FEATURED TOPIC – INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
Minute material recovery WASTE MANAGEMENT REVIEW SPEAKS WITH TREVOR SMART, TURMEC UK MANAGING DIRECTOR, ABOUT THE RECOVERY POTENTIAL OF MINIATURE MATERIAL RECOVERY FACILITIES.
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hen the Federal Government launched an inquiry into Australia’s waste management and recycling industries in October, Committee Chair Barnaby Joyce said the committee would examine international best practice. The inquiry will consider opportunities to better manage domestic waste, as well as current impediments to innovation. It’s a welcome move for Trevor Smart, Turmec UK Managing Director, who says the Australian waste industry could learn a lot from the UK’s approach to resource recovery – notably the uptake of mini material recovery facilities (MRF). He says that a series of events on his recent trip to Australia has him thinking about Turmec sees potential for widescale implementation of mini MRFs across Australia.
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potential solutions to the country’s current recycling challenges. Flying from the UK to attend Waste Expo Australia in 2019, Trevor arrived in Melbourne at a time of industry flux. The Council of Australian Government’s waste export ban had just been announced, Victorian councils were dealing with the collapse of SKM Recycling and container deposit scheme discussions were challenging the efficacy of kerbside collection. Of most interest to Trevor, however, was how the amalgamation of these issues highlighted an opportunity to reshape Australia’s resource recovery and logistics network. “In Melbourne I met a councillor from a small rural community in Victoria. He explained that the
demise of SKM had placed a lot of local authorities under financial and operational pressure,” Trevor says. “In addition to the loss of this facility, the fact that the council’s recyclates had to travel over 400 kilometres to an MRF meant there were few alternatives.” This lack of infrastructure capacity, parried with low recyclate tonnages, creates a challenging situation for smaller councils, Trevor says. Following SKM’s collapse, many rural councils were forced to transport materials further afield, or in some cases, simply revert to landfill. Trevor adds that the collapse of SKM is a story that’s played out globally numerous times, meaning international approaches can serve as a case study. Over the course of Waste Expo Australia, Trevor says he had multiple conversations about the applicability of greater kerbside separation in Australia. He adds that the idea was routinely challenged, with many suggesting the economic cost would outweigh recovery benefits. “We saw the same reaction in the UK when kerbside sorting was introduced. But from our experience, kerbside sorting was a successful move that greatly improved recycling rates and recyclate quality,” he says. While Trevor admits kerbside separation can be challenging in high-
