WASTE MANAGEMENT IN ACTION – ORGANICS
Paddles and packaging WASTECH ENGINEERING’S JEFF GOODWIN EXPLAINS HOW THE ATRITOR TURBO SEPARATOR CAN HELP BUSINESSES ACHIEVE A FOOD WASTE RECOVERY RATE OF 99 PER CENT.
Wastech has been working with UK manufacturer ATRITOR to add food de-packaging to its product roster.
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rowing populations and an associated increase in food consumption is accelerating the organic waste problem in Australia and around the world. As reported by Waste Management Review in June, many Australian businesses are hesitant to engage in the source separation of food waste. This is due to a limited number of recycling facilities able to process the recovered organics, together with concerns around the ability to recycle packaging. With the National Packaging Targets are squarely on the waste industry’s agenda, the ability to effectively separate recyclable packaging from its contents is therefore equally important. Jeff Goodwin, Wastech Engineering’s National Product Manager Projects,
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says growing issues around food waste generation, paired with rising landfill restrictions and capacity levels, was the driving factor behind a recent addition to Wastech’s product portfolio. “Working with UK manufacturer ATRITOR, Wastech has added a range of turbo separators for food de-packaging to our product roster,” Jeff says. “As the exclusive Australian representative for ATRITOR, Wastech can provide customers with a solution offering a typical food waste recovery rate of 99 per cent for both dry and liquid products.” Jeff says the high recovery rate makes the Turbo Separator ideally suited for use in product destruction units. The Turbo Separator range comprises four models designed and engineered
to efficiently remove a wide range of products from their packaging. “Wastech’s distribution range includes the TS1260, TS2096, TS3096 and TS42120 models, with a material dependant separation rate ranging from 600 kilograms an hour to 20,000 kilograms an hour,” Jeff says. According to Jeff, the equipment ideal for separating out-of-date, out-ofspecification or mislabelled products. “Historically, expired and mislabelled food products were consigned to landfill due to the difficulty of extracting organics from packaging,” Jeff says. “With the ATRITOR Turbo Separator we can begin shifting that practice.” Jeff says the Turbo Separator is sufficiently flexible and can depackage a range of products and packaging materials including supermarket waste, tin cans, polymer bottles and soft packaging. “Additionally, the Turbo Separator is equally at home separating gypsum from the backing paper in plasterboard,” Jeff says. “The recovered gypsum can be used in agriculture or re-used in plasterboard manufacturing, while the recovered paper can be further recycled.” Jeff says the Turbo Separator also works for blister packs, sachets, pouches, paper bags, aluminium cans, plastic bottles, plastic drums and TetraPak.
