WASTE MANAGEMENT IN ACTION – RECYCLING
Green eyes APPLIED MACHINERY’S CHRISTIAN MCLEAN SEES THE RECYCLING INDUSTRY’S CHALLENGES AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO GROW THE SECONDARY REPROCESSING MARKET.
I
ndustry reactions to China’s National Sword policy have been mixed, with some concerns about the economic viability of the international recycling trade. Others, such as Christian McLean, Applied Machinery’s new Recycling Division Consulting General Manager, see China’s policy as an opportunity. Christian believes the industry can capitalise on these new requirements by investing in equipment capable of generating cleaner value-added materials, building up the secondary reprocessing market in the process. When China began imposing restrictions on the importation of recycled materials and only accepting goods with a contamination rate of 0.5 per cent or less, Australian recyclers were forced to reassess their processing capabilities. Christian’s more than 17 years’ experience in the environmental, and waste and recycling sectors has seen him develop a passion for sustained operational cost improvements that provide positive environmental outcomes. This inspired Christian to view the China situation through “green eyes”, seeing the policy as a chance to create a circular economy in Australia. “China has decided to protect its environment and improve its living standards, which is fantastic and creates a great opportunity for Australia to start developing new systems and waste processing infrastructure,” Christian says. Christian started his own atypical waste management business earlier
32 / WMR / April 2019
Christian McLean is helping Applied Machinery to enhance its capabilities in plastic processing.
this year called WastePro, which also has a consultancy arm. From there, he formed a collaborative partnership with Applied Machinery, a leading Australian supplier of equipment for the recycling, sheet metal, engineering and plastics industries. Applied Machinery then brought him on to support unprecedented demand in NSW and Queensland for its recycling solutions. Christian will help with general management, process design and project implementation within Applied Machinery’s recycling division due to his extensive knowledge in plastic processing, recycling and manufacturing. He plans to use his expertise to guide customers in making informed decisions, not only with their machinery purchases but also assisting them to plan for production agility and lean design thinking to maximise future productivity. “We want to provide affordable, high-value equipment solutions to our customers which enable them to capitalise on current and future market growth, while also being mindful of their responsibilities and regulatory obligations as waste processors,”
Christian says. Together, WastePro and Applied Machinery hope to support the secondary Australian reprocessing market to achieve the rapid improvements needed to re-enable the international trade of recyclable resources and value-added products. “We don’t want people buying gold-plated equipment that is poorly utilised, we want it to be fit for purpose and value for money. Recycling is not a simple process. The more detailed thought you can put into it up front before committing capital, the better, but now is definitely the time to commit,” Christian says. “The support we offer after installation and commissioning and the network connections we provide for supply and offtake of material means we add a lot of value to the customer. We’re not just selling them equipment and saying goodbye.” Christian hopes his work with Applied Machinery will lead to a wide scale implementation of affordable, high-value equipment across a broad cross-section of the sector. “The tyranny of distance, reliability of available tonnes and the variable
