INSIDE WASTE October/November 2018 by Prime Creative Media

Official Publication of the

www.insidewaste.com.au

ISSUE 86 | OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018

INSIDE 21 The best of industry unveiled 30 Eye on the future 42 The human touch

Asian nations shut their doors

Every October, we turn our attention to the workhorses of our industry, the ones that move our waste and recyclables day in and day out, and this year is no different. Pictured is Cleanaway’s 18 new Scania 6x4 prime movers. The waste transportation coverage starts on page 46.

Consolidation, scale & competition

PP: 100024538

ISSN 1837-5618

IN AUGUST, Bingo Industries announced that it will acquire Dial A Dump Industries (DADI) for $577.5 million, a move that will make Bingo a force to be reckoned in an industry where large players are expanding rapidly – a few high-profile acquisitions have occurred in the past two years, including Cleanaway’s buyout of Toxfree in 2017 – and becoming increasingly competitive. DADI is a fully integrated recycling and waste management business in NSW with operations across the waste value chain from collections to recycling, landfill and recycled product sales. Assets that will be acquired include the Genesis Transfer Station in Alexandria,

the Genesis Waste Facility in Eastern Creek, and a collections fleet of 55 vehicles. In FY18, DADI generated revenue of $198.2m and EBITDA of $51.6m. “The DADI site at Eastern Creek provides us with an opportunity to transform waste recovery and recycling in Greater Sydney through the development of a Recycling Ecology Park, accepting both putrescible and non-putrescible waste,” Bingo Industries CEO, Daniel Tartak, said. “It fully supports our expansion into post-collections for C&I putrescible waste and provides a platform to enter the post-collections market for

municipal solid waste (MSW). This will broaden our customer base and make us much more competitive with the larger local and international players,” Tartak said. Tartak has committed to invest a further $72m to take up 100 per cent of his entitlements. Separately, Tony Tartak, the founder of Bingo, and Mark Tartak have committed to invest a further $9m each. Following completion of the acquisition, DADI CEO, Ian Malouf, will join the Bingo board with a shareholding in the company of up to 12 per cent post completion of the entitlement offer and the acquisition.

Waste imports to a couple of Southeast Asian countries will soon come to an end, following in the footsetps of China’s National Sword Policy. It’s been reported that in Vietnam, 6000 containers of scrap metal, plastic, and paper are building up in the nation’s ports. The country’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment issued a statement in July highlighting the need to “prevent waste from entering Vietnam to keep the country from becoming a dumping site, affecting environment and people’s lives.” The country will stop issuing new licences for the import of waste and back this move by cracking down on illegal shipments. Vietnam’s Prime Minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc also said the owners of these containers will be tracked down and criminal investigations into illegal imports or violations of environment law will be launched. In Malaysia, the government has also stepped in, revoking the import permits of 114 factories that process waste plastic. These factories have been in the media spotlight as reports circulate about increased pollution in the vicinities they operate in. According to Malaysia’s national newswire, Bernama, the country’s Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin has given the affected factories three months to bring their operations up to international environmental standards. Only then can they re-apply for permits.

A fresh approach to recycling in Queensland Building on the successful launch of the ACT Container Deposit Scheme, Return-It is coming to Queensland for November 1. Across all of our Depot and convenient Express sites, Return-It is committed to the customer, the community and the environment. Return-It. It’s worth it.

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Editor’s Note // Official Publication of the

New look, continued growth AS of 22 August, following the purchase of Mayfam Media titles Inside Waste, Cranes & Lifting and Inside Construction magazines by Prime Creative Media, these publications will be operated out of Prime Creative Media’s Sydney office. For me, personally, it has been an exciting period being part of this transition. This included getting up to speed with the Inside Waste team, attending the recent AWRE 2018 and introducing myself to the industry in general. Moving forward, I expect this to be an exciting year for the publication as we, at Prime Creative Media, are looking to carry on where we took over and continue to be the voice for the industry. Speaking of the industry, in NSW alone, Inside Waste covered the story about Remondis’ multi-million-dollar organics processing facility in Lake Macquarie, Cleanaway and ResourceCo’s PEF plant in Wetherill Park, and the Dubbo Regional Organics Processing Plant (DROPP) at the Whylandra Waste and Recycling Facility. While it is encouraging to see added capacity to process materials domestically, and there is funding on the table in most states and territories,

there are other challenges that still need to be addressed. On page 30, in more NSW news, EPA acting chair and CEO, Anissa Levy is looking at resolving these issues, telling us that the regulator has a plan to manage planning approvals and stockpile limits, to name a few. There are also new players, initiatives, and fleets to celebrate – an indication that despite the ongoing challenges, there are certainly opportunities for the brave and the astute. Many of these, including Earthlee’s organics treatment deal, ACT’s well-received Container Deposit Scheme (CDS), and Cleanaway’s new Scania fleet, can be found throughout this edition. We are always on the lookout for innovation and spoke to exhibitors at the annual Australasian Waste and Recycling Expo (AWRE 2018) about the

latest equipment available to industry. More of that on page 35. Yet despite those challenges, there is much to celebrate as well. In this issue, we unveil the finalists of our inaugural Waste and Resource Recovery Excellence Awards. These are the movers and shakers of the industry, the men and women who have not given up but have, instead, pushed for change and delivered excellence in a variety of ways. We’d like to thank our major sponsors – SUEZ, Veolia, Arcadis – for making the year-long awards program happen. The winners will be announced on 22 November, so look out for an announcement on how to be part of the celebrations. We will also be sending out the annual Inside Waste Consultants Review survey in the coming weeks.

ERRATUM In the “On-board weighing systems move industry toward new standards” story on page 19 of the August/September issue, the contact details were inaccurate and should have been: www.weighingsystemsaustralia.com.au or loadritescales.com or 02 9531 6732. The image is also not representative of the equipment and the new picture can be viewed in the digital version of the magazine at www.insidewaste.com.au We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

CEFC finances Melbourne MBT

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INSIDEWASTE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) is committing up to $38 million for a mechanical and biological treatment plant in Melbourne. To be built by Sacyr Group, the $65 million South Eastern Organics Processing Facility will process Dandenong region’s household garden and food waste from council kerbside green waste collections. The plant will have a processing capacity of 120,000t per year and will produce approximately 50,000 tonnes of high-grade compost annually. It is expected to abate more than 65,000 tonnes of CO2-e emissions annually, cutting 85 per cent of the emissions the waste would have generated in landfill. Sacyr expects its fully-enclosed, in-vessel aerobic composting and maturation plant to be operational in mid-2019. It will operate for 15 years, with a potential five-year extension. The technology, developed over two decades, ensures plant storage reservoirs are completely closed, and uses efficient and reliable deodorisation systems. The new Melbourne plant will provide part of the organic waste solution for eight of the 31 councils whose waste streams are coordinated by the Victorian Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group (MWRRG).

Publisher Christine Clancy christine.clancy@primecreative.com.au Group Managing Editor - Northern Syed Shah syed.shah@primecreative.com.au Journalist Jan Arreza jan.arreza@primecreative.com.au Art Director Michelle Weston michelle.weston@primecreative.com.au Design Blake Storey, Kerry Pert Business Development Manager Alastair Bryers alastair.bryers@primecreative.com.au +61 431 730 886 Client Success Manager Justine Nardone justine.nardone@primecreative.com.au

Head Office Prime Creative Pty Ltd 11-15 Buckhurst Street South Melbourne VIC 3205 Australia p: +61 3 9690 8766 enquiries@primecreative.com.au www.insidewaste.com.au Subscriptions +61 3 9690 8766 subscriptions@primecreative.com.au Inside Waste is available by subscription from the publisher. The rights of refusal are reserved by the publisher Articles All articles submitted for publication become the property of the publisher. The Editor reserves the right to adjust any article to conform with the magazine format. Copyright Inside Waste is owned by Prime Creative Media and published by John Murphy. All material in Inside Waste is copyright and no part may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical including information and retrieval systems) without written permission of the publisher. The Editor welcomes contributions but reserves the right to accept or reject any material. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information, Prime Creative Media will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequences arising from reliance on information published. The opinions expressed in Inside Waste are not necessarily the opinions of, or endorsed by the publisher unless otherwise stated.

Daily news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

// News

More than $500M remain unspent in Sustainability Fund IN July, a Victorian Auditor-General Office (VAGO) report confirmed that more than $500 million in landfill levy revenue remains unspent and there is a risk that the funds are not always used for their intended purposes. For years, industry has been calling on the government to release unspent landfill levies sitting in the Sustainability Fund to the sector in order to drive resource recovery projects. Some $1.7 billion have been collected through the levy since it was introduced in 2005 and it was estimated in 2015 that the fund had at least $300m in it, up from $230m in 2013. Now, Auditor-General Andrew Greaves’ report confirmed that as of December 31 last year, the balance of the fund was $562m, further stating that the Department of Environment, Land Water and Planning (DELWP) expects this to be $513m by June 30, 2018. It also highlighted that the fund had $29m in 2009-10.

“To date, government has made no public commitment, nor outlined a strategy or target to reduce this balance,” the report noted. All up, $401m has been distributed from the Sustainability Fund since 2009, which represents 48 per cent of the $829m that has been transferred into it over this period. The audit also found that while MILL distributions to environmental agencies and the transfer of the remaining balance to the fund accord with the Act, there is a potential risk that the MILL, and the fund, are not always used for their intended purposes, and that activities that receive fund monies are not achieving the legislative objectives of better waste management, reduced greenhouse gases or effective adaptations to climate change. The report has put forward 14 recommendations to DELWP to improve administration and governance of the fund.

DIAL-A-DUMP (EC) PTY LTD CONVICTED OF ASBESTOS DISPOSAL OFFENCE

Profile | Gunther Neumann Gunther Neumann is the branch manager of the new REMONDIS Lake Macquarie Organics Resource Recovery Facility (ORRF). What was your first job in the sector and what attracted you to it? During university, I undertook an internship at a large-scale waste management and recycling centre. This placement enabled me to view the various aspects of the circular economy at one location. Seeing how municipal residues can be recycled in so many ways was an impressive revelation. Favourite part of your current job? I love working with council, residents and businesses in all different aspects of food and garden waste recycling together. Every day is a new opportunity to divert waste from landfill and to recover organics. Creating new markets for high quality FOGO compost as well as establishing a food waste collection system for businesses in the Hunter while running a composting operation is making this job very special and no day is like the previous. How has waste management changed in your time in the industry? I saw the implementation of CDS in Europe and Australia. The landfill ban in industrial countries lead to up to eight bins per household. I hope that one day we will also have more household bins here in Australia as source separation at the source is simply the most efficient way to divert waste from landfill. Europe is moving to ban multi use plastic bags and Australia towards the end of single use bags. These are very exciting times as recycling is following global trends, driven by the innovative policies. What are some of the achievements that you are most proud of? In 2018 I won the Lake Macquarie Business Excellence Awards (LMBEA) in the category “Young Business Executive (Age 18-35)” and I also became finalist in the Hunter Business Awards, both for the construction of the Lake Macquarie ORRF.

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Dial-A-Dump (EC) Pty Ltd (Dial-A-Dump) was convicted and fined a total of $23,300.00 by the Blacktown Local Court on 19 July 2018 for two offences of failing to initially cover asbestos waste as required by clause 80(4) of the Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Regulation 2014 (NSW). Dial-A-Dump pleaded not guilty to the offences. Dial-A-Dump was prosecuted by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) for the offences.

Don’t let one event lay waste to years of work

The offences occurred on or about 18 October 2016 when Dial-A-Dump failed to initially cover asbestos waste at its landfill site known as the Genesis Facility at Honeycomb Drive, Eastern Creek. The asbestos was discovered by two EPA officers during a routine inspection of the landfill premises.

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Daily news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

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News //

Profile | Earthlee Australian start-up Earthlee has signed a deal to bring organics to energy technology and experience from the UK to Australia. What led to Earthlee researching emerging organics treatment technologies in 2017? We wanted an easy, reliable and economically viable solution for organic waste for Australia. How will QUBE’s systems stand out from what’s already in the Australian marketplace? Bonus features of the small anaerobic units by QUBE are that they are quick to deploy and fit within planning parameters, meaning minimal delays. The first QUBE digester was designed in response to a request from the UK’s Ministry of Defence to deal with food and sewage waste, and provide energy, on their bases in Afghanistan. The digestion technology had to be robust, easily transportable, and simple to operate and service. QUBE digesters are built on these principles and have since completed thousands of hours of continuous waste processing and biogas production. What are the main challenges that Earthlee will be able to solve for organic waste generators? The experienced Earthlee team is able to provide a fully serviced on-site closedloop waste management solution addressing installation and operation. Earthlee also offers clients an arrangement requiring no capital outlay; clients can have surety of a fixed monthly fee for waste disposal and power purchase, providing them with a predictable pricing model. What’s are Earthle’s plans for the next 12-18 months? We will conclude our current negotiations with companies and bring the first of our units to Australia. We look forward to spearheading the solution for organics, and in time commencing construction of these anaerobic systems in Australia. More: www.earthlee.com or Adam Odeh - 0400 999 756

INSIDEWASTE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018

A blueprint for a cleaner Western Sydney WESTERN Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils’ (WSROC) nine councils are on a mission to reduce waste, increase recycling and prevent illegal dumping under a new four-year strategy – The Western Sydney Regional Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2017-2021, which explores options for addressing waste management challenges into the future and seeks to maximise funding opportunities for the region under its initiative. Close to 739,600 tonnes of domestic waste and recycling were collected from Western Sydney households in 2015-16 through kerbside bin services, kerbside bulky waste collections, and council drop-off and mobile services. Just over half of this waste was diverted from landfill and recovered with the region achieving an overall domestic recycling rate of 54 per cent. Recycling rates in the region have continued to improve from 53 per cent in 2010-11 and 44 per cent in 2007-08.

Since the first regional waste strategy was developed in 2014, council have cut the percentage of household waste going to landfill from 49 to 43 per cent. WSROC says the goal is to reach 30 per cent by 2025. Regional targets identified in the development of this strategy include: • increasing opportunities for waste avoidance and reuse in the region by 2021; • working towards a domestic waste resource recovery rate of 70 per cent by 2025; • reducing the amount per capita of recyclable material in the kerbside residual waste bin by 2021; and • strengthening waste planning at a state development level by 2021 and ensure it is considered in all significant development and strategic planning. The strategy also details regional actions to contribute to the achievement of the targets. Each action has been analysed to identify priority actions.

Daily news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

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WE’RE PROUD, TO BE AN AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURER.

At a time when the car brands have closed local manufacturing facilities and other industries have seen manufacturing go overseas, we are PROUD to still be here. As part of the massive CNH Industrial organisation we have the flexibility to manufacture in numerous plants around the globe, however we’re proudly continuing to make certain IVECO Truck models in Australia for several very good reasons. Creating top trucks for down under Australian trucking conditions are among the toughest in the world, so having the ability to test, design and make trucks specifically for local conditions simply makes good sense. IVECO Trucks Australia’s Dandenong manufacturing plant is home to a large product engineering department that features a dedicated facility for building and testing prototypes designed for Australian conditions. Expertise and solutions, right here and right now Local research, development and production means the level of local technical expertise is second to none - which also means our dealers and customers get the benefit of the right answers and solutions, right away. Built local to benefit local We are passionate about all the local communities we operate in around the globe and we know that industrial areas of Victoria need manufacturing investment to protect jobs. Through our IVECO plant in Dandenong we not only provide local employment but also provide business for the many component and services providers that we partner with. In our hugely popular Acco, for example, 85% of the components are sourced from local suppliers.

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A strong history in Australia IVECO Trucks Australia has a long and proud history of local truck manufacturing in this country, which began with the opening of our Dandenong manufacturing plant in 1952. Since then, over 230,000 trucks have been manufactured at Dandenong - more than any other truck manufacturer in Australia – and today the plant continues to build trucks, including ACCO and Stralis models, along with the Metro and Delta bus chassis. IVECO Trucks is proudly and successfully building a good product in Australia for the Australian market – and with production of even more models set to commence in our Dandenong plant throughout 2018, we look forward to building an even brighter future for Australian truck manufacturing. Thanks to those who support local manufacturers.

THAT’S COMMITMENT. THAT’S AUSTRALIAN JOBS. THAT’S IVECO. www.iveco.com.au/manufacturing

News //

Ballarat signs WtE agreement THE city of Ballarat in Victoria has signed an exclusive, non-binding agreement with Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) to explore the construction of a $300 million waste to energy (WtE) plant. As part of the agreement, a 120-day feasibility study into developing the plant in the Ballarat West Employment Zone (BWEZ) will commence. The City of Ballarat said the Victorian-first plant would turn 60 per cent of the city’s waste into an energy source for industry, reducing carbon emissions and decreasing landfill. The move is also expected to stabilise, but not decrease, municipal waste charges for ratepayers. Once operational, MRCB and its technical partner Babcock and Wilcox Volund expect the site to process up to 400,000 tonnes of waste per year, with other municipalities and BWEZ businesses committed to the prospect of offloading waste. Energy at the plant would be generated through an incineration process, which boils water to create

Inside Australia’s largest waste to fuel plant.

Multi-million-dollar PEF plant opens

The City of Ballarat has signed a WtE agreement with Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad.

steam and power turbines to harness the generated power. Following the study, if an agreement is finalised, MRCB would have a contract to privately own and operate the plant for 25 years. The EPA is currently crafting standards the facility would have to meet in its operation. Construction is expected to begin in August 2019, with the facility planned to be operational by 2022.

FEDERAL Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg was in Sydney in July to unveil a new process engineered fuel (PEF) plant – the largest of its kind in Australia. The Wetherill Park facility was developed by ResourceCo and owned in a joint venture with Cleanaway. The latter recently acquired a 50 per cent stake in the plant. The plant will replace more than 10,000 tonnes of coal usage per year and Cleanaway’s customer base and waste supply in NSW will help to drive volume to the facility, which is licensed to receive up to 250,000 tonnes per annum of dry commercial and industrial and mixed construction and demolition waste, recovering commodities such as metal, clean timber and inert materials,

with the balance converted into PEF. PEF is used as a substitute for fossil fuels in both domestic and offshore markets in the production of cement. The new Wetherill Park plant will predominantly supply Boral with PEF for its Berrima cement kiln, as a substitute for coal. The remainder will be exported to ResourceCo’s Asian business. The project was supported by loan funding ($30 million) from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC). The development also gained grant funding from the NSW Environment Trust, as part of the NSW EPA’s Waste Less Recycle More initiative. The technology is eligible for Australian Carbon Credit United (ACCUs) due to its diversion of biomass waste from landfill.

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News //

Lake Macquarie enters a new era ON July 19, Inside Waste joined numerous dignitaries and VIPs, including Parliamentary Secretary for Planning, the Central Coast and the Hunter, Scot MacDonald, and Remondis Australia CEO Luke Agati at the Awaba Waste Management Facility to officially launch the Lake Macquarie Organics Resource Recovery Facility. Remondis has been composting the city’s garden waste since 2013 and its new facility will ensure that it is ready for Lake Macquarie’s food waste as the Council kicked off its FOGO service at the end of July. The facility has a licence to process up to 44,000 tonnes per year of organic waste into compost and soil amendment products and is expected to reduce the amount of waste to landfill by as much as a third. Branch manager, Gunther Neumann, told Inside Waste that he expects to process 36,000 tonnes in the first year, adding that while Remondis owns the processed product, the Council has a commitment to buy 2000t per annum. He also said that construction of

the site – a more than $10 million investment – was undertaken in 13 months and completed on time, within budget, and with no incidents or accidents. More than 100 contracting firms were engaged to build the facility, mostly from the Hunter region, with more than 300 people employed during this time. While the plant was being constructed, operations, specifically composting of green waste, continued. The facility features a purposebuilt education centre attached to the central administration building. During the tour, Neumann pointed out that the education centre was positioned right in front of the site, a nod to the importance of education. The plant houses a unique hybrid model of “in-vessel” and “mobile aerated floor” systems and boasts a number of Australian firsts, including: • a fully automated tunnel composting system to pasteurise food waste in two weeks, coupled with mobile aerated floor finishing to complete the composting process; and

The Lake Macquarie Organics Resource Recovery Facility was officially launched on 19th of July.

• a convenient automatic, cashless weighbridge system that will give users access to the facility with the swipe of a card, enabling fast and accurate transactions. The facility has a capacity to hold 10 million litres of water, allowing it to adequately capture both leachate and rainfall, and encompasses a circulation system to reuse collected water in the tunnels. Remondis also chose Komptech (distributed in Australia through ELB Equipment) as its screen supplier,

opting for the Multistar L3, a threefraction star screen that has a maximum throughput of 250m³/h with 3.8/7.3m³ screen area (coarse screen/fine screen). The project was supported by a $2m grant from the Environmental Trust as part of the NSW EPA’s Waste Less, Recycle More initiative. At the opening, MacDonald, representing the Minister for Trade and Industry, Niall Blair, said the NSW government was pleased to assist by contributing a $1.4m grant to the facility and $0.6m for community engagement initiatives.

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Daily news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

// News

Werribee landfill looks set for expansion WYNDHAM City Council’s plans to expand the area used for landfill looks set to go ahead, after the Western Region Environment Centre’s lastditch legal challenge was rejected by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), according to a report by Fairfax Media. The landfill, which sits within a 212-hectare site between Melbourne and Geelong, already had approval to fill a third of the total site with waste, and the latest decision allows the extension of the storage capacity by 12 hectares and gives another 26 years of life to the landfill. The tribunal decision accepted there was “compelling support for increasing the space available to provide longterm certainty for the landfill site, which has both metropolitan and regional significance”. The new section of the landfill is expected to have a maximum height of about 24m above the existing ground level. The landfill site was receiving about 500,000 tonnes of rubbish a year from

councils and private operators across Melbourne and regional Victoria. Council expects that within the next decade, it will receive around one million tonnes a year. Stephen Thorpe, Wyndham’s city operation director, told The Age the municipality was trying to reduce waste, but councils and private operators remained reliant on landfill. “The West Road site was the second largest of five landfills in Melbourne, and the only one owned by a council that accepted municipal solid waste, and the site generated a $15 million operating surplus in the 2016-17 financial year,” Thorpe told the newspaper. “Because Wyndham is a growth council, having a revenue source like the refuse-disposal facility is really important in us being able to provide some of the community infrastructure that people expect.” The Council is considering removing organic matter from the landfill, among other options, to reduce methane and greenhouse emissions.

Gladstone to turn waste to renewable oil SOUTHERN Oil Refining will receive a $4 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to build a demonstration project in Gladstone, 550km north of Brisbane. The $11.8 million project will turn biosolids sourced from wastewater treatment plants in Gladstone as well as the project’s partner, Melbourne Water Corporation’s Werribee facility, into renewable crude oil. This will then be upgraded to renewable diesel and potentially jet fuel. “With Australia producing over 300,000 tonnes of biosolids through sewage treatment annually, it makes sense to look for options for commercialising its disposal,” Minister for the Environment and Energy, Josh Frydenberg, said. “Bioenergy projects not only provide a possible alternative to the stockpiling of waste, but also have the potential to

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help with Australia’s fuel security.” The project will use Southern Oil Refining’s existing Northern Oil Refining facility in Gladstone, which is currently used for re-refining waste oils such as transmission and engine oils. It will treat up to one million litres of biosolids per annum using a thermochemical conversion process to produce a biocrude. Bioenergy Australia has welcomed the announcement. “Biofuels are created from waste organic matter and can be blended with petroleum, diesel and jet fuel with significant positive impacts on the environment, reduced health impacts through reducing air particulate matter, increased jobs through regional development and enhanced fuel security through reduced reliance on imported fuels,” Bioenergy Australia CEO, Shahana McKenzie, said.

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Report: Australia may have allowed illegal export of e-waste

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THE Basel Action Network (BAN) says Australia may have allowed the illegal export of e-waste to developing Asian nations, including Hong Kong and Thailand. Last September and October, BAN deployed 35 pieces of non-functional e-waste equipment including CRT and LCD monitors as well as printers across Australia, all of which had GPS trackers embedded in them. These materials were qualified under the Basel Convention, which Australia has ratified, as hazardous waste. Of the 35 trackers, two were exported, one moved to a seaport and was likely exported, 14 were sent to a recycler, five made their way to landfill, seven never moved, five had no signal after delivery, and two moved to an unknown location. Two are still reporting regularly and the rest have gone quiet, which may indicate being bulldozed into a landfill, buried deep in a warehouse and having been shredded or disassembled by a recycler. BAN said the three devices that appear to have been exported came from OfficeWorks, with two definitely going to Hong Kong’s New Territories area. Both of these were LCD monitors from Brisbane and one was later reexported to an e-waste processing facility in Thailand. OfficeWorks runs “Bring I.T. Back” – an e-waste Drop Zone as part of the government’s NTCRS. “There can be little doubt that these exports were illegal due to the fact that all three countries concerned, Australia, China (including Hong Kong), and Thailand are all parties to the Basel Convention,” BAN said in its UN-funded report. BAN travelled to the two locations in Asia where the exported LCDs ended up. Both of these, without showing any other stopping points after their respective OfficeWorks deliveries, were joined in one intermodal container and shipped to the Ping Che, in Hong Kong – an area known for e-waste trafficking. “However, when we visited the location a few months after the arrival of the LCDs, there was no trace of e-waste in the facility – apparently, it had been cleaned out and one of the

tracked devices stopped signalling,” BAN said. “The other one, however, we visited its second location in Thailand. In Thailand that LCD monitor arrived at a location that was involved in crude smelting of circuit boards, creating deadly dioxins and furans, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.” In tracking the monitors and visiting the two sites, BAN concluded that: • The two units of e-waste tracked offshore could well represent as much as 16,302 tonnes, which would fill about 900 intermodal containers of such e-waste exported to developing countries per annum. • The final destination of at least one of the devices tracked was a highly polluting primitive circuit board and acid stripping operation in Thailand of the type recently shut down by the Thai government. • Local contamination would include heavy metal, dioxin, furan, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon fallout and contamination of crops including rice, castor beans and mangos, as well as groundwater contamination from the sludge pond. • The delivery point for the likely illegal export were two OfficeWorks stores in Brisbane and were both government sanctioned consumer drop-off locations of the Drop Zone program. • Five of the units (14.28 per cent) of hazardous e-waste ended up in solid waste landfills – not an appropriate location for hazardous waste. This amount could represent about 81,396 tonnes of hazardous waste per annum. BAN also made several recommendations for Australia in its report, including: • Better monitoring and enforcement by the federal government of its sanctioned drop-off locations. • Investigating and prosecuting OfficeWorks for any Basel Convention violations. • Certifying all recyclers to the e-Stewards standard to assure their customers that they will not violate their data security nor the Basel Convention.

Douglas 0435 206 887

INSIDEWASTE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018

Daily news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

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News //

TRADITION

INNOVATION

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Greencrete a first for Hunter PORT Stephens Council will be the first in the Hunter region to trial Greencrete. Greencrete looks and performs the same as normal concrete, however, it reuses recycled glass in place of quarried sand and gravel materials to reduce waste. “We’re excited to be the first Hunter council to trial Greencrete, reusing recycled glass to reduce our environmental impact and ensure ongoing sustainability in our building works, ”The Council’s capital works section manager Philip Miles said. “We have elected to trial this new material in a prominent location so the community can view and provide feedback on it, and the works currently

underway at Tanilba Bay presented the perfect opportunity. “For our trial, we will be replacing the sand content of normal concrete – which makes up about 25 per cent – with recycled glass, to be used on traffic islands at Tanilba Bay. “Port Stephens will be the first council in the Hunter to reuse recycled glass in this way, and we’re keen to lead the way in developing sustainable practices for our projects now and into the future,” said Miles. Council is partnering with local business Redicrete to produce and deliver the new Greencrete, which was poured for the first time in Tanilba Bay this week.

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UTRC director, Dr Matthew Starr, has been charged with two offences after not complying with safety regulations. The maximum court-imposed penalty for each charge is $373,104. The charges come after the EPA stepped in to remove a stockpile of about one million tyres from a Stawell site. EPA CEO Nial Finegan said about 9500 tonnes of tyres were removed and shredded after repeated failure by the site’s owners to comply with orders to reduce the risk of fire at the site. “On 2 August 2017, it was decided that little to no effort had been made by the stockpile’s owner to comply

with a Country Fire Authority (CFA) Fire Prevention Notice or any of three EPA notices issued on the site that required the owner to reduce the risk of fire at the site and to segregate tyres into smaller piles; therefore, unacceptable environmental and community risks remained on the eve of the forthcoming fire season,” Finegan said. “In short, EPA was of the view that the stockpile appeared to have been abandoned or was being handled in a manner by the owners that was likely to cause an environmental hazard.” EPA Victoria has charged Used Tyre Recycling Corporation (UTRC) following two breaches of an EPA statutory notice.

EPA has the view that the stockpile appeared to be abandoned or handled in a manner that was likely to cause an environmental hazard.

Daily news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

Streets ahead VOLVO FE DUAL CONTROL There are three simple reasons we believe this is Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best waste truck. The Volvo FE Dual Control is Safer, Cleaner and Quieter. Careful design and clever ergonomics add to the safety dynamic of this world leading waste truck. The FE Euro 6 is built to deliver maximum environmental care and is engineered to be significantly quieter thanks to our unique Volvo Engine Brake system and lower engine noise. So when you are considering your next waste truck, make sure you choose the safest, cleanest, quietest option available. For more information visit volvotrucks.com.au

Equipment News //

Superior Pak and FAUN join forces In August, Australian waste collection and compaction equipment manufacturer, Superior Pak, announced a joint venture with FAUN Group, a European manufacturer of waste handling equipment and road sweepers. FAUN was founded in 1845 and produced its first “dust cart” for collecting waste in 1897. In 1916, it became a division of KIRCHHOFF Group. In Australia, it was previously distributed by Wastech Engineering. Meanwhile, Superior Pak, which has a manufacturing facility in Bundaberg, Queensland, works with vehicle suppliers including Iveco, Dennis Eagle, Mercedes Benz, Scania, Isuzu Trucks, Hino, Fuso, Volvo and DAF. Announcing the joint venture, a spokesperson for Superior Pak said the current executive management team would remain unchanged, with Rob Wrigley as managing director and

David Botha as CFO. Garry Whineray will continue as national sales and marketing manager, Keith Clark as national after market manager, Mark Hamilton as national manufacturing manager, and Michael Pronger as national engineering manager. FAUN will join Wrigley, the original Superior Pak shareholder, as joint shareholders of Superior Pak. FAUN will also acquire the shareholdings of Rowley Errington (retired Superior Pak director) and Anne Barry (nonexecutive director). To coincide with the transaction Superior Pak will take over the Faun distribution rights previously held by Wastech. This will take effect immediately. The new shareholding arrangements took effect from the start of September. More: www.superiorpak.com.au or 07 3638 2200.

L-R: Rob Wrigley, Superior Pak managing director and Patrick Hermanspann, CEO FAUN Group.

Hino’s street-smart truck heading to Australia

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The EnviroWeigh can accurately weigh individual mobile bins.

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The next gen Hino 500 Series Standard Cab models will land on our shores in November. Unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show in October last year, the 500 Series Standard Cab FC, FD and FE models for the Australian market would have undergone what Hino has called “a next generation model change”. “The addition of this street smart new truck to the Hino Australia line-up less than two years after the successful launch of the 500 Series Wide Cab models will further expand and improve our product offering in the highly competitive medium duty category,” said Daniel Petrovski, Hino Australia’s product strategy manager. “Hino Australia will launch the all-new 500 Series Standard 18

INSIDEWASTEOCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018

Cab with the most comprehensive active safety package offered by a Japanese manufacturer in the current Australian medium duty category market, he said. “There will be new power and torque ratings and more transmission options creating a myriad of driveline solutions designed to deliver the next level of driving performance and fuel efficiency. Full Australian specifications and pricing of the all-new 500 Series Standard Cabs FC, FD and FE models will be available in late November 2018 at dealerships nationwide and online. More: www.hino.com.au or 1300 01 HINO

VIA the partnership between Garwood International and Vehicle Weigh Solutions, Garwood is able to supply underbody load cell systems, available in a four or six-point configuration. It also supplies the European licenced-for-trade EnviroWeigh system, able to accurately weigh individual mobile garbage bins. The system allows for accuracy of 0.5 per cent or better during the normal loading cycle and there is no need to stop the lift cycle. The Enviroweigh system is: • European licenced for trade accuracy; • European approved for pay by weight services; • able to reject overweight bins; • track profitable or loss-making customers; • able to track the performance of each collection route; and • able to optimise and streamline routes without compromising service. More: www.garwoodinternational.com.au or 02 9756 3756.

Daily news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018

news

From the CEO’s desk I was lucky enough, at the end of August, to be part of the Women of Waste Leadership Breakfast in Brisbane where the very impressive and articulate Leeane Enoch, MP, Minister for Environment, spoke to the 95 passionate gathered WARRiors. Her speech was very moving with many takeaways for those in the room and on social media; however one thing the Minister said keeps going through my head this week: “your story is one of the most important things you have.” It makes me think about our industry and wonder what our story is or should be. I do not think there has been a period in time like the last 18 months, where our essential industry has had so much media attention. Granted not all attention has been good, and sometimes it has resulted in re-action as opposed to the desired action. WMAA has been particularly fortunate to have had exposure in both ABC Q&A and War on Waste, making us acutely aware of the public interest that exists in our industry and our story. So how do we garner this attention in a way that we need, to ensure that we get the action that we so desperately need from Government, other industries and the public more generally? Well, we have all seen lots of media attention about China and the fact that Australia was exporting resources to the world’s largest manufacturer, who was remanufacturing these resources into other products. There is nothing wrong with this, it just simply is not ideal, given the lost opportunity to create jobs in Australia with these resources. Quite rightly, we have focused in the short term on assisting MRFs and local councils to transition through this phase; what we also need to focus and get loud on is the entire narrative of the story - our need to buy and use recycled product in Australia; the value in the product that we collect and sort; and the remanufactured goods that we can and should be making from these goods in Australia. There has also been a bit of a reality check as a result of China, in that it is not the role of MRFs to recycle/remanufacture, rather they collect and sort. What is vital (and in large part missing) is the demand locally for these sorted commodities for remanufacturing in Australia. Increasingly, we are seeing MRFs turning into re-manufacturers, particularly with glass, given their determination not to send material to landfill. However, this brings with it a raft of other complications such as DAs, licensing, resource recovery exemptions (depending on State), market for end product, and on it goes. Similar issues exist with organics collections, and both the acceptance and use of end product.

Whilst Government is genuine in wanting to meet diversion rates, China has demonstrated that a lot of States fail to understand our essential industry and the enormous benefit to, and the critical part we play, in the story of our nation’s economy. For too long we have been seen by most as something that is simply regulated and enforced, and kept out of sight. We need a complete paradigm shift towards market development in order to do more than simply collect products in different bins, and towards recovering these resources and remanufacturing them into the valuable products that they are. The public wants us to, and thought that we were - and it was not for want of trying! We also need to elevate the public debate and recognise how clever and interested the public are in us. Whilst it is awesome that plastic and items such as coffee cups, bags and straws can gain so much public interest, we need to elevate these conversations to ensure that the focus is on what is really at issue - the avoidance of single-use and the fact these single-use items are simply no more than waste. We need to start tackling really challenging issues like the benefits of some packaging in managing food waste. However, we need to also address issues such as avoiding unnecessary purchases of food (with up to $60 per week in food discarded by households) and how this is arguably better, particularly when we talk about cost of living pressure. We also need to stop pretending that if we make enough packaging of a type, industry will magically develop solutions to it (coffee pods anyone?). We know what can be recycled - PET, HDPE, PPL - so let’s stop making the rest! The public recognises and supports our essential industry and is starting to move in the same direction as us; we now need government to do more than just pay lip service but move with us through legislation. We also need the ability to have certainty over where we can build and be able to do it in a reasonable and certain timeframe. We need a standard national approach to proximity so that we can manage our waste and resources close to generation and have certainty of both supply and market. WMAA, the national peak body for the waste management and resource recovery industry, has and will always push the best interest of this essential $15.5 billion industry to government. With three elections (two State and one Federal) between now and May next year, it is time we took advantage of the attention we have and get both the recognition and understanding of our industry, the essential service that we provide and our story so that we can thrive. As Leeane Enoch said: “Our story is one of the most important things we have.” It is time for us to take control of our story, no longer be reactive, and ensure that it is a positive one. Gayle Sloan Chief Executive Officer Waste Management Association of Australia

// Waste and Resource Recovery Excellence Awards

The race to the top has begun By Patrick Lau IT IS CLEAR that Australia’s waste and resource recovery sector is made up of champions. This is the inaugural year of the Inside Waste Waste and Resource Recovery Excellence Awards and we’ve received an astonishing level of interest, with well over 50 entries across seven categories. Thank you for your interest and your support. The level of innovation and drive in the industry is truly inspiring. Now, if you haven’t heard, the reason Inside Waste has embarked on this yearlong program is because we see it as our role to champion the sector. It hasn’t been an easy year, yet many in the waste and resource recovery industry are continuing to build capacity, innovate, and influence governments and communities. Why? Because these leaders know that the sector does far more than

provide an essential service – it has the potential to be an economic growth engine and meet the demanding social and community outcomes demanded of it. Thus, over the next 12 months – until the next awards – we will be acknowledging and celebrating your efforts, as well promoting the innovative projects and facilities that you’ve told us about in your nominations. Before we get into the finalists, Inside Waste would like to thank the major sponsors of the awards: SUEZ, Veolia, and Arcadis. These industry leaders have made the program a reality. A big thank you also to our supporters, the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation and Hitachi Zosen Inova Australia.

The 2018 finalists The Inside Waste team were thrilled by the scope and number of nominations

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but that also meant we had to make some heartbreaking decisions in selecting the finalists. The process of going through each nomination involved revisiting the past year’s greatest triumphs, head-turning innovations and breakthrough solutions. It also gave us the opportunity to discover some true gems that might otherwise have gone unnoticed, and we’re excited about sharing them with you. Unfortunately, not every great project, team or individual was able to make the final cut. We’d like to thank all those worthwhile and hard-working waste management heroes out there who put their hands up for the awards. If you didn’t make the shortlist this year, we encourage you to keep up the good work and re-visit us in the future. On the following pages, you’ll find some of the shortlisted finalists across each category of the Waste and Resource Recovery Excellence Awards.

Over the coming weeks, our panels of expert judges are going to comb through their entries, giving careful consideration to their achievements and deciding which of them is worthy of being named a winner. You’ll also be introduced to the judges assisting the awards, and the partners who have made it all possible. Our sincere thanks go to them all for their time and support. These experts and industry champions come from across the sector, but they share our vision of collaboration, innovation, and a commitment to the sustainable and healthy growth of Australian waste management and resource recovery. We look forward to welcoming you at the awards ceremony in Sydney on November 22 – details will be announced shortly. The annual Consultants Review will also be awarded on the night – keep your eyes peeled for the digital readers’ survey, out in the next few weeks. iw

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018 INSIDEWASTE

Waste and Resource Recovery Excellence Awards //

Meet your biggest supporters THE AWARDS couldn’t happen without the support of our partners. Our thanks go to these champions of waste management and resource recovery for helping us celebrate the achievements of the sector.

Major sponsors SUEZ: Our world is ever-changing and with it, comes growing pains. A growing population means we’re using more resources and leaving a bigger footprint on the environment. Finding new ways to make better use of our natural resources isn’t easy, but we’re up to the task. For over 150 years, SUEZ has led the way in delivering smart and sustainable resource management solutions for businesses, governments and communities. Whether it’s treating and re-using wastewater or generating renewable energy from waste, our experts are embracing the power of innovation to lead the resource revolution and find more sustainable ways of living. SUEZ has partnered with the Inside Waste Awards to recognise and support initiatives that follow the same principles: changing the way we use our resources, and changing the world we live in, for the better. Veolia: Operating across 48 countries, Veolia is the global leader in optimised resource management. With nearly 170,000 employees worldwide, Veolia delivers operational solutions across water, waste and energy that drive bottom-line savings, and optimal sustainability performance for our customers, while contributing to the sustainable development of communities and industries. Veolia

strives to develop access to resources, preserve available resources, and to replenish them. In Australia and New Zealand, Veolia has more than 40 years’ experience and is the region’s only environmental solutions organisation with specific capabilities across water and wastewater treatment, energy management, waste and resource recovery services, and industrial cleaning and facilities maintenance services. Within the region, Veolia employs over 4000 employees and operates across more than 240 locations. As natural resources become scarcer, and we face growing challenges of urbanisation, consumerism and climate change, we need innovative models that support growth and sustainability. Today, water, waste and energy can all be recovered. Our solutions transform what is discarded by some, into valuable resources for others. We resource the world by Rethinking Sustainability, plugging in our integrated systems to operations to turn waste into new forms of energy, wastewater into new water supplies and recover energy for beneficial and sustainable reuse. With our local knowledge and global expertise, we help our customers overcome the challenges within their industries. Arcadis: Rapid urban and population growth mean that we must find smarter, greener and more efficient ways to handle our household waste. As countries around the world try to deal with a growing waste stream from millions of businesses and homes, they’re emphasising the search for

SUEZ’s Camden Organic Resource Recovery Facility helps divert organics from going to landfill and recovers these valuable resources for healthy plant growth.

efficient, financially responsible and environmentally sustainable solutions with consumer backing. Arcadis is a pioneer in this fastgrowing global market and its leading waste management team blends local knowledge with international expertise. Servicing a broad range of public and private sector clients, including some of the world’s largest waste management companies, Arcadis provides smart solutions based on the very best strategy, technical and systems advice that meets stringent regulatory, environmental and community standards. With over 27,000 employees working across 70 countries, Arcadis works in everything from environmental restoration to detailed engineering design to cost and program management. This breadth of service not only means we understand the impact of our advice, but that we also understand the importance of industry leadership and making strong decisions to improve the quality of life through our work.

Supporters

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Hitachi Zosen Inova Australia: We are a global leader in energy from waste (EfW), acting as an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor delivering complete turnkey plants and system solutions for energy recovery from waste. Our solutions are based on efficient and environmentally sound technology, are thoroughly tested, can be flexibly adapted to user requirements, and cover the entire plant life cycle. HZI’s customers range from

experienced waste management companies to up-and-coming partners in new markets worldwide. HZI’s innovative and reliable waste and flue gas treatment solutions have been part of over 600 reference projects delivered since 1933. Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation: The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) is a notfor-profit organisation committed to reducing the harmful environmental effects of packaging on Australian communities. Recognised as one of Australia’s leading product stewardship organisations with a strong national and global collaborative network, APCO delivers a range of sustainable design and recycling initiatives, waste to landfill reduction activities and circular economy projects. In April 2018, APCO was identified by Australia’s Environment Ministers as the organisation to lead the way in making packaging 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. Achieving this target will require close collaboration with all levels of government, businesses, and key stakeholders in the waste and resource recovery sector. The Inside Waste Awards 2018 is a fantastic forum to celebrate the achievements and efforts of leaders, projects, facilities and innovators from across the industry. It’s an opportunity to recognise those that are embracing the challenge presented by the China Ban crisis and utilising it as an opportunity to build a more sustainable future in Australia. Good luck to all of the shortlisted organisations! iw

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// Waste and Resource Recovery Excellence Awards

Introducing our warriors ARCADIS EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR AFTER A YEAR of enormous change and intense public focus, some leaders have proven organisational resilience through long-term planning, innovative thinking, and strong values. Through their examples and community engagement, they’ve provided the public face of waste management and resource recovery as a sustainable and crucial part of Australia’s economy, environment and society. Narelle Anderson: Narelle Anderson is the founder and managing director of container deposit systems operator, Envirobank Recycling. Founding Envirobank Recycling in 2008, Narelle introduced the concept of reverse vending technology to Australia. This same technology now underpins a few of the container deposit schemes being rolled out (or already rolled out) in states and territories across Australia. Envirobank’s services include automated depots, reverse vending machines, mobile collections, scheme coordinator services, charity bottle drives, and more. Envirobank currently runs the largest depot operation in the Northern Territory and has just been awarded a major contract run 47 refund points for Queensland’s Container Refund Scheme (CRS), making Envirobank the second largest CRS operator there. The company also operates across New South Wales. Anderson is a board member of ACOR, and indigenous business group Supply Nation. A born entrepreneur, Narelle started her first company at 16 and was the first indigenous woman to solely own a waste management company. Vik Bansal: Vik Bansal joined Cleanaway in 2015, following a period of declining financial and operational performance. Since then, Bansal has led a deliberate and strategic turnaround, focussed on sustained results over time. In order to deliver on this, Bansal has led a cultural change from within, following a deliberate and well-executed plan. Cleanaway’s recent success under Vik culminated in the December 2017 acquisition of Toxfree, making Cleanaway the 17th-largest waste management company in the world by revenue. Cleanaway has also been involved in the implementation of the NSW CDS, and ResourceCo’s Refuse Derived Fuel Facility at Wetherill Park. But Bansal’s dedication to incorporating accountability and responsible practices into Cleanaway’s operations may be his most significant impact, with a renewed focus on customer satisfaction, a continually improving safety record, and strong environmental credentials. Doug Dean: Doug Dean is one of the longest serving CEOs in Australia, having held the position of CEO and managing director of Veolia Australia and New Zealand for an impressive 27 years. On June 30, 2018, Dean retired from that position and continues to consult at Veolia. Dean began with Collex in 1991, a waste transport business with more than 500 employees turning over $54 million. During his tenure, he transformed the organisation into an industry leader (as Veolia), which turned over $1.5 billion in 2017 and employs more than 4000 people across 200 locations throughout Australia and New Zealand. In recent years, Dean led Veolia’s integration of water, waste and energy services, including the Woodlawn facility and the 2017 commissioning of the Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) facility. The ambitious project remade the abandoned Woodlawn mine, 250 km south of Sydney, into a bioreactor landfill with rail transportation of waste from Sydney. Dean was named a member of the Order of Australia in April 2012, in recognition of his service to business and commerce through the development and provision of sustainable waste management and resource recovery solutions. The award also noted Dean’s many philanthropic associations. Proudly sponsored by

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018 INSIDEWASTE

Waste and Resource Recovery Excellence Awards //

SUEZ OUTSTANDING LOCAL GOVERNMENT AWARDS Metro: The Metro category received a lot of attention from councils in greater Sydney, reflecting the region’s strong interest in progressive waste practices and a boom in new technology and facilities. However, there were a few candidates from other cities and states who suggested they were rolling out programs ahead of next year’s Awards. Inner West Council: Inner West is a new council, built out of the amalgams of Leichhardt, Ashfield and Marrickville. Bordering Sydney’s CBD, the council has a touch under 200,000 residents with a density of 55 per hectare. All three of the integrated councils carried strong waste programs and strategies, but any amalgamation comes with challenges. Nonetheless, Inner West has set itself the ambitious target of achieving zero waste by 2036. The first steps are developing a new Resource Recovery Strategy and a 10-year action plan. Some programs are already underway under an interim Delivery Program 2018-22, with significant achievements in reducing organic waste. Education around food waste minimisation for households with young children, a suite of urban composting initiatives, and innovative Food Organics (FOO) collections services at Multi-Unit Dwellings (MUDs) across the council have been among the actions. Inner West has definitely hit the ground running, bringing new approaches to what can a problematic issue for metro councils. Lake Macquarie: On the northern fringes of the Central Coast, the City of Lake Macquarie has a booming population and is expected to hit 260,000 residents by 2030. Land use in the area is mixed, with urban through periurban zones, and both geography and lifestyle are dominated by Australia’s largest saltwater lagoon – Lake Macquarie itself. In 2010, Council confronted the issue of a rapidly diminishing airspace at the Awaba Waste Management Facility, initiating a series of resource recovery and infrastructure projects to prolong its lifespan. Since then, significant financial and environmental benefits have been realised by Lake Macquarie, culminating in the commissioning of the Awaba Organics Resource Recovery Facility in 2018. This facility is matched by a successful Food and Garden Organics (FOGO) collection service, carefully phased-in and managed with good communications, community engagement and monitoring systems. By identifying a problem and finding a solution that is both cost-beneficial and environmentally positive, Lake Macquarie has provided an excellent example of forward planning. Penrith: Penrith sits at the foot of the Blue Mountains, in the west of Sydney. This council of 200,000 residents adopted a new waste strategy in 2017, strengthening a reputation for innovation. It’s not just about flashy new technology at Penrith – their unconventional thinking gets results, with an emphasis on flexibility, responsiveness and appropriate apportioning of risk and cost. Preparing for the unknown, Penrith is laying the groundwork for resilient, “future proof and shock resistant” waste services. In an atmosphere of climate change, rapidly changing demographics and urban environment (not to mention market shocks like the National Sword policy), it makes sense. Penrith offers a three-bin system to residents, with flexible service options and at a cost-price basis. The ease of use for householders, along with community education and outreach, have resulted in contamination rates dropping from 30 per cent in 2009 to the current 4 per cent, with 99 per cent of householders sorting waste correctly. The system has been widely replicated across other councils, particularly after it was featured in the ABC’s War on Waste. Rural or Regional: the Rural or Regional category received a large number of submissions from the NSW-Victoria border, around the Hume and Riverina regions – no doubt due to a recent spate of nation-leading waste minimisation and closed-loop initiatives in the area.

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All three of the integrated councils carried strong waste programs and strategies, but any amalgamation comes with challenges. Nonetheless, Inner West has set itself the ambitious target of achieving zero waste by 2036.

Albury: in 2009, Albury Waste Management Centre (AWMC) was bearing 100 per cent of the region’s local waste (residential and commercial). Although one of the largest such centres in the state, landfill airspace (servicing the council’s more than 50,000 residents, and surrounds) was estimated to run out by 2020. In response, Albury City Council set themselves the goal of halving the amount of waste entering the AWMC. A multi-pronged approach followed: the creation of the Halve Waste comprehensive education campaign, significant investment in novel diversion infrastructure at AWMC and the roll-out of a three-bin FOGO system. The Halve Waste campaign supported the 2015 change in collection services across four councils (Albury, Federation [formerly Corowa], Wodonga and Indigo), and continues to this day. Annual updates allow the campaign to focus responsively on issues as they arise, including different forms of contamination or problem wastes. Infrastructure upgrades at AWMC have included a community recycling centre, upcycle centre, dedicated organics, tyre and steel drop off points, and a push-pit. Together, Albury’s initiatives continue to produce improvements in waste minimisation, and the council is on track to meet its targets. Cessnock: Cessnock has been spearheading a push by Hunter Valley councils to reshape the waste management paradigm in the region, moving its 55,000 residents from a “tip” or “dump” mindset to one that embraces minimisation, landfill avoidance and resource recovery. One of the initiatives has seen Cessnock take point on a ground-breaking contract for a three-council organics collection service. Careful procurement has resulted in lowered risk and better outcomes for all stakeholders, and best-practice project management and community engagement has yielded great service (and a quality end product). Cessnock also recently commissioned a new waste management centre, which incorporates an innovative triple weighbridge system, combined with sensor technology. Alongside other design features, the waste management centre encourages visitors to maximise their resource recovery behaviours, and rewards them with lower fees – just one more way that Cessnock’s helping residents start thinking differently about waste. North East Waste and Resource Recovery Group (NEWRRG): in 2016, the NEWRRG co-ordinated the rollout of a FOGO collection service across Benalla, Indigo, Wangaratta and Wodonga councils. The success of that collection has led to a reduction in landfill tonnage of up to 50 per cent, and as much as 80 per cent organics diversion – well beyond targets, and making this arguably the best-performing FOGO collection in Australia. Participating councils and NEWRRG attribute the incredible results to a strong community engagement program, begun well in advance of the rollout and continually supported. But, although NEWRRG had high expectations and set ambitious targets, the results have been a surprise. Participation and contamination rates are excellent, and the output of highquality composts, soil conditioners and mulch adds a commercially valuable product to the process. The service has expanded to seven councils, with no sign of slowing down.

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reconfiguring operating procedures. In fact, over the 12 months to June 2017, Dulverton Waste Management grew waste processing volumes by 11.23 per cent to 91,464 tonnes through operational improvements. Some of the highlights of Dulverton’s operational excellence include the use of machine guidance, the incorporation of an independently-audited Environmental Management System (EMS) into daily practices, the use of staff-designed custom tipping plates, and the continual scientific monitoring of their composting facility.

Just three out of many exciting facilities and innovations in unexpected fields of waste management stood out.

OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE AWARD This category was always going to be exciting to visit, given its broad remit. There were many exciting facilities and innovations in unexpected fields of waste management. However, these three stood out from the crowd. Dulverton Waste Management: many Inside Waste readers will already be familiar with Dulverton Waste Management, through their 2017 Landfill Excellence Award from WMAA. But it’s not just the facility that makes this organisation great – the team, ably led by CEO Mat Greskie, is responsible for driving best-practices at their site on the northern Tasmanian coast. The operational philosophy of the Dulverton team is to identify problems, look for the root cause and resolve it. That might mean infrastructure additions or upgrades, introducing new technology, or simply

VEOLIA CIRCULAR ECONOMY AWARD One of the most inspiring elements of launching the Inside Waste Awards has been seeing the response to this category, with an overwhelming number of submissions across a broad range of remanufacturing products. With many new products among them, tackling stubborn problem wastes, we’re sure that they’ll continue to pop up on our radar in the future. Centre for Organic Research and Education (CORE): At CORE, continuing development on advanced biofiltration technology has been underway for 20 years. Incorporating recycled organics, crushed glass and other fractions, the product has been installed in Canada, China, Singapore and the United States. It’s suitable for use across multiple environments, due to CORE’s proprietary computer design system. CORE can help clients select the optimal configuration of inputs to target local pollutants in urban, agricultural, industrial and mining environments. In Australia, the technology has been used to ring

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Gunther Neumann, Remondis Lake Macquarie Organics Resource Recovery Facility: Gunther is the senior construction engineer and branch manager of Remondis’ Organics Resource Recovery Facility at Lake Macquarie. He oversaw the end-to-end design and construction of this facility and remains on-site to manage daily operations. Those roles incorporate complex technical knowledge across a multitude of disciplines, contract negotiations, procurement and business management, environmental protection, community and other stakeholder engagement, and ongoing operational expansion and development. Across all of those areas, Gunther has excelled - as demonstrated both by testimonials, and quantifiable metrics. Gunther has served on the board of the Centre for Solid Waste Bioprocessing at the University of Queensland, as an executive member of the Waste Contractors and Recyclers Association of NSW (WCRA), and a director at the Australian Landfill Owners Association (ALOA). He was the winner of the 2018 Lake Macquarie Business Excellence Awards (LMBEA) in the category “Young Business Executive (age 18-35)”, and a finalist for the Hunter Business Awards in the same category. Lucas Heights Resource Recovery Park: the team at the Lucas Heights facility, owned and operated by SUEZ, faced a significant challenge in 2017 with a huge increase in traffic and volume. After a nearby landfill reached capacity in June, the Lucas Heights site was the only appropriate point to receive putrescible waste. Truck movements jumped, requiring traffic plans and new initiatives to control environment, amenity and community relations. Increased volumes meant additional processing capacity needed to be added. The SUEZ team brought in new infrastructure and procedures to ensure a smooth transition process, including plate recognition technology and an advanced driver control station attached to a new, third weighbridge. After successfully incorporating a 36 per cent increase in traffic without increasing traffic footprint or hours, the Lucas Heights’ team’s operational model has been rolled out across SUEZ sites throughout Australia.

Sydney Harbour, protecting the marine environment from pollutants and run-off; a “Sponge Park” in Shanghai Botanic Gardens incorporating the technology is currently underway. The CORE biofilter represents local solutions, using locally sourced materials: turning an environmental challenge into an environmental solution. Close the Loop: TonerPlas is an asphalt performance additive, developed by Close the Loop from recycled soft plastics and waste toner from printer cartridges. These problem wastes have existing collection infrastructure and markets, but there’s scope and need for improvement. TonerPlas competes against bitumen and can provide savings and environmental credentials. Because Tonerplas provides improved asphalt performance, it reduces the whole-of-life cost of asphalt – longer lasting, reduced resurfacing frequency and reduced repairs of asphalt. The first commercial usages in early 2018 saw roads laid using TonerPlas and recycled glass, and there’s no doubt we’ll soon see this product scale

across Australia and internationally. Winya: Winya Indigenous Furniture focuses on an important and overlooked problem waste – office furniture. Despite huge efforts and attention being focused on C&D waste, it’s little known that office refits or change of leaseholders result in an average of 300 desks per floor ending in landfill – often long before they’ve reached a reasonable end-oflife condition. 500 tonnes of furniture are landfilled weekly, with only one per cent recycled. Winya’s e-Board, made of recycled melamine, tackles this with a truly closed-loop solution. Damaged or old furniture can be recycled into new desks, with superior surface strength, and returned to the original owner. The furniture is embedded with a discrete barcode, allowing the chain of custody to be recorded. Over the past 18 months, Winya has been winning a swag of awards. In June of 2018, the company won Business of the Year (and several other categories) at the Sydney City Business Awards, and will now contest the NSW Business of the Year.

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OUTSTANDING FACILITY AWARDS Large (> $10 million): the inaugural year of the Outstanding Facility – Large category received nominations mostly across organics processing and energy, demonstrating the pertinence of these areas to Australian waste management and society at large. The ground-breaking projects on our shortlist represent the cutting edge in those fields. Cleanaway/ResourceCo Wetherill Park RRF: the importance of the Cleanaway/ResourceCo Resource Recovery Facility (RRF) at Wetherill Park, in Sydney’s west, was underlined by then-federal Minister for the Environment and Energy, Josh Frydenberg, at an opening ceremony. “The Wetherill Park facility is the largest of its kind in Australia – it is licensed to process around 250,000 tonnes of waste per year to produce PEF and also will recover other commodities such as metal, clean timber and inert metal,” said Frydenberg. The facility will primarily produce refuse-derived Processed Engineering Fuel (PEF) to be used in highcombustion kilns by customers like Boral Cement. It’s both a test case and a commercial proposition in its own right, which led to $30 million in support from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and a $5 million grant from the NSW EPA’s Waste Less, Recycle More fund. With support across government, industry and the community, the Wetherill Park shop plays an important role in Australia’s developing waste-toenergy technologies sector. Yarra Valley Water ReWaste: the ReWaste Organics Facility at Wollert in Melbourne’s north is a triumph of multi-stakeholder policy, planning and execution. The project brought together input from dozens of public and industrial parties, ultimately creating a facility with enormous capacity to reduce reliance on landfill and produce clean energy. Yarra Valley Water already operated a sewage treatment plant at the site, but waste conversion was not a primary business. In order to proceed, a strong business case needed to be developed, which provides exemplary best-practice for others in the waste management sector to emulate. The WTE facility at Wollert diverts a massive 33,000 tonnes of organic waste from landfill annually converting it to renewable energy through the anaerobic digestion (AD) process, with a capacity of up to 100 tonnes/hour. It powers the adjacent sewage plant, and feeds enough energy back into the grid for another 1500 homes. Between landfill diversion, and clean energy production, the site also boasts significant emission reduction capacities. Veolia Woodlawn MBT: the Woodlawn precinct is one of Australia’s leading facilities, in terms of both size and scope of waste management and resource recovery. The rail-serviced site began operations in 2004, and has been pushing the envelope in terms Proudly sponsored by

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The Outstanding Facility Award category received nominations mostly across organics processing and energy, demonstrating the pertinence of these areas to Australian waste management and society at large.

of technology, waste practices, and stakeholder engagement ever since. Woodlawn incorporates solar, wind and landfill gas power generation, along with agri-, aqua- and horticultural zones. The latest element, a Mechanical and Biological Treatment facility, began operations in 2017 and represents an evolution in site management and waste practices. The facility can process up to 144,000 tonnes of waste per annum, separating organics (as much as 60 per cent of the input volume) from mixed solid waste. The organic fraction is converted to compost and used to rehabilitate the open-cut mine at Woodlawn. As a stand-alone project it merits attention, but it’s the complementary nature of the Woodlawn MBT that is most impressive – working with other site facilities to squeeze every last skerrick of environmental and commercial value out of Sydney’s waste. Small (< $10 million): unlike the Large category, Small facilities had no common theme. We saw a wide range of projects across the entirety of the sector, from education through processing to remanufacturing. ACT NoWaste Discovery Centre: ACT NoWaste has an ambitious target for our nation’s capital: an 87 per cent resource recovery rate by 2023. That kind of heady goal will require a big effort from the community, so education and engagement are crucial. With the clock ticking, there was no better time to launch the new Discovery Centre (built in conjunction with Re.Group). Limited to a 70m² space above an existing MRF, the Discovery Centre was transformed into an interactive educational experience. The digital resources and resource recovery exhibits are museum-quality (no doubt necessary to entice Canberrans). In addition, the use of cutting-edge virtual reality equipment, combined with sorting-station cameras and a prospect overlooking the MRF floor, gives visitors real insight into the resource recovery process. Strong project planning and management allowed

the entire Centre to be up-and-running within 12 months and coming in under budget. Envirostream Australia: the $2 million Envirostream facility is a culmination of years of research and development and was commissioned in 2017. Despite growth in consumer electronics and waste awareness, the past decade has seen battery recycling rates remain around three per cent – abysmal by the standards of developed economies. Most categories of batteries that are recycled, are done so offshore. Envirostream Recycling’s new facility incorporates proprietary technology into a mechanical-andpneumatic recovery system, which allows up to 95 per cent of material to be recycled. A commitment to the closed-loop paradigm means that much of the profit is poured back into market development, improving the throughput of the facility and the collection options for customers. The end product already has steady commercial customers in Australia and elsewhere. Plastic Forests: Plastic Forests had been operating for years as a resource recovery company with a unique dry-cleaning process for contaminated plastic film. However, an opportunity in 2017 to relocate the business from regional Victoria to Albury brought with it the chance to redesign the plant and operations. The team made many modifications, both major and minor, to individual pieces of equipment and the production line as a whole. Forward planning assisted with challenges around laying out the production lines, but quick thinking also helped when problems arose (like the discovery that the electricity supply had been overstated). Along with improved systems and greater capacity, Plastic Forests built environmental sustainability into their surroundings – using recycled materials and equipment, installing 100kW of solar panels and rainwater tanks, and other measures. Their new location also gives them greater access to key eastern seaboard markets.

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EXCELLENCE IN A GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE PROGRAM This category naturally saw strong interest from regulators, but nominations from other state bodies demonstrated the breadth and diversity of the waste sector. Sadly, there were no nominations from any federal agencies - perhaps next year. EPA NSW: the Bin Trim program, operated by the Business Recycling Unit at NSW EPA, is the largest of its kind in Australia. But it’s not just the biggest, it also has claim to be the best, helping small and medium enterprises increase recycling from a third, up to a half, of total waste generation. Bin Trim offers free consultations, tailored support services and co-funding grants to businesses that want to reduce their waste. Specific support can include waste audits, a tailored action plan through the Bin Trim app, consultation on specific waste streams and more. The scope is impressive, with more than 22,000 businesses across the state reached across the program’s lifespan. The impacts are even more impressive, with 82 per cent of participating businesses reporting continued engagement with waste minimisation practices after a two-year period. Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group (MWRRG): the Metropolitan Waste and Resource Recovery Group is responsible for supporting Melbourne’s 31 councils to maximise outcomes. As a top-level body, it has the ambition and capacity to co-ordinate better waste management than that which can be achieved by individual councils.

Its Metro Fund program is a great example of policy in action. The targeted grants program, which has reached dozens of projects, has achieved an average 19 per cent contamination reduction. Infrastructure projects supported by the Metro Fund are diverting over 6000 tonnes annually, and participating councils have seen reductions of $1.5 million in annual levies. MWRRG has achieved this through careful project selection which leverages matched funding and using partnerships and scaling opportunities to maximise the impact of grants. The best-practice funding mechanisms of the Metro Fund provide a great example for others to emulate. Sustainability Victoria: the Statewide Waste and Resource Recovery Plan (SWRRIP) developed by Sustainability Victoria has the goal of identifying future infrastructure shortfalls and helping direct investment for maximum impact and return. The relatively huge outlays required for capital expenditure in waste can create some difficult decisions for government and private-sector organisations. But there’s evidence to show that the SWRRIP is creating value for decisionmakers, which will flow on to better environmental and financial outcomes for Victoria’s residents. The 18 committed projects that the SWRRIP has influenced are investing over $62 million to install 180,000 tonnes of new resource recovery capacity and will generate 88 full-time jobs. Without the certainty provided by Sustainability Victoria’s expert research, analysis and foresight, it’s doubtful that kind of activity could be sustained.

SMART WASTE, SMART THINKING Partnering with you across the project lifecycle to increase cost savings, enhance environmental performance and improve quality of life. • Options analysis – Mapping options and costs to meeting your waste goals • Technology review – Scoping technologies to match your context • Procurement support – Preparing for and navigating complex procurements • Planning advice – Strategic advice and specialist studies to deliver your waste project

Dominic Schliebs dominic.schliebs@arcadis.com www.arcadis.com/au Daily news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018 INSIDEWASTE

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Waste and Resource Recovery Excellence Awards //

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YOUNG PROFESSIOAL OF THE YEAR The nominations for this category introduced us to many young overachievers who impressed with their achievements. We know there are plenty of young women working in the sector too, and we hope to see more of them enter in the future. Daragh Maher: Maher is a sustainable service consultant at Perth’s WRITE Solutions and has been leading a composting initiative with impressive client successes. WRITE has partnered with BioPak, producer of compostable cutlery and food service packaging, as well as local cafes, schools and hospitality venues. Maher has driven the onboarding of dozens of partners, who benefit from financial savings and environmental credentials. In addition to leading this project, Maher also consults across other areas of sustainable services. After six years in the industry, says WRITE director Robert Dube, Maher “has become the recycling guru, whose solutions and opinions are highly regarded; and is now setting up this organics revolution at, simply, the next level.” WRITE partner, Guildford Grammar School, commends Maher’s integrated skillset, with property services director David York saying: “Using WRITE Solutions has provided me peace of mind. Having Daragh as one point of contact for multiple services just makes it so much easier. The response time and level of service is exceptional.”

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Andrew McDougall: McDougall has been working with the business services section of the Townsville City Council waste department since 2012. In that time, he has demonstrated an aptitude for learning quickly, a reputation as a skilful negotiator of competing interests, and a keen business acumen. In his role, he integrates technical, operational and commercial concerns within a public sector environment, applying a skilful touch to balance all factors and produce best possible outcomes. McDougall’s peers acknowledge both his high professional standards and his leadership qualities, and external government and industry partners have been impressed by his relationship-building skills. He has driven initiatives such as the use of recycled organics for council parks (representing savings of $200,000 per annum) and is driving projects around recycled concrete, and recycled glass. His projects, with outcomes in market development and landfill avoidance, represent local government as a leader of community. Khoa Vu: As a technical engineer from an operational background, Vu has impressed management and peers at Remondis for his outstanding performance in specified duties, but particularly in his capacity to learn and develop new skills. Vu’s work on Lake Macquarie City Council’s new organics resource recovery facility involved work on the design side, including performing early trials. His results and findings fed into the design parameters, significantly speeding up the project. Later, in the project management team, Vu also impressed with his budget management. In consultations with stakeholder groups, ecologists and professionals from different disciplines, he demonstrated a breadth of understanding and capacities. Furthering his technical development, he excelled when exposed to unfamiliar elements of the project engineering. Paul Grime at Remondis says that “Khoa is a role model to all young professionals showing that stepping outside your comfort zones is not an easy ask, but the hard work and dedication pays off. Khoa has adapted to each environment and has worked alongside all types of disciplines to achieve this fantastic outcome.”

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Judges

Ross May

Adam Faulkner

Anne Prince

David Clancey

Garth Lamb

Hazel Storey

Kim Glassborow

Pete Shmigel

Philip Richards

Stan Krpan

Susy Cenedese

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Q&A //

Keep your eye on the future By Jacqueline Ong IN AUGUST, Inside Waste (IW) had the opportunity to sit down with NSW EPA acting chair and CEO, Anissa Levy, and it became evident early in our chat that she is passionate and committed to the industry. For one, she started the interview with: “While I’m in an acting role, I don’t approach this as an acting role. It’s a really important job and I am taking on the full challenges of the EPA and I’m owning the role.” The EPA cops a lot of criticism and questions often arise about what the regulator is doing to drive the sector forward, how it is enforcing regulations to weed out rogue elements, where the money from Waste Less Recycle More is being directed to (and why – why this project and not the other), how the EPA is making it simpler for operators to do business in the state, how it will stop the interstate transport of waste... you get the drift. And of course, these questions and keeping the EPA accountable are important. Levy was candid in the interview,

discussing just what the EPA is working on as well as clarifying a few misconceptions and rumours e.g. Henry Moore is still at the EPA (although our sources tell us there’s more to this story). She also reiterated a couple of times that while the EPA manages a range of sectors and issues, its main focus is on the waste and resource recovery industry. IW: You stepped into the role at a particularly challenging time. Can you share any lessons and insights gained over the last few months? Levy: My role in government over many years has been coming into places and dealing with complex problems. I come from a background in transport infrastructure and they deal with a lot of complex problems there, so, those are skills I’ve gained in working across industry, across partnerships and government, and those skills have served me very well here in the EPA. Certainly, our focus in the EPA is fairly and squarely on the waste sector and all the challenges the waste sector is facing today. We have a sizable

proportion of the EPA that’s dedicated to working in the waste and resource recovery space and it’s interesting because the first week I was in here was when the Minister made the $47 million rescue package announcement for the China National Sword policy and I had to get up to speed real fast but it was really great, the way the industry embraced me and took the time to talk to me. I value the importance of the partnerships we can achieve with industry and there’s been a lot of conversations, one-one-one with industry, with CEOs, with industry reference groups. Industry has been very generous with their time with the EPA as a whole, and with me, and I want to thank industry for coming to the table and wanting to work with us in partnership. We’ve got a really unique opportunity with all levels of government, now that the federal government is also very interested in the waste sector, and it’s time for us to work together on these challenges. And whilst there are challenges, I see them as opportunities as well. IW: And which of these challenges and/or opportunities are the EPA prioritising and what can industry expect out of the regulator in managing them? Levy: The things we’re looking at in the short-term are aiding councils and renegotiating their contracts with MRF operators. We have a unique opportunity now with the conversations that we’ve facilitated between local government and MRFs in our combined local government and industry reference groups and they’re willing to look at some new models and new ways of managing those contracts. We’re looking at the issues around stockpiling. We’re looking at streamlining approvals for waste processors and really, fundamentally, there’s money on the table there. We’ve offered through our grants program a significant amount of money for councils to help them through the short-term, in terms of funding their contract services with MRF operators. But there are also investment opportunities there for us to make into industry and we really do recognise the importance of investing in good infrastructure. Waste management is an essential service and that hasn’t really been part of our conversation for many years. But I’ve been raising that agenda at the

INSIDEWASTE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018

highest levels within government and really, there is interest. I think we can thank the China National Sword policy for getting that agenda on the table. IW: It’s gone a little bit quiet on what the inter-governmental taskforce, set up in response to dealing with China’s National Sword policy, is doing. Can you give us a progress update? Levy: There’s been some significant progress made to date. One of the recent achievements is that we’ve just finalised a report into how we can streamline the approvals for waste facilities and that will be made public soon. This will have some real impacts on making efficiencies in getting approvals for increased stockpile limits for getting development applications processed in a timely way. We’re also working on understanding the safety risks around stockpiles so that we can safely increase limits. Fire & Rescue NSW has developed guidelines for safety around stockpile limits which is an important piece of work and as part of that, they did audits of over 30 sites. We’re also working on procurement so on some of the medium-term issues, we’re looking at how government procures goods and services, we’re looking at construction procurement, so we can ensure recycled materials are used in construction projects like glass in road base, plastics in construction activities. That’s a piece of work we’re progressing and also working with local government on their procurement strategies. In addition, we’re doing economic modelling to inform the development of a NSW circular economy policy and that’s very well progressed. In fact, we’ll be putting out a draft policy for consultation within the next month. Importantly, we can’t take our eye off the future. We are stewards of the future at the EPA, we’re looking after the community and the environment for the long-term as well, so we have to make sure that the decisions we make today are protecting the long-term future of both for the environment and this industry. IW: When the rescue package was announced, some questioned why the money was not “new”. Why did this come out of Waste Less Recycle More? Levy: What we needed to do was to make the money accessible to councils quickly and the quickest way to do that was to broaden the opportunities

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// Q&A

within existing funding streams – funding that councils had access to immediately, yes, through Waste Less Recycle More. There are many other funding grants available that can help top them up in many other ways. This was really about making sure that they could access the money quickly and easily and that money is there, and it is on the table now and we’d encourage councils to talk to the EPA about how we can package up funding opportunities for them. IW: Finally, there are a fair few industry groups and each have a role to play. From the EPA’s perspective, are industry’s messages coming through clearly? Levy: I am speaking to a number of associations, some of them on a regular basis but I think it’s also important that we speak directly

to the industry representatives themselves and not only the peak groups – though these groups have a place and an important voice, and I don’t want to undermine the important work that they do – but it’s important that I speak directly to industry and I’ve been doing that. I’m organising a catch-up with a number of captains of the waste industry to have conversations directly with them. For me, there aren’t too many voices, and this is a complex space and no one group can always speak for all parties. It’s important to hear what those consensus views are and also go directly to the source and so, I’m trying to get a balanced view of what industry and industry groups have to say. The key message for me is going back to the beginning where this is a partnership. At the end of the

Importantly, we can’t take our eye off the future. We are stewards of the future at the EPA, we’re looking after the community and the environment for the long-term as well, so we have to make sure that the decisions we make today are protecting the longterm future of both for the environment and this industry.

Anissa Levy see the importance in the EPA working together with the industry to maintain consumer confidence and they look to continue to encourage industry investment in within the sector.

day, our waste services are essential services, but they’re delivered by the private sector. And I really want to thank them for coming to the table during this difficult time, for not giving up, for not stopping services. It’s important that we continue to work together in this partnership to maintain consumer confidence and we want to continue to encourage

industry investment in the sector. The EPA has been committed to this space for a long time. We’ve been working very hard in this space and having the conversation elevated for us is fantastic and we just continue to work with industry and local government as well as federal government in making a difference in this space. iw

C O N TA M I N AT E D S O I L ? S LV E D .

• • • • • • • •

Total Recoverable Hydrocarbons (TRH) Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) Perfluorinated Compounds (inc PFAS) Pesticides (OCPs), Dioxins and Furans Chlorinated solvents Industrial sludges and explosive residues Other persistent organic pollutants (POPs)

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AWRE 2018 //

“Smarter plastics” for a circular economy Stories by Jan Arreza WITH so many changes in the world of plastics over the last 12 months, questions are being raised around how we can solve the many challenges we face with plastic, with much of the talk around how to better handle it at its end-of-life, particularly in the packaging space, which is its most direct market. Dr John Williams, business development director of UK-based Aquapak Polymers, acknowledged that because the waste management industry has been quite poor at plastic disposal, there is a need to be moving towards more intelligent materials that are designed for its front-end functionality, and for the back-end possibilities for an efficient recovery. During his presentation on the first day of AWRE 2018, Williams said that smarter materials, which are able to adapt to the environment around them – through their sensitivity to a variety of factors such as pH, temperature and intensity of light – could be one of the tools in the chest for our transition to

a truly circular economy. He highlighted ways in which this “new generation of smart plastics” can be easily integrated into our current waste and recycling programs, as well as how these ‘smart plastics’ can meet all the needs of the consumer, the supply chains, as well as future generations. “The HydroPol bioplastic is able to work in a whole raft of different primary functions, which is great. But it’s when you look at its end-of-life possibilities that it starts to get quite interesting, because this particular polymer can break down in unusual ways,” said Williams A key benefit of the HydroPol bioplastic is that it is compatible with other materials, particularly plastics and paper. In controlled conditions, it can be dissolved in water and easily separated from other materials, which makes recycling more efficient by simplifying the waste stream. HydroPol bioplastic can be easily recycled, recovered, dissolvable, compostable, biodegradable if it’s in the form of a lightweight film or multi-

laminate, and also has the ability to go through an anaerobic digestion system for processing. Williams says that although Aquapak are currently the only ones with the process to take these base materials and turn it into a fully hydrolysed pellet-form for general manufacture, they do want to open it up to others to make the use of this alternative material global. “We are looking at opportunities to get this global with several licenced manufacturers because we don’t want to just sit around and wait for this to develop and spread organically. We need to have partners to help us do that,” Williams continues. “This is going to be a long journey, together we need to take it step-bystep, and once the value is realised even on a small scale, momentum behind the circular economy will continue to build. “The linear way of doing this has worked for now because everyone has made money from it – no one really cared about what happened with their waste, so they were just taken away

Dr John Williams, business development director at UK-based Aquapak Polymers, speaking at this year’s AWRE 2018.

and taken care of in the most costeffective way that they could. “Now, that’s no longer acceptable. It’s no longer okay to burn it or landfill it as people now want to further maximise the use of our resources. A lot of materials are complicated, so we should be changing the materials used into something easier to deal with at its end-of-life, in terms of recycling and recovery.” iw

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INSIDEWASTE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018

AWRE 2018 //

A unique opportunity for significant change THE impacts of China’s restrictions on Australia’s recycling industry have been felt across the country, though many industry leaders see it as a uniqueopportunity to achieve significant and sustainable change across the sector. But what exactly are the solutions to the significant issues that we face? That is the question a panel of industry experts attempted to answer during their presentation titled “The Future of Recycling in Australia”, during day one of the Australasian Waste & Recycling Expo 2018 Expo in Sydney. China’s Green Sword policy sent shockwaves to the global waste management sectors, because China had been receiving about half of the world’s recyclables at the time. “This drastic import restriction on recycled materials has caused concerns across all Australian jurisdictions and has caused shockwaves across most of the recycling markets across the world,” said Tony Khoury, executive director, Waste Contractors & Recyclers Association of NSW. “As a result, prices have fallen dramatically, and in some cases, whole markets for recyclables have disappeared. Some MRFs have even had to stockpile material for short-term expediency. “And the response has been to improve the quality of commingled recyclables through increased labour and by secondary processing, but that has added more costs into the recycling system. “The issue of contamination and recycling needs to be addressed and households need to be better educated on what should and shouldn’t be put into recycling bins,” said Khoury. There are currently six million tonnes of material from yellow bin kerbside collections and Australia was exporting about 20 per cent (1.2 million tonnes) of that to China. “We’ve seen the average cost of the materials collected from MRFs fall to approximately $80 per tonne. Of course, costs vary by location, but if we have 1.2 million tonnes at $80 a tonne, that comes to roughly $100 million lost from the MRF market,” added Alex Serpo, National Waste and Recycling Industry Council. “MRFs are really hurting off the back of the ban and operators are now taking money off their own personal funds to continue to pick up our bins, so this is a problem that we need to address urgently. “And it’s important to note that it’s 34

The panel of industry experts discussed the future of the recycling industry in the country and what needed to be done to solve the issues at hand.

not affecting the country evenly – 50 per cent is coming from Victoria, 20 per cent each from NSW and Queensland, seven per cent in WA, and three per cent from the rest of Australia. That’s 90 per cent of the problem coming from the eastern seaboard alone.” Justin Frank from SUEZ Water & Treatment Solutions agrees that MRF operators are hurting at the moment, especially in terms of the financial costs associated with waste management. “Australia has ridden the wave of 25 years of economic stability and positive GDP, which has led to opportunistic linear approaches to waste management. It has also led to a lack of investment in infrastructure, so the MRFs were not agile enough and don’t have the technology to react to the shock brought on by the ban,” Frank continues. “Processing costs are now roughly $100 a tonne in metro areas and $200 a tonne in regional, and we’ve found the financial impacts of that change difficult to manage. This has forced us to reach out to our customers to have challenging conversations about how they can assist financially. “It is pleasing to see the state governments have provided financial support to deal with the problem, however, the mechanisms aren’t clear on how the funds are going to be allocated and distributed. “What the industry really needs is strong leadership from the Federal and state governments, as well as industry, so that we can find a win-win solution to maintain the community recycling program, which has been very well adopted and supported,” said Frank. Recent developments from China has had real negative implications for kerbside collection services and has shown just how vulnerable we are as a nation in this space. “Significant amounts of money,

INSIDEWASTE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018

time and resources have been invested in explaining to communities the benefits of recycling, and they’ve really taken it onboard and saw it as their way to do the right thing for the environment,” said Susy Cenedese, Local Government NSW. “Councils, waste collectors and re-processors have become so good at dealing with whatever went in the bins that everyone now has an expectation that those materials will be recycled properly, and it’s gotten to the point where people think they can put anything in the bin and it will be recycled, which certainly is not the case. “The China ban has shown us how vulnerable we are in terms of our recycling industry, but it’s also raised the profile on a key tenant of sustainability, which is dealing with our own waste. We can no longer rely on exporting our waste overseas, so we really need to start investing in onshore processing and manufacturing. “We need to make a transition to a more circular economy, where in theory there is no waste, just secondary materials and resources that replace virgin materials wherever they can. Producers need to take more responsibility for the environmental impacts of their products and to make sure they are easier to recycle and reuse. “And to ensure that the community’s trust and support is maintained, we need consistent messaging on what they can recycle, what is happening to the recycling, and most importantly, the benefits of buying products with recycled content,” said Cenedese. As a result of major changes to the market, most recycling contracts and agreements will need to be renegotiated between the MRFs, councils and customers to cover the additional costs brought on by the

import ban. “Of the 27 councils that we have contracts with, nine have agreed to a variation and are paying an additional processing fee, while the other councils are still in denial of how things are now,” added Greg Turner, JR Richards & Sons Waste & Recycling Services. “We are hearing that there is still profits to be made in MRFs, but certainly none of ours. We really need to start addressing some of these issues, but we’ve had some push-back and haven’t been supported in some cases, which is really quite sad. “This is a real thing and it is happening right now, and if we were an organisation that was not substantial financially, we would not have been able to continue, and that is the bottom line,” said Turner. In recent times a CDS (container deposit scheme) has been introduced in NSW, ACT, and in Queensland later this year, and has become something that the industry sees as potentially assisting councils and contractors in overcoming some of the financial constraints. “What the CDS program has done is put a new artificial value on all of those commodities, for example glass was only worth $15-30 a tonne, but now it is worth $180 a tonne,” said Anne Prince from A Prince Consulting. “But the catch is, to claim that money, you have to be able to prove that the glass has been recovered and recycled. Therefore, going into warehouses and stockpiles is not counted as recycling. “We need to work on transitioning to the circular economy and start processing materials internally, while also being less reliant on our export markets. We all need to work together because recycling doesn’t happen until it actually comes back and is purchased as a second material,” said Prince. iw

Daily news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

// AWRE 2018 - Equipment round-up

A more productive and efficient baler PROMISING to be the most energy efficient baler in the market, Presona’s LP Series improves productivity and operational efficiency by increasing materials throughput, while cutting energy consumption. The LP Series Balers are available in six models to meet all capacity requirements – the OH, EH, VH, CH, DH and XH. All models are available with larger motors for higher output. The OH is ideal for the printing, packaging and graphic industries, and does not feature a prepress – making it suitable for low headroom applications. It typically incorporates a pneumatic feeding system and has a throughput capacity of up to 10 tonnes per hour. The EH, VH and CH accept and process most materials – from paper and PET bottles, to household and

Material recognition, separation and quality control using X-ray fluorescence spectrometer technology.

From high throughput retail supply chains to smaller scale operations, an LP Series Baler is the ideal choice.

industrial waste. Typically fed by a conveyor system, these models feature a prepress and has a throughput capacity of up to 50 tonnes per hour. The DH and XH has a unique two-step prepress system, which

accommodates a feed opening width – maintained from the opening to the bottom of the chamber – of up to 2.2m. It can facilitate bulky material processing and has a capacity of up to 50 tonnes per hour.

Dominating the waste de-packaging game DESIGNED to remove outer packaging and reuse waste that would otherwise have been sent to landfill, the Dominator de-packaging machine can easily integrate into existing production lines or as a complete standalone system. With the increasing importance of finding alternatives to landfill, some waste won’t be accepted straight into the onward manufacturing process and requires some degree of separation of removal of outer packaging. In a market where technology is ever evolving, the family-run Rowan Food and Biomass Engineering have been proactive in learning from other industries’ advancements in this space and implementing it into its own technological improvements. The Dominator uses a motor to drive a solid steel shaft lined with paddles, using mechanical and centrifugal forces material is de-packaged and forced through a mesh screen. Waste packaging then makes its way through

The Dominator has the ability to handle many different types of waste streams and can easily integrate into existing production lines.

the barrel and out through the outlet. The Dominator has the ability to handle municipal waste, food waste, plastic bottles and cans, pharmaceutical waste, plasterboards, and much more. Different variables include: • Mild or Stainless-steel build design

• 22kW to 45kW motor • Various paddle designs • 2m or 3m barrel length • Various screen sizes • Up to 15 m³/hour throughput • Additional effluent injection points

Analysing and separating with X-ray technology A sorting system that combines REDWAVE’s optical sorting technology with X-ray fluorescence (XRF) technology from Olympus Innov-X has hit the market, which is capable of separating different types of materials like glass, ceramics, metals, minerals and plastics by measuring the difference in their elemental composition. XRF spectroscopy is a widely used and proven technology for measuring the elemental composition of material, which allows for a wide range of elements simultaneously being detected and analysed. The REDWAVE XRF has a sensor that performs an ultrafast elemental analysis of every single piece, regardless of its physical properties such as thickness and colour, or the presence of labels or other impurities. The technology also allows quick on-site modification to recalibrate the systems, therefore, is easily adaptable to changing conditions to meet market demands. Apart from its capability for sorting materials, REDWAVE XRF can also be used as quality control with different materials. Elements that must be determined are identified and configured into the system. These elements are continuously identified and evaluated, then recorded to give assurance of a quality material.

Innovative energy production from biomass BEKON presents its new efficient and economical MINI dry fermentation system, which offers an innovative way to effectively produce reusable energy from biodegradable waste materials. With an objective to offer municipalities and waste management companies innovative solutions for organic waste, BEKON now offers a complete turnkey system to take advantage of the waste stream’s

potential in energy production. BEKON implements a single-step fermentation process that employs batch operation. Single step, in this sense means that the various degradation reactions - hydrolysis, acidification and methanisation constitute one process step. The BEKON technology then generates biogas using naturally occurring microorganisms, which are

Daily news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

kept under constant temperature conditions with wall and floor heating. In this way, the conditions in the fermenter are maintained at an optimum level for the bacteria used in biogas production, which requires neither further mixing of the materials nor the addition of further material. With BEKON, the full potential of organic waste or biomass arising from both agricultural and municipal

facilities can now be exploited. Advantages of the BEKON MINI includes: • Dry fermentation in a minimal space; • Low capital and operational expenditures; • Especially suitable for low input quantities; and • Effective decentral electricity and heat generation.

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018 INSIDEWASTE

CDS //

Green with the human touch The end game

The young champ who fished containers out of the local creek – real litter which wouldn’t have gone through a reverse vending machine.

By Jacqueline Ong “Great for the environment, great for the community, great for you.” That’s the ACT government’s tagline for its recently launched container deposit scheme (CDS) and its all-inclusiveness is paying off. The scheme was rolled out at the end of June and since then, little – be it positive or negative – has been said about it, which is an indication that the initiative is ticking along nicely. Transport Canberra and City Services revealed in August that less than two months after the scheme’s launch, which occurred in winter when container volumes were typically lower, a little over a million containers had been returned to the nine established collection points. That’s about two containers per Territorian or 20,000 a day. Sixty per cent of transactions came from express points, where less than 500 containers can be returned at a time, while the remaining 40 per cent came from bulk depots. Network operator, Re.Group’s ReturnIt, is at the heart of the scheme. The company’s chief development officer, Garth Lamb, told Inside Waste that from the onset, the aim was to engage social enterprises, which appeared to be working considering the majority of containers are being deposited at the express points. “There’s been really strong community support for our express model, which is operating in 36

conjunction with our charity partners in ACT – Vinnies and Salvos. A lot of containers are moving through that express network and ultimately back to the depots,” Lamb said. “The thinking is very much that we want to enable these social enterprises to play a meaningful role and they are not just someone you can donate your containers to. The social enterprises are the front line of the system and they get paid for every container that goes through their stores, not just the donations. So, it’s a way to create a return income for them and for them to actually have skin in the game, to be participating, not just watching what’s happening.” It certainly is a smart move as the charity network is strong on the community engagement front and has retail stores that are perfect drop-off points. The scheme also benefits these participating charities, providing opportunities to grow their operations. Already, Return-It’s charity partners are reporting increased traffic and sales.

Connecting the dots There are of course operational constraints such as opening hours where the standard retail store times may not necessarily be the perfect fit for a CDS. But the benefits and results to date, far outweigh the issues. For instance, according to Lamb, human interaction should not be overlooked. “In all the places where you’re

INSIDEWASTE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018

dropping off containers, the focus is on having a bit of social connection and interacting with a human being as well as having the technology there to enable it. However, it is not in a remote drop-off site and this eliminates problems such as litter and vandalism,” Lamb said. “[The scheme] is also not based on barcode reading technology, which means we are able to take containers from the litter stream – we’re able to take containers that may be damaged but are still recognisable as an eligible container. “One of my proudest professional moments of my life was the day we opened this scheme, we had a young bloke who came in; he’d fished out containers from the creek at the back of his local park. He counted through those and got back $12.40. He kept $5 for himself and donated the rest to charity,” she said. “I went home that night thinking, that’s everything we’ve wanted to do – we’ve enabled a real litter reduction, a real clean-up of containers that were in the environment, we’ve motivated this kid to go and pull them out – and what a little champion to have done that. There’s that social element where in one day, he’s gone and contributed to the environment, to a social outcome. I’ve had a great career with many proud moments, but I don’t think there’s anything that comes close to this,” she said.

In August last year, Re.Group unveiled the transformed Hume MRF, which is home to the Alchemy Sort System, a multisensory sorter that is able to recover numerous commodities in a single pass. It is at this site that containers will be processed. “The Alchemy system isn’t reliant on the counting technology, so we do manually count a lot of the containers and that’s where we can engage with some of the disability employers. But we’d also receive bulk container deliveries and we wanted a way to efficiently sort those which is where the Alchemy technology, which is the same technology we’re using in all of our MRFs and have for quite a while, comes in,” Lamb said. “This is an optical recognition system that is used to working in an MRF environment and it’s not dependent on barcodes, so, even if there are containers that are a little bit bent out of shape, it’s absolutely able to recognise those as eligible, sort and count them.”

Beyond ACT Re.Group will be growing the number of collection points in ACT over the next 12 months – the expectation is to have a network of 18 points – and will first analyse the community’s decisionmaking choices, before determining where these additional points will be. The company is also keen to play a significant role in both the Queensland and WA schemes. The former will commence on the 1st of November, while the latter will be rolled out in early 2020 – Lamb will be sharing the lessons Re.Group has learnt in the ACT at the Waste & Recycle conference in Perth in September. “We’ve learnt a lot over the last couple of years about what works well in terms of the structural elements and WA has the opportunity to look around at the various schemes – NSW, ACT, SA and at some point, Queensland will be operational. That’s the focus for all the regulators at the moment – how do we get the best elements from the different jurisdictions and what are the really key success factors,” Lamb said. “We all will understand the primary purpose of the CDS and the environmental side, but our view is that, that’s great and we can deliver that, but it’s also about how we can maximise the benefits, including the social benefits and the feedback we’re getting from community is that they’re really appreciating the opportunity to support these charities in a different way.” iw

Daily news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

// Waste to energy

Turning up the heat with EfW By Jan Arreza AUSTRALIAN Paper is currently undergoing a $7.5 million feasibility study for its proposed Energy from Waste (EfW) project, which if approved, would allow the company to burn waste to generate thermal energy for its Maryvale paper mill. The EfW plant at Maryvale would be the first of its kind in Victoria. It would divert approximately 650,000 tonnes of non-hazardous residual waste each year from Victorian landfills. Approximately 80 per cent of the waste used would be sourced directly from residual (household) waste collections from municipal councils. This MSW is a non-recyclable waste stream, which is currently being sent to landfill. The remaining 20 per cent of the waste used would be commercial and industrial waste collected from shops and industries. The target C&I stream is very similar in content to MSW. The feasibility study has been investigating the project’s technical, environmental, commercial and social viability including: • Choice of technology; • Transport, waste supply and storage; • Control of emissions and odour; • Energy output and efficiency; • Benchmarking against similar plants in Europe; • Social impacts of the investment; and • Employment and economic outcomes. According to Craig Dunn, general manager, communications and sustainability at Australian Paper, they are conducting the feasibility study on its proposed EfW facility at Maryvale to help reduce their reliance on imported natural gas and electricity. “We recognise the importance of engaging with our community and have set up an EfW Project Office and Information Centre in Morwell to provide an opportunity for local stakeholders to drop by for updates on our feasibility study and the EfW process. “We have also held community forums and pop up information centres, and developed newsletters, fact sheets, banners and displays to explain EfW concept. “The key output from the feasibility study has been the Works Approval submissions, which contains more than 550 pages of detailed information on a potential EfW facility in Maryvale. “The EPA Works Approval

determination is expected by the end of September 2018, and the next key steps in the study include finalising a business case, ensuring availability of long-term waste supply and investigating financing options.” A number of key themes have emerged during the extensive stakeholder engagement process undertaken as part of Australian Paper’s feasibility study, including: • Air emissions monitoring and control technology to prevent health impacts; • Best practice handling of waste and European Standards; • Waste hierarchy and waste composition; • Management of incoming waste and residual waste generated; and • Greenhouse gas emissions and odour from the site. “These themes have been assessed and addressed in Australian Paper’s EPA Works Approval Application, through responses to written submissions and finally with the 20B community conference,” Dunn said. “There has been strong community support for the proposal as demonstrated by direct feedback and the EPA WAA public feedback phase resulting in 76 per cent of submissions supporting the proposal. “Australian Paper will continue to work closely with the EPA and consult with our community to provide further information on our study as it continues to progress.” Tim Faragher, Victoria director of development assessments at EPA, said that because they are currently in the detailed assessment phase, they aren’t yet at the point of being able to release details on its recommendations, but said they will

be considering all of the submissions. “Our focus is on making sure that any decision we make – either to approve the proposal or to reject it – we’ll ensure that the decision will protect the environment and the health of humans, as well from other potential impacts,” Faragher said. “As you can imagine on an application like this, the first application of its kind in Victoria – there has been quite a lot of interest. “A lot of the topics that there submitted were very wide-ranging, from things around the air emissions and monitoring aspects, to how the incoming waste will be managed, how residual waste will be managed, things around the waste hierarchy, as well as covering best practice and European standards. “In terms of the next steps for this the assessment, we are waiting for the report on the community conference from the chair of that process and we will make that publicly available when that comes in.” Generating EfW is the missing link in Victoria’s waste hierarchy and the proposed Maryvale facility would become a state significant piece of waste management infrastructure. The implementation of the EfW Plant would divert an estimated 650,000 tonnes of MSW and MSWlike commercial and industrial (C&I) waste from landfill. This waste would be sourced from Gippsland and metropolitan Melbourne. The proposed EfW Plant will use proven and reliable design technology from Europe, which has been tested and refined over the last decade to meet stringent EU emissions limits. “I think the EfW sector absolutely has a role above landfill, and it’s a

great opportunity to capture energy resources from non-recyclable and non-compactable products,” said Gayle Sloan, Waste Management Association of Australia (WMAA) CEO. “It’s a great opportunity to bring technology in and create jobs in Australia. We know it is well proven and adopted technology overseas, and it is very safe, but we’ve been behind in embracing it. “It is important that we plan for our waste and resource recovery as part of planning our growth of the community. Resource recovery infrastructure is essential, and it’s important that the entire community is involved. “But it’s definitely not a response to recycling and we should focus on circular economy principles of designing our waste for better reuse and repair before we even get to the point of having to go to the energy or landfill route.” According to Dunn, EfW technology needs to be commercially competitive with landfill options to move waste up the hierarchy. “Ongoing pressure on landfill options in South East Melbourne is expected to create a more favourable environment for EfW technology in the future,” Dunn said. “Future increases in Victorian landfill levies would align with recent upward movements in Queensland, NSW and SA to reduce the volume of waste being sent to landfill. Dunn said that Australian Paper’s project would also deliver economies of scale and utilise existing infrastructure such as rail, road, grid connectivity, and water treatment. According to him, these factors combine to improve the competitiveness of the EfW process in comparison to landfill.” iw

An EfW plant in Germany, which Australian Paper has purchased for use.

Daily news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018 INSIDEWASTE

Opinion //

Transitioning to renewable fuels By Shahana McKenzie ON TAKING on the role of CEO for Bioenergy Australia, I was both shocked and amazed by a number of harsh realities surrounding Australia’s fuel situation. Like many, I had been exposed to the propaganda surrounding the anti-biofuels campaign and wanted to read and consult as much as possible to ensure I understood the situation both domestically and internationally before I threw my energy, passion and enthusiasm behind the industry. Some of the incredible things I learnt in going through this process were: 1. 40 per cent more deaths from transport related fumes than the national road toll; 2. Australia has some of the dirtiest fuel of the OECD Nations; 3. Australia is currently in breach of our IEA fuel security obligations and needs to virtually double it to reach the target; 4. We import more than 60 per cent of our fuel and hold approximately 21 days for land transport and seven days jet fuel; 5. Transport emissions have risen by 22 per cent since 2005; and 6. Australia lags about 15 years

behind in an international context. Now, those stats may not come as a surprise to many of you, but it did for me. You see, I am a mother of three daughters and did not know that the fumes from our cars, trucks, buses, planes, and ships were doing to their young bodies. Will I eat at cafes that sit on busy roads? Will I live on a major street? Will I leave my car running at the school while waiting to pick my children up? No. Will I throw my energy, passion and enthusiasm behind changing Australia’s fuel situation? Yes. What most people don’t seem to understand is the significant role that biofuels can play in solving so many of these significant challenges. For those of you who aren’t aware, biofuels in Australia are produced from waste streams. The ethanol produced in Australia is predominantly produced as a bi-product from sugar or gluten production and the biodiesel is produced from used cooking oil and tallow. While the propaganda might have you believe that we are creating fuel from food stocks, it simply isn’t true, and the advancements in technology are now seeing biofuels produced from a range of other waste streams such as algae, municipal solid waste, sewerage, sawmill waste and

Bioenergy Australia CEO, Shahana McKenzie.

INSIDEWASTE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018

agriculture waste. It isn’t too far away that we could be fuelling our cars from fuel derived from waste that was going to landfill. Biofuels are a real threat to traditional fossil fuels and a great opportunity for Australia. As an example, increasing the use of biofuels by a small 10 per cent in petrol and diesel in Australia can reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by 8.9 million tonnes CO2-e per year with huge subsequent health benefits. A study by QUT identified that the growth of biorefinery industries in Queensland alone could result in an increase to the Gross State Product of more than $1.8 billion per year,

been virtually no will at a federal level to support a clean-up of our fuel. Secondly, in order for biofuels to run through Australia’s fuel network requires the support of the incumbent oil industry, Thirdly, there have been some false starts and well-funded strong anti-biofuels campaigns. If you compare Australia to the USA, UK or Canada, we are seriously behind the mark. They have all seen the benefits, advantages, and opportunities of growing a strong biofuels industry, and have created strong policies and legislation to ensure that biofuels have access to market. For a biofuels industry to create

Politically, there has been virtually no will at a federal level to support a clean-up of our fuel. and the creation of around 6640 jobs, most of which would be in regional communities. In addition, there are some significant international drivers that are escalating an interest in biofuels and renewable fuels being produced in Australia. The International Aviation Industry has set some significant targets such as a 50 per cent reduction in emissions by 2050 and the Maritime Industry is marching forward also. These are two global industries that consume a significant amount of fuel and the race is on to secure the sites and feedstock in countries such as Australia. Australia produces a significant amount of agriculture waste, and also has the land to support alternative crops in non-food growing areas. So, you might be scratching your head and wondering why we aren’t capitalising on this opportunity? We have regional towns struggling and closing, we have oil refineries shutting up shop, we have reports being released on the health impacts of our fuel and we have some serious emissions targets to meet. I think there are a raft of reasons as to why we haven’t taken advantage of the opportunity. Politically, there has

the jobs, investment, and reduce our emissions footprint in Australia, we need the federal government to step in and implement a nationally consistent policy to legislate the inclusion of biofuels through the fuel system. We need the federal government to take Australia’s fuel situation seriously and plan for the future. Bioenergy Australia is calling on both sides of government to implement a clean fuel target in Australia that will see a staged reduction in emissions from our fuel over a 10-year period. It would give security for international investors to establish biofuels sites in Australia and would have an immediate impact on jobs and growth in regional Australia. Electrification may be the shining star for the passenger vehicle market in the eyes of our current politicians, but we would be doing our country a disservice by putting all of our eggs in that basket. The transition to renewable fuels is accelerating at a rapid pace internationally, let’s not be left behind and wondering in 10 years what’s happened!

Shahana McKenzie is the CEO of Bioenergy Australia. Contact: shahana@bioenergyaustralia.org.au iw

Daily news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

// Legal

Voodoo economics or important regulatory tool? A fresh look at financial assurance requirements for the waste industry in NSW What is a financial assurance?

Ross Fox.

By Ross Fox MANY WASTE facilities worry about the financial burden of the requirement to provide a financial assurance to the NSW Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in order to obtain and hold an environment protection licence. To critics, the process in NSW for calculating the dollar amount required to be set aside for a financial assurance appears more voodoo than hard science. In contrast, regulators across Australia consider financial assurances an important tool in high risk cases to ensure the public does not pay the costs of clean-up in the event that the licence holder default. So, how should the balance be struck? What can a licence holder do if he/she considers its financial assurance requirement is unreasonable? The issue is significant, as providing a financial assurance generally requires a facility to set aside, either in cash or via security over property, or a bank guarantee in favour of the EPA. A financial assurance is a liability on the balance sheet and affects the ability of a business to either invest or to borrow. In addition, there are the costs of maintaining the guarantee over the life of the facility. While financial assurance conditions have not been consistently required for heavy industries, they have been consistently applied across all sectors of the waste industry.

A financial assurance is a condition of an environmental protection licence to “secure or guarantee funding for or towards the carrying out of works or programs (such as remediation work or pollution reduction programs) required by or under a licence” (s. 296 of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (POEO Act)). The assurance can be called on by the EPA if the licence holder becomes unable to meet the environmental obligations, for example in a catastrophic incident causing the licence holder to become insolvent. While, to date, the majority of financial assurances are in the form of a bank guarantee, the legislation does not require it. Significantly, a financial assurance may be in the form of a bond or other forms of security that the EPA considers appropriate.

What factors are relevant to calculating a financial assurance? The legislation provides that the EPA cannot impose a financial assurance requirement unless it is satisfied that the condition is justified having regard to: a. the degree of the risk of environmental harm associated with the activities under the licence; b. the remediation work that may be required because of the activities under the licence; or c. the environmental record of the holder, former holder of the licence or proposed holder of the licence. The EPA has discretion to determine the amount of the financial assurance. However, the guidance on the exercise of this discretion is limited. The legislation provides that the amount cannot operate as a mere penalty for contravention of the legislation. It also provides that the amount cannot be more than the total cost of carrying out any works. In practice, various internal formulae have been adopted over time by the EPA but none have been formally published. To improve transparency, the legislation provides for guidelines to

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be published by the EPA in respect of financial assurance conditions. However, while last year the EPA advised that the guidelines are under development, none have been published to date. Unfortunately, there has been little detailed consideration to date by the Land and Environment Court about the application of legislation requirements.

What can be done to review a financial assurance condition? The first step is negotiation with the EPA. If that fails, the holder of licence has a right to have the Land and Environment Court conduct a merits review of the condition imposing a financial assurance. Those who currently hold a licence can trigger a right to review by lodging an application for a variation of the relevant condition of the licence. Essentially, the Court steps in and makes its own fresh decision as to whether to impose the condition, and if so, in what amount and in what terms. To reduce costs and delay, the Court encourages the use of conciliation as a way of resolving disputes without a full hearing. As to the legal costs, each party ordinarily pays its own legal costs irrespective of the result.

Tips for getting the balance right Practically speaking, there are a range of matters that are relevant to the factors which justify a financial assurance condition. In addition, the risk-based licensing principles and methodology in the EPA’s Environmental Management Calculation Protocol (relevant to riskbased licensing) provide some useful considerations. Different sectors may have different levels of risk depending on the materials and processes involved. Licence holders seeking a review of their financial assurance must persuade the EPA, or the Court on the review, that their proposal strikes the right balance between the competing considerations. In practice, these considerations include:

- What is the risk profile of the wastes and processes on the site? Recycling organics may have a lower risk profile than managing asbestos waste. - What works or programs are currently required by the licence, if any? What has now been completed? - What is the compliance history at the site and what policies and procedures are in place? A good history and suite of policies should be considered favourably. - What insurance policies do you hold that could be called on? Do these lower the risk of insolvency in the event of an incident? - What is your current on-site capacity and is this reflected in the amount of material you are authorised to receive/process/stockpile? Can the amount be reduced to reduce your exposure? - Savvy operators may wish to investigate alternative instruments that can provide security for funding with a lower ongoing maintenance cost and impact on the balance sheet. By way of example, the US EPA allows letters of credit, bonds and insurance policies and other instruments as ways of meeting financial assurance requirements. Building a comprehensive case, and entering into negotiations may require the assistance of technical and legal experts. Industry associations may also assist to identify matters particular to the industry and to ensure accurate information. It is important to back up your position if it is to be persuasive. Ultimately, for the industry to grow efficiently to meet the demands of a circular economy, the challenge is to strike the right balance between the degree of environmental risk and the financial impact of the assurance.

Ross Fox is a Principal at Fishburn Watson O’Brien with previous experience at the EPA conducting major prosecutions and advising its senior executives and chair on regulatory matters. Ross now specialises in advising the waste industry on approvals, licensing matters and regulatory issues. Contact: rfox@fwolaw.com iw

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018 INSIDEWASTE

Plastic recycling //

Seizing recycling opportunities By Jan Arreza WITH China out of the picture, there has been a lot of discussion lately around reprocessing post-consumer waste into new products, but there is much less talk around higher order product-toproduct recycling. In Europe however, post-consumer recycling has been highly successful for years. Eric Paulsen, CEMAC Technologies director, caught up with Inside Waste to speak on the challenges and opportunities for Australia in this space. He also highlights the work of European company Cedo Recycling, who are recycling plastic film from post-consumer households back into new plastics. “When one looks at the business case, with regards to processing any types of plastics locally, the return on investment takes very long because the alternative of shipping it to China and the revenue that we got off that was too attractive,” Paulsen said. “We also don’t have the necessary

infrastructure for the collection and processing of these materials, such as with post-industrials, which has its own mechanisms in place through commercial recyclers who collect and process the materials. “In Europe, they have product stewardship and collection systems in place for these post-industrial and post-consumer material streams, which make it readily available for recyclers to access, while also costing less because they don’t have any collection costs.” The recycling of DSD 310 plastic has always been a challenge for recyclers. Nevertheless, when Cedo was acquired by Straco in 2014, the new shareholders made a conscious decision to invest in recycling this very type of post-consumer household waste. Today, Cedo transforms this waste stream into clean, quality recycled pellets on a day-to-day basis with the use of an INTAREMA TVEplus machine, which comes with an efficient double filtration and high-performance

INSIDEWASTE OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018

homogenisation package. The machine achieves throughput of around 1050kg of quality recycled pellets per hour, and the plastic recyclates that are produced are shipped to Cedo Great Britain to make secondary film products such as bin bags. “They are doing this with the trickier type of plastic materials, but, you can still process those post-consumer film plastics and turn them back into good secondary products,” Paulsen said. “It goes straight to the core of the circular economy, in which products aren’t only used once, but multiple times. Europe for is already heading towards stipulating a requirement for products made to have a high-level of recycled content in it, which reduces the amount of waste going to landfill at end of life. “Product-to-product recycling is where you directly recycle a product back as the same product at a high-level. For example, PET can be turned back into itself pretty much infinitely. Glass is a

similar product and you can turn it back into itself pretty much infinitely without any loss of value. “There is obviously a higher value in product-to-product recycling because we are turning waste back into virgintype replacement materials. We get a high benefit by doing this for the community and the environment, for the companies doing it and for the consumers buying it.” So how can we make product-toproduct recycling more prevalent in this country? Paulsen suggest several key things that Australia should be doing in this space to catch up with our neighbours in Europe. “We’ve got industry that’s looking at it from purely a return on investment scenario, and industry needs security to invest,” Paulsen said. “They need to have a framework in place that ensures that they will be able to get a supply of the materials for the long-term and that they are able to process it reliably. iw

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// Equipment case study

Upping the scrap metal game By Jan Arreza With a philosophy of maintaining the highest level of scrap metal collection and recycling, Sydney-based Metal Merchants has turned to Fuchs for the latest in material handler technology to ensure the company further improves its production output and reliability. Metal Merchants is a family-owned scrap metal business that processes ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metal to foundries and mills across the country, and also exports to the Southeast Asian and European markets. Metal Merchants relies on the new Fuchs MHL350F material handler for its operations to better support and maintain its export demand. It is ideal for the company because it has a large number of applications that can be applied across different industries. According to Sam Pabani, managing director of Metal Merchants, it chose the Fuchs MHL350F material handler because of its robustness, ergonomics and user-friendliness. “Being in the scrap metal game,

you are breaking and moving metal 10-hours a day, day in and day out, 365 days a year. So, we have to make sure that our machines are structurally and mechanically sound, and ensuring that it is moving with the latest advancements in technology,” Pabani said. “We decided to go with this particular machine because we already have an existing Fuchs model in our fleet, which has been running great for us. We decided that we were going to continue working with the brand that we trust and have had a great experience with.” Fuchs material handlers are distributed in Australia by Onetrak, and the company’s regional manager for Queensland and NSW David Stuart said that from a product point of view, there were some key features of the material handler that influenced Metal Merchants’ decision. With up-to-date engine technology and intelligent hydraulics, Stuart describes the MHL350 as one of the fastest and most sensitive material

handlers in scrap handling. It has an operating weight of up to 37.8 tonnes, a reach of 16m, an undercarriage width of 3m, and a 160kW turbo diesel engine and hydraulics, which operates a dual-circuit system that ensure heavy loads are handled with precision and speed. Operator comfort and safety has also been taken into consideration for the cabin design. The controls are ergonomically designed and arranged, and the cabin itself also benefits from an adjustable height setting. The MHL 350F also has a display screen that features a multi-functional, full colour display panel where operators have a clear overview of important data at all times. Stuart said that staying ahead of the game is a high priority for Metal Merchants following China’s decision to ban the import of waste into the country. “The scrap market is an ever changing place and we’ve got the issues happening in China with the new waste bans. This means that there

WASTE HANDLING & RECYCLING SOLUTIONS.

are new markets that are emerging in this space. “We need to be on top of our game to make sure that we understand what these emerging markets are and build up these relationships within these new markets,” Pabani said iw The new Fuchs MHL350F material handler is helping Metal Merchants stay on top of their game in the scrap metal space.

1300 278 322 • astecaustralia.com.au

CONCRETE RECYCLING. ASPHALT RECYCLING. GLASS RECYCLING BULK MATERIAL HANDLING. ATTACHMENTS. Daily news updates at www.insidewaste.com.au

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2018 INSIDEWASTE

Circular economy //

A harmonious chorus By Jacqueline Ong WHAT A difference a year makes. In June last year, Brooke Donnelly was named interim CEO of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) and at the time, she told Inside Waste a complex and massive organisational shift would occur over the next 12 months. One year on, and not only has APCO evolved – and this is reflected in their 2018 awards (more below), Donnelly is also firmly in the CEO seat. “It was an incredibly challenging and complex piece of work to transition an organisation from strategically talking about the circular economy... transitioning that in an operational sense and determining what’s my job and what’s your job in this. We developed a change management process around that for the last year and we had the entire team involved in the development of that approach, right down to our mission and values, and strategic plan,” Donnelly said. “We also brought in our close partners such as Planet Ark and the Institute of Sustainable Futures and what we’ve got is a collective approach that has a lot of clever minds working to provide the best outcomes that we can. We have this great group of people who have created an independent organisation that supports government and industry in an ongoing way. It’s been incredible to watch.”

APCO CEO, Brooke Donnelly.

now in the final stage of getting the feedback and collating the survey which will come through at the end of August. At that point, we’ll take all that information and start to work out a strategic approach and plan that we will review with government and industry on how we can help and support them to deliver on the 2025 target,” Donnelly said. APCO has also been conducting brand audits and talking to organisations about their sustainable packaging obligations. As a result, 200 new members have become signatories to

Tightening up the awards Turning to APCO’s annual awards, Donnelly noted that this has also evolved, moving to a new sustainable reporting framework in 2018 where members have to report against a 13-part criteria. A few awards have also been realigned to reflect the transition, including the Member of the Year, which has been renamed the Sustainable Packaging Excellence Award. “The reason there was a new

framework put in place was to reflect the transition that the covenant has made to deliver sustainable packaging to a circular economic approach and dimension. Part of this is measuring and monitoring industry performance to encapsulate that. So, what we then had to do was develop a whole new way of looking at that and measuring it,” Donnelly said. “This means industry really had to step up to show great leadership in this space as they were required to be much more quantitative and prescriptive in the way that we monitor and measure that performance. [The new framework] is also supported by five levels of development – the first level is getting started and then it goes right up to level five, which is best practice. It’s a very structured approach to help organisations, no matter what level you’re at. “Ultimately, it’s about constantly progressing and seeking to do better. It’s a continual improvement type of model. All the work that the packaging covenant does is based around supporting industry and government to achieve those outcomes within that context, so the awards now are also part of that transition in terms of recognising all the organisations that are making that shift along the circular economy journey.” The awards were held on August 29. iw

The best of APCO

An ambitious target With that transition successfully completed, APCO is well placed to drive the circular economy agenda, both with its members and more broadly across various industries. And it is a task that APCO needs to undertake as Australia’s Environment Ministers endorsed a target in April of 100 per cent of Australian packaging being recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2025 or earlier and tasked APCO to deliver that target. The work has commenced with APCO distributing its “Towards 2025 - Discussion Paper” to members and the organisation’s key stakeholders for consultation in early July. APCO focused on three areas it believes collective effort can have the greatest impact design (of packaging), education, and end markets. “We’ve just gotten through a consultation period from July to August 31 and we’ve also had a survey, face-to-face consultations, and Q&A sessions across Australia. We’re

the packaging covenant – and this is just after six weeks of audits. While the 2025 target will go a long way in driving the circular economy, it is not solely the responsibility of APCO and its members. “A collaborative approach in creating a shared value model is absolutely essential to the work that we do. If you look at some the challenges we have around transitioning to a circular economic approach here in Australia, the ones who are doing well are the ones who are playing well together,” Donnelly said. “We’ve all got a role to play and it’s not the sole responsibility of any one stakeholder group. I tend to think of it as there’s no star out the front, it’s a chorus and it’s trying to make sure we all understand our role within that chorus.”