materials in the waste stream, the household waste collection system runs the risk of becoming far too complex for the community - just think of the ever increasing number of collection bins, vehicles and instructions already in play at present - and this does not bode well for landfill diversion. We may, for the most part, have a successful kerbside collection system

but French company 3Wayste has a vision to simplify household waste sorting and has a plant in France that is capable of sorting and recycling municipal solid waste from a single collection while ensuring 90% diversion from landfill. Currently this system complements a two-bin system, recyclables and waste. In July, the 3Wayste team flew from their bases in France and Canada to meet with the Australian sector about their patented 3Wayste system, saying the conditions here were ripe.

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ASTEC AUSTRALIA.

an Astec Industries Company

PO BOX 142, ACACIA RIDGE, QLD, 4110 • 1300 278 322 • astecaustralia.com.au

INSIDEWASTE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017

Weekly news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

// Recycling

understood, could potentially achieve the same results as in France.

Inside a 3Wayste plant The first part of the process is its bag opener. Working at a rate of 20 tonnes per hour, the machine opens garbage bags instead of grinding the content, preventing the destruction of material before it goes through the sorting process. “In our first plant in France, in 2016, 99.4% (weight) of bags were opened by the bag opener in their first passage,” Claude said. Then, materials go through the “3 ways separation”, which has been designed to separate incoming waste into three streams - big recyclables, small recyclables, and organics. 3Wayste environmental and waste specialist Fernando Pellegrino said over the last three years, the company has sold all recyclables from the process at its plant in France back to the market. Turning to organics, 3Wayste takes out all organic material and any other “undesirables” at the start of the process - the bag opening stage and dries these materials. The result is a difference in weight between the contaminants and the organics that will be later processed to compost.

“It’s a different way of making compost compared to our competitors. By drying the compost to roughly 10% moisture gives us the ability to take care of all the other contaminants because they’re much heavier than the compost itself,” Claude said. “The clean organics do not contain glass. It’s a real advantage for countries where the source separation of glass is not efficient enough.” “Our compost is much cleaner than anywhere in Australia and Canada. Over the last four to six months, our team has done a great job of eliminating glass and the majority of the foreign material in the compost and that’s unheard of in a mixed waste facility like ours,” Pellegrino added. 3Wayste also claims that despite dealing with food waste, the process emits no nasty odours because of the way it treats the materials. “We use air in the beginning to dry the organics, which contributes to the success of cleaning the organics. We also have two towers and two big bio filters that are used to manage odour,” Claude said “Also, the process is not anaerobic, it’s aerobic, which prevents odours, and the building is under negative

pressure so it’s always dry. If air were to ever escape, it goes to the biofilters and that really helps the odours,” Pellegrino added. Apart from compost, the process also produces a solid recovered fuel (SRF) that has high calorific value - from 16,000 to 22,000 kilojoules per tonne - composed of non-recyclable plastic. This SRF can be used as a low carbon alternative fuel.

Is this the solution for you? 3Wayste is looking to work with both local government and private entities and says there are “great opportunities” to develop the system in Australia. “There is a clear policy to reduce the quantities sent to landfills and the 3Wayste system allows operators to divert by 90% these quantities of waste,” Claude said. Additionally, Claude said the system, compared to other solutions, has a significantly lower CAPEX for the same capacity. A standard 3Wayste facility processes 100,000 tonnes of MSW a year for 15 to 20 years but 3Wayste can build a lower capacity plant that processes between 25,000-30,000 tonnes a year. “Of course, you may not have all

Re-inventing

the benefits of scale [with a lower feedstock volume] but we can study smaller or bigger projects because our process is flexible,” Claude said. “For instance, compared to others like incinerators, which must always receive high quantities of waste to work in good condition as without significant quantities they can face issues, a 3Wayste facility can operate one to three shifts without any damage to the equipment or impact on performance. “The 3Wayste process can also be adapted to existing local facilities, allowing you to reduce the footprint of a plant and to save CAPEX. And only 11 people per shift are needed to operate the facility, with only three of them for manual sorting operations.” 3Wayste is continuing it discussions with a number of interested parties in Australia and says it is keen to work with local partners. “We know that alone, we can’t be successful. We need to work with the local players and to invest with them,” Claude said. “What is recyclable will be recycled; materials that have great value must not be destroyed. This our vision of the iw circular economy.”

Additional details available at wastedge.com/brochures

waste collection processes Commercial Operations

GIS/GPS Mapping

Commercial account management Services pricing and updates ● Regular collection scheduling ● Bulk casual hire bookings

Regular routes display Route optimisation ● Bulk jobs/bins allocation ● GPS trail display/replay & residential zones

●

Mobile Apps...

Weighbridge

Regular collection routes Bulk casual bin hire ● Mobile GPS truck tracker ● Residential route events

Gatehouse scale data capture Material movement management ● Landfill/transfer/recycling MRF ● Hauler/customer material pricing ●

●

eBilling & Receivables

Residential Services Resident/property/services data Service requests call centre ● Missed service complaints

Cash receipts processing Debit/credit adjustments ● Aged receivables review ●

●

Vendors Sub-contractors Disposal site imports ● Vehicle maintenance

Sales Rep CRM Prospect data capture Sales management reports ● CRM contact management

Reporting

Portals/KPIs

Bin movement reports Route operations reports ● Customer revenue reports

Broker portal Resident portal ● Customer self service

●

Weekly news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

App

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 INSIDEWASTE

wasteexpoaustralia.com.au

WHERE TODAY’S WASTE BECOMES TOMORROW’S FUTURE

Featuring over 17 seminars, take advantage of the industry’s largest free to attend conference.

Unveiling the latest technological advancements shaping the sector.

The most significant display of products for the waste management and resource recovery sectors.

Brought to you by

AU USTR RALIA A’S MOS ST COM MPRE EHEN NSIV VE

CLEA AN AN ND REN NEW WABL LE ENERG GY EVEN NT

// SPONSORED: Waste Evolution

Waste Evolution WASTE Evolution is a brand new, interactive feature taking place at Waste Expo Australia on October 11 and 12 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Waste Evolution will showcase new technologies and products set to revolutionise the waste management and resource recovery industry in Australia. This exciting display platform and case study series will highlight the latest technologies, products and innovations in an interactive format that will inspire and educate. Engineers at Deakin’s Centre for Advanced Design in Engineering Training will form part of Waste Evolution with their prototype ‘EcoPrinting’ technology. This innovative technology breaks down unwanted plastic into granules which are then converted to filament ready for printing on a standard 3D printer. This innovative technology could have widereaching implications for developing countries faced with mounting rubbish problems and a lack of access to clean drinking water. With expected uses including aid and disaster scenarios

to produce failing water infrastructure parts from waste plastics found in the environment, the prototype unit at Waste Evolution will later be used in a trial in the Solomon Islands. To complement the exciting product display platform, Waste Evolution will also feature a program of case studies from around the world. Industry professionals will hear of key learnings globally and find out what’s next for Australia. To view the case study timetable, visit www.wasteexpoaustralia.com.au. Waste Expo Australia is organised by the world’s leading event organiser Reed Exhibitions and will be staged over two content-rich days at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Waste Expo Australia is co-located with Reed’s premier clean energy event All-Energy Australia to form Australian Sustainability Week, the country’s most significant waste, recycling and renewable energy and energy efficiency event. Waste Expo Australia is the showcase of industry excellence, featuring product displays from over 75 suppliers from the waste and

Weekly news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

resource recovery sector and presentations by leading industry experts at the free-to-attend Waste Summit Conference. A visit to Waste Expo Australia provides attendees with the unique opportunity to discover products and connect with peers, see new technology demonstrated live at Waste Evolution and be inspired by over 20 seminars, panel sessions and workshops at the Waste Summit Conference. Attendance to Waste Expo Australia is free, and

visitor registration is open online at www.wasteexpoaustralia.com.au. Companies interested in exhibiting at Waste Expo Australia can call the Reed team on 02 9422 2317.

Waste Expo Australia will take place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on the 11th and 12th of October, open from 9am to iw 5pm each day.

Engineers at Deakin’s Centre for Advanced Design in Engineering Training will form part of Waste Evolution with their prototype ‘EcoPrinting’ technology.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 INSIDEWASTE

Equipment // The new Komatsu FH series forklift that SKM has purchased.

SKM builds bulletproof fleet By Jan Arreza SKM has always had its eye firmly fixed on the future, making plans to further improve on its efficiencies. With this in mind, the company has heavily invested in upgrades to its fleet of forklifts, turning to Komatsu Forklift Australia for the latest FH series.

SKM’s recycling plant manager Jeff Bunting says its previous fleet was not operating at optimum due to issues with the motors, transmissions, as well as general wear and tear due to the harsh environment at a material recovery facility (MRF). “They just won’t keep up. We had a variety of forklifts and we were always

INSIDEWASTE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017

blowing up motors and transmissions so Komatsu Forklift Australia suggested their hydrostatic forklifts, which they said had been designed for the harshest of environments,” Bunting said. “And they’ve been right. We’ve had no major issues with any of the units, apart from the damage that we’ve done ourselves. They are basically bulletproof as far as I’m concerned. “We’ve got close to 26 units now across the whole business and the first one of them is still going strong today. They’ve been a great acquisition for the business as far as reliability and minimising business interruptions go.” With Komatsu’s hydrostatic drive system, diesel Tier 4 Interim engine, standard wet disc brakes, and closed-centre load sensing hydraulic system (CLSS), the FH series of forklifts achieves significantly reduced maintenance and operating costs. Additional features such as speed limiting, auto engine shut down, ramp control and the anti-restart function are all standard. Komatsu Forklift Australia’s national marketing and product support manager Jack Socratous says the new hydrostatic range is designed for truly harsh and high duty cycle applications, and achieves its durability and low costs of ownership from its rugged designs and field proven components. “We stand by the quality and reliability of our products which is why we offer an industry-leading five-year or 10,000-hour warranty on all Komatsu Forklifts,” Socratous said. “In applications where there are constant forward and backward movements, torque converter forklifts will generally overheat or suffer significant wear and tear on the transmission, while the FH is designed

to handle a lot more of that constant forward and backward movement through its hydrostatic drive. “A hydrostatic motor is driven by a hydraulic pump at the back of the engine, so there’s no direct link to the engine and the wheels, giving a lot more cushioning and fewer shocks when operating.” The FH series is most suited to applications involving constant repetitive work such as timber industries, loading shipping containers or stacking waste paper and scrap steel. The oil cooled, sealed wet multi-disc brake system provides excellent braking performance in all operating conditions; providing protection from dust, dirt and debris, as well as higher degrees reliability, fade and water resistance. The FH series also comes standard with KOMTRAX – a remote equipment and fleet monitoring system with wireless technology and a secure, user-friendly web-based application for improved fleet utilisation, reduced downtime, and lower owning and operating costs. “Due to the success of the FH range, Komatsu is going to be expanding its model line-up next year. At the moment, the range includes four-tonne, 4.5-tonne, and five-tonne capacity,” Socratous said. “Next year we’ll see the seven-tonne and eight-tonne hydrostatic drive forklifts. We’ll still have our standard range with torque converter transmissions for normal applications. But for the really harsh applications where most forklifts just get destroyed, we’ll have the parallel FH series forklifts with hydrostatic drives.” SKM first turned to Komatsu in 2014 and the company intends to purchase a few more machines in the coming years to replace the older fleet with iw the FH series.

Weekly news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

// Maintenance and repair

Unique splicing solutions offer greater availability By Jacqueline Ong THE heart of many a recycling facility is its conveyor system and when a conveyor belt is in need of repair, downtime is undoubtedly cause for concern. Minet Lacing Technology (MLT) has in the past, predominantly serviced the mining sector but it sees “great potential” in the waste and resource recovery space and wants to offer operators greater availability when it comes to the repair of their conveyor belts. At present, MLT Asia Pacific boasts a number of major end users, from Visy to Sims Metal Recycling, and it is easy to see why these companies have turned to MLT Asia Pacific. While MLT has a range of products to meet “all conveyor needs”, three patented products are noteworthy - Super-Screw, the recently released FIX’N GO, and the MS Fastener - all of which MLT Asia Pacific business development manager Kylie Nupier says are unique in the market.

“Super-Screw is a Flexible Rubber Splice that is an alternative to a vulcanised joint. On-site personnel can install themselves using MLT’s engineered screws that are self-drilling and self-tapping, which spread the carcass threads without cutting them. The screwing system allows SuperScrew to be installed regardless of the configuration of the conveyor belt and regardless of access conditions, weather conditions or temperature. On the other hand, a vulcanised joint requires a controlled environment,” Nupier explained. Super-Screw is supplied as cut to length or as a full roll and takes less than half the time of a conventional hot splice. “Additionally, Super-Screw is installed using only a powered driver without the need for any heavy tooling. Once the Super-Screw is installed onto your belt, you can start it up right away so there’s no downtime.” Turning to FIX’N GO, which was

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launched in February this year, Nupier said this is a quick permanent solution for all belt damage. It can be used to repair longitudinal rips, tears, holes, and belt edge damage, splice two belts together, and can be used on all textile carcass belts up to 1250N/mm. “Basically, patch it and leave it. It’s a complete sealed joint and there’s no need for it to be replaced. You install it the same way you would Super-Screw. FIX’N GO is supplied in two or 20 metre kits which are very handy for all those urgent repairs. No need to wait for a crew, just do it yourself,” Nupier said. Finally, MLT offers a hinged mechanical fastener, the MS Fastener, which can be installed over a wide range of belts thicknesses ranging from 3.5mm to 18mm. Again no costly tooling is required for installation, just a powered driver. Additionally, the MS Fastener’s engineered screws promises not to damage the carcass as it is drilled through the belt.

The Super-Screw - a Flexible Rubber Splice.

The FIX’N Go is a quick permanent solution.

The MS Fastener, a hinged mechanical fastener.

“Reducing cost is a big thing in the market and the real advantage of these types of repairs compared to vulcanising is you can do it on-site and on your own. There’s no downtime and once installed, the start-up of your conveyor belt is immediate,” Nupier said. “MLT has a long history in belt fasteners and focus on innovation and quality products, and our team takes the time to understand our clients, not just supply a product,” she added.

MLT will be exhibiting at the 2017 Australasian Waste & Recycling iw Expo on August 23 and 24.

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AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 INSIDEWASTE

SEE MORE with the new Volvo Get a cleaner view with our wider windshield and additional side mirrors for perfect visibility. Custom-designed and built in consultation with our Australian waste customers, the new Volvo FE Dual Control delivers world-class safety features, with local street smarts. It also delivers rear air suspension in 6x4 axle configuration, plus improved driver ergonomics. And with fuel-saving technology and low Euro 6 emissions, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a cleaner ride too. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s everything you need to get the job done.

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FE Dual CONTROL.

Description: Weighing software identifies the types of waste that is being disposed of. Our software integrates with various types of machinery to give you a weigh/store and control solution. Applications: E-weigh waste /Diade compatible Tech specs: A scale-based solution to audit your waste from buildings and shopping centres to provide full identification information, and waste types Nad users. Price: P.O.A More: www.nationalweighing.com.au or 1300 669 162

National Weighing and Instruments

E-Weigh Waste and Auto Compact Waste

Weighbridges and axle group weighers Description: Steel, portable, cement, and modular weighbridges with compatible indicators and remote displays and weigh pads. Accredited with weighbridge verifiers for license verification, also NMI-approved. We also service and calibrate weighbridges and much more! Compatible with these trucks: Our equipment is compatible with all truck vehicles including all prime movers and semi- trailers. Number of models in range: 6 Accuracy: 30 tonne x 10kg Features: We supply a range of state-of-the art touch screen, programmable indicators to suit all

weighbridges, with a selection of larger remote displays if required. We can also tailor programmes to suit your needs. Price: P.O.A More: www.nationalweighing.com.au or 1300 669 162

Waste Equipment

Method Recycling Bins

Bin type: Steel bins Bin volume: From small crane bins to large compactor bins and RoRo Bins Bin material: Steel grade plate - AS/NZS 1594-HA250 and steel grade structural - AS/NZS 3679.1-300, AS1163-C350L0 Options/extras: Extra heavy duty 5mm and 6mm steel construction, castors, hot dip galvanising, tarps and more. Price: P.O.A More: www.binfactory.com.au, 1300 477 000 or 0404 000 707

Bin type: Internal Bin volume: 60L Bin material: 100% recyclable polypropylene with screen printed lid graphic and patented bag retainer Options/extras: All waste streams come in open and touch to open lids. Bin connector and educational posters supplied free with orders. Desktop precycler receptacle also available. Price range: $175-$245+GST. We also offer bulk pricing. Guarantee: Three years More: www.methodrecycling.com.au or 0448 522 446

Method Recycling

Bin Factory

National Weighing and Instruments

Product profiles: weighing, tracking, and bins //

BINS FALLING APART?

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INSIDEWASTE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017

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MOBILE BINS AUSTRALIA Weekly news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

Waste Equipment

Bin type: Office Bin volume: 60L or 85L Bin material: 73% recycled content, Durapol Recycled content: 73% recycled content Options/extras: Colour-coded apertures. Product can be orientated short or long edge to the front. Price: P.O.A More: www.bins4recycling.com.au or 07 3809 1300

Bin type: Steel bins Bin volume: From small crane bins to large compactor bins and RoRo bins Bin material: Steel grade plate - AS/NZS 1594-HA250, steel grade structural - AS/NZS 3679.1300, AS1163-C350L0 Options/extras: Extra heavy duty 5mm and 6mm steel construction, castors, hot dip Galvanising, tarps and more Price: P.O.A More: www.vitalquip.com.au or 1800 611 277 or 0428 354 002

VitalQuip

ECO Nexus 60/85

Compost-A-Pak Liners

Bin type: Flexible indoor modular system Bin volume: 40L, 60L and 90L units Bin material: Durable HDPE Recycled content: A proportion of recycling content, depending on product/colours. Options/extras: Educational signs, trolley options, Compost-A-Pak liners. Price: P.O.A More: www.sourceseparationsystems.com.au or 1300 739 913

Bag volume: Various from 8L to 240L or speciality like Coffee Knock tube liners Bag material: Australian certified compostable Waste type: All Options/extra: Can be customised (min. order qualities apply) Price: From $5 (roll) More: www.sourceseparationsystems.com.au or 1300 739 913

Source Separation Systems

MultiSort Bins

Bale Bags

Bin type: Variety Bin volume: Ranges from small 0.8m3 crane bins to bulk compactor bins Bin material: Steel plate AS/NZS 1594-HA250. Structural AS/NZS 3679.1-300, AS1163-C350L0 Minimum order: 1 Options/extras: Galvanising, tarp covers, castor wheels, hydraulic lids, plastic lids, rubber door seals Price: P.O.A More: www.torowasteequipment.com.au or contact@toroeq.com.au or 1300 556 570

Bag volume: Plastic bag suitable for recycling bale frames, 150/CTN Bag material: LDPE, Clear Waste type: Paper, plastic and aluminium for recycling Minimum order: 1 Options/extra: Bale frame manufactured from a welded steel wire frame finished in hot dip galvanised zinc. Price: P.O.A More: www.torowasteequipment.com.au or contact@toroeq.com.au or 1300 556 570

TORO Waste Equipment

Steel Bins

2 and 4 Wheel Mobile Bins

Biobag

Bin type: Plastic mobile bins Bin volume: 2 wheel bins: 80L, 100L, 120L, 140L, 240L, 360L Bin volume: 4 wheel bins: 660L & 1100L Bin material: HDPE Minimum order: 100 Recycled content: up to 30% Options/extras: hot stamp, thermal print, locks, cnc machined holes Price: P.O.A More: www.tridentaustralia.com or bins@tridentaustralia.com or 08 8444 6246

Bag volume: 1L - 660L Bag material: Biodegradable and compostable Waste type: Kitchen organics Options/extra: dog bags, t-shirt bags Price: P.O.A More: www.biobagworld.com.au or geoff@biobagworld.com or 08 7127 2812

Weekly news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

Biobag International

Trident Plastics (SA) Pty Ltd

TORO Waste Equipment

Source Separation Systems

RUD Chains

// Product profiles: bins and bags

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 INSIDEWASTE

HAZIBAG

Bin type: Mobile Bin volume: 8L Caddy, 80L, 120L, 140L, 240L, 360L, 660L, 1100L Bin material: HDPE Recycled content: up to 30% on bin bodies Options/extras: Colours, hot stamping, serial numbers, barcodes, RFID tags Price: P.O.A More: www.mastec.com.au or 1300 MASTEC

HAZIBAG is the leading innovator of flexible bag technology, delivering the safest tool for dangerous/hazardous waste. Bag volume: up to 3m3 Bag material: Grade 5 propylene Waste type: Solid dangerous/ hazardous Price: $30 - $136 More: www.hazibagaustralia.com.au or 1800 805 502 ext 664 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Adam Crocker

SIG Pty Ltd

Mastec

Bigbelly

Mastec

Bin type: Solar compactor Bin volume: 660L of compacted rubbish Bin material: General waste or recycling Minimum order: 1 Options/extras: Can be customised Price: P.O.A More: www.solarbins.com.au or 1300 893 610

Bag volume: 8L suitable for 7L caddy Bag material: Compostable material to AS4736 certified Waste type: Organics and general waste Options/extra: Colour, bag design, bag printing, roll size variation, pack types. Price: P.O.A More: www.mastec.com.au or 1300 MASTEC

INSIDEWASTE AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017

Mastec Australia Pty Ltd

Solar Bins Australia

Mastec Australia Pty Ltd

Product profiles: bins and bags //

Weekly news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

// Wasted Space

When a banana is not a banana FOOD and emotions - the two share a real bond. They’re #BFFs. We eat when we’re happy, sad, angry... hold that thought, just need to stuff my face with some smashed avo. So, is it all that surprising that environmentalists, mainstream media, politicians and the like try to tug at a consumer’s heartstrings when they bring up food waste? After all, even our parents used the same tactic. Remember the old “Charlie, finish your food! There is a child somewhere in [insert third world nation] who isn’t as lucky as you and doesn’t have as much food as you do?” And why shouldn’t they appeal to our emotions to change behaviours and minimise food waste? Why shouldn’t the ABC show us images of bunches of bananas getting thrown out because they did not meet some fictitious standard set by supermarkets? Why shouldn’t we be told that organic waste sent to landfill emits methane which isn’t good for the environment? These are important messages and consumers should take ownership of their food waste habits. But shouldn’t supermarkets lead the war on food waste, hell, let’s throw in packaging waste, too?

Waste is a systemic problem in the supermarket network - that’s not news to anyone - but it’s become almost laughable. On that particular banana episode of ABC’s War on Waste, one banana was deemed as “too curved to be sold”. And here we thought curves were a good thing. Unfortunately, not for bananas. These standards have been set by the supermarket giants and since they wield such power, why not focus on edibility instead of how the produce looks? Yes, some supermarkets have started a range that pokes fun at weirdly shaped fruit and vegetables in a bid to get people to see that they may not fit a certain mould set by society, but they’re still like their normal shaped vegetable peers in taste. Read that sentence again and tell us how ridiculous it sounds. So we say, stop throwing “imperfect” food out, stop pointing out the misfits or the “odd bunch”. If food is edible, whatever the size or shape, just chuck them all on the shelf and sell them. Don’t give consumers a choice, don’t put thoughts in their head that will make them think one perfectly normal zucchini

is inedible because it is larger than the other... just stop with this nonsense. Then there’s packaging. Now this really gets our goat. Why do three lemons have to be shrink wrapped on a polystyrene tray or half a cabbage wrapped in cling wrap? And does a bunch of grapes really need a bag to hold them together? That’s what their vines are for no? The way food is packaged

today just doesn’t make sense. We talk about banning lightweight plastic bags and that’s a good thing but it’s time to also look at the way food is packaged in supermarkets as well. Emotions drive decisions, there is no doubt about that. But we could also take on a practical, logical way to reduce food and packaging waste and it’s time to do just that.

September 13-15 Waste & Recycle 2017 Perth’s Crown Towers, Burswood, WA An annual event that has been running for over 30 years in Western Australia and now delivers a complete rounded program with pre-conference tours, workshops, panels, international keynote speakers, invited speakers, concurrent sessions, sponsors and exhibitors. Co-hosted by the WA Local Government Association, the Department of Environment Regulation, and the Waste Management Association of Australia - it is recognised as one of the largest gatherings of thought leaders, educators, industry professionals, and other critically important contributors in the waste and recycle sector. www.wasteandrecycle.net.au

composting, medical and related waste, quarantine. Treatment options for some of these waste streams and their viability for Tasmania will be discussed. www.wmaa.asn.au

October 24 Women of Waste - Leadership Breakfast Kirribilli Club, NSW This event is designed to recognise women who are driving change in industry, and in doing so, are breaking down barriers and are creating new career prospects for the next generation. We sometimes overlook the tiny unexpected turning points that can progress our career, our leadership capabilities and those defining moments! It will feature three very inspirational women who will each share their own fascinating journeys. www.wmaa.asn.au

DIARY August 23-24 Australasian Waste & Recycling Expo Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre The Australasian Waste & Recycling Expo (AWRE) is the most established commercial event dedicated to the Australasian waste and recycling marketplace. The event brings together the industry to generate quality sales leads; discover the latest trends; showcase innovation; network with key waste and recycling decision makers from industry and government; and attend high quality practical seminars and workshops. www.awre.com.au September 20-22 22nd International Congress for Battery Recycling 2017 Lisbon, Portugal The ICBR is the international platform for discussion of the latest developments and the challenges of battery recycling, bringing together many decision makers in the battery recycling chain such as battery producers, recyclers, collection schemes, policy-makers, transport companies and many more. www.icm.ch/icbr-2017

September 29 Tasmania Seminar The Old Woolstore - Hobart The theme for this seminar is Waste Infrastructure Requirements for Tasmania and topics to be discussed are: construction and demolition (C&D) and commercial and industrial (C&I) waste - controlled waste including asbestos, contaminated soil and historical stockpiles, food organics garden organics, commercial

Weekly news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

October 11-12 Waste Expo Australia Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre Waste Expo Australia will be co-located with All-Energy Australia, Reed Exhibitions’ market-leading clean energy exhibition and conference. Waste Expo Australia will bring together Australian and international solution providers in the waste management, recycling, resource recovery and sustainability sectors, showcasing the latest technology, products, services and turnkey solutions. There will also be a free-to-attend conference program, designed to educate and provide exhibitors and industry professionals with the opportunity to share knowledge on a range of topics, focusing on new industry developments and the latest trends and innovations. www.wasteexpoaustralia.com.au

October 11-13 WasteQ Mackay Entertainment Centre, Queensland The Waste Management Association of Australia (WMAA) 2017 WasteQ Conference - Reshaping Regional Resilience - will focus on circular economy, shifting our way of thinking towards practices that are “restorative” and support materials and components being reused or recycled many times over. It will be supplemented by themes including: the data revolution; heavy vehicle reform; best practices; innovation and contracts/tendering. www.wasteq.com.au

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 INSIDEWASTE

COMPACTION COUNTS

UNIQUE VERSATILITY