SCRAP & DEMOLITION AUSTRALASIA
AUTUMN 2015
INNOVATIONS, TRENDS AND NEW DEVELOPMENTS INFLUENCING AND CHALLENGING OUR INDUSTRIES IN 2015
HAND BUILT. TOUGH Efficient, fast and safe, the Alert 20ft container tilter can be loaded and unloaded by fork hoist, features hydraulic door opening and closing and an integral safety ladder and platform. It’s also operational via remote control. Best of all it is constructed using quality materials to Alert Engineering’s exacting standards.
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EDITORIAL & CONTENTS
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Technically speaking Knock it down. Slice it up. It’s all pretty straightforward, right? Well no, not really; far from it. In fact I don’t think it’s drawing a long bow to suggest that the finer detailed points of demolition and scrap metal recycling work are actually more like surgery than anything else I know. Outside of an operating theatre (and the workshop of someone who can successfully revive the engine in a decaying Mk 1 Cortina perhaps) you’d be hard pressed to find a better equivalent. The degree of precision required is intense. The cost of doing it right and the price of doing it wrong can both be incredibly high. You can make a lot of money or you can see your reputation ruined. You’re beholden to lawmakers and legislators... and there are probably a few of us who enjoy golf as well. But in the cauldron of day-to-day work, the demolition project manager and the metals recycling operator are both forced to rely upon the same two attributes that the surgeon does: skill and technology. Now we can’t really impart any advice on skill; let’s face it, we seek out the stories about skill and broadcast them for all to see, nodding sagely from the sidelines. But this month we’ve collected together some recent technological highlights that have the potential to influence our industries. We take a look at fixed and mobile plant, as well as new attachments and innovations which just might change the way you operate your business – if not now, in years to come. We also take Kiwi readers through the forthcoming Health and Safety at Work Act. What’s different? What are employers’ chief responsibilities? Turn to p24 for more. Enjoy the issue. The doctor is in.
PUBLISHER
Cameron Officer Limited 19 Konini Road Titirangi, Auckland 0604 phone: + 64 (0) 21 1606 175 EDITOR
Cameron Officer phone: +64 (0) 21 1606 175 cameronofficer@gmail.com ADVERTISING SALES
Amanda Gilroy phone: +64 (0) 22 435 5421 amanda.gilroy1@gmail.com SUBSCRIPTIONS
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News Briefs
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New Zealand’s Health and Safety at Work Act
cameronofficer@gmail.com phone: +64 (0) 21 1606 175
Goings on from Australia, New Zealand and around the world
PRODUCTION
On the Market
Design: Richard Walker
Our new metals market columnist Jeff Harris joins the team
Printing: Client Focused Solutions Ltd +64 (0) 27 255 1818
Technology Special: Container Tilters How one company has perfected the humble container tilter over many years into a work of engineered precision
Technology Special: Electric Materials Handlers What advantages do electric drive materials handlers have over their diesel powered brethren? We asked Liebherr for a manufacturer’s take
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Contributions are welcomed. Please contact the editor before sending them in. Articles in Scrap & Demolition are copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or in part
Technology Special: Radiation Detection
without permission of the publisher.
Detection systems are an operator’s best line of defence against unintentionally receiving or sending radioactive metal
Opinions in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publisher.
Technology Special: Metals Sorting Big advances in sorting and grading technology are just around the corner. How might they affect you?
Hammerhead Crane demolition A unique demolition in Sydney Harbour had Liberty Industrial demonstrating their head for heights
SCRAP & DEMOLITION AUSTRALASIA
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Christchurch Police Station demolition The demolition work at 48 Hereford Street in Christchurch is being documented like no such project ever has been before
Senior Associate at Hesketh Henry, Alison Maelzer provides an expert overview of what changes are afoot
Sc
Caterpillar E series hammers We check out this feature-rich new range of hard-wearing hammers from Cat
Bespoke Build Adelaide’s McMahon Services have built two bespoke machines, both utilising superior capacity Genesis XP shears. We check them out.
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INNOVATIONS, TRENDS AND NEW DEVELOPMENTS INFLUENCING AND CHALLENGING OUR INDUSTRIES IN 2015
Scrap & Demolition magazine is the official magazine of AMRIA, the Australian Metal Recycling Industry Association. ISSN 2253-5063
ON THE COVER: We throw the spotlight on technology.
Recycling Road Cones & Advertisers Index AUTUMN 2015
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NEWS BRIEFS
OneSteel push to increase steel recycling with proposed processing plant
Energizer launches battery made from recycled... batteries US company Energizer Household Products – home of the famously hyperactive CGI battery and drum-pounding pink bunny before that – has announced the world’s first AA battery made with four percent recycled batteries. The new product – called Energizer EcoAdvanced – represents what it calls “a first step towards creating value for recycled battery material, which until today has had little or no economic value.” A press release from the company says the new Energizer EcoAdvanced is its highest-performing alkaline battery and successfully disproves the long-held industry opinion that “it was impossible to create a battery made with recycled batteries while maintaining performance.” Energizer’s chief marketing officer Michelle Atkinson says, “Our scientists welcome a challenge and have spent the past seven years creating just that.” The Energizer Household Products research team created proprietary partnerships and an innovative approach to refine and transform recycled battery material into “a high-performance active ingredient” which they say results in a long-lasting battery when used in combination with energy rings. “Our future innovations will continue to reduce the impact Energizer batteries have on the planet,” Atkinson said. “By 2025, our vision for Energizer EcoAdvanced is to increase the amount of recycled battery material tenfold to 40 percent.”
OneSteel is pushing to extend its existing steel recycling facilities at Hexham, near Newcastle on the New South Wales coast, by building a brand new facility next door Plans have been lodged for a multi-million dollar metal waste processing plant, primarily to deal with what the company estimates is around 60,000 tonnes of shredder flock; the resultant waste generated from its core steel recycling operation OneSteel says the current plant has recycled more than two million tonnes of steel and 100,000 tonnes of other metals since 2005. But currently waste generated from the facility – from the recycling of cars and white goods, for example – ends up offsite in a New South Wales landfill. OneSteel believes its proposed shredder flock and plasticto-oil recycling facility will reduce the amount of landfill-bound waste by 30 percent. US company Agilyx – which has the financial backing of Sir Richard Branson among others – has come up with a method of converting previously non-recyclable and low-value waste plastics into crude oil. OneSteel is hoping to harness this new technology in its proposed plant. Under the process, plastic would be separated out from the remainder of the shredder flock and then be fed into an Agilyx ‘Pyrolysis’ plant for conversion into fuel oil. Pyrolysis involves heating organic material to high temperatures without oxygen; the same process that turns waste timber into usable charcoal. The ultimate goal for OneSteel’s twin Hexham plants, the company says, would be to eventually eradicate landfill disposal completely and identify comprehensive markets for all waste streams from the facilities.
Source: ABC News
European e-scrap sector facing tough times General Secretary of the European Electronics Recyclers Association (EERA), Norbert Zonneveld, has told media that the e-scrap recycling sector in Europe is facing tough times at present, with two association member companies forced into bankruptcy in 2014 and others “struggling to survive”. Zonneveld painted a grim picture of the current climate in Europe, with by his association’s estimate only one third of e-scrap generated on the continent being properly recycled. The remaining two-thirds, he asserts, is currently being handled by bigger automotive shredder plants or via unofficial ‘grey circuit’ processing. “If we can get our hands on this two-thirds, which guesstimates believe to be around six million tonnes of material, there would not be an oversupply of e-scrap recyclers anymore,” he told reporters. The EERA general secretary suggested that it is mainly small and medium-sized businesses that are struggling, as opposed to the larger European waste management companies, or e-scrap divisions affiliated with metals recycling entities. But, Zonneveld argues, with current feedstock volumes being what they are, overcapacity is still the biggest issue for operators. Source: Recycling International
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Ocean Wide Group is the only Australian supplier that offers a full range of handling, processing and packaging solutions for the scrap metal industry. Together with our supply partners we provide second to none industry knowledge, operational experience, International & local shipping capabilities, turnkey installations and operator training throughout Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific.
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DISTRIBUTING & SUPPORTING
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NEWS BRIEFS
Scrap metal scavengers apprehended at warship wreck sites A warship from the Malaysian navy has impounded a suspected Vietnamese ship that was plundering the wrecks of British warships HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales. The two warships were sunk by Japanese aircraft in December 1941 and are the protected last resting places of more than 830 men of the Royal Navy. Damage caused by scrap metal scavengers to the two vessels was discovered last year. It is thought divers from the Vietnamese registered ship removed massive bronze propellers from HMS Repulse between September 2012 and May 2013. Now scavengers have started taking other ferrous metals, including brass and copper, but also large blocks of steel from the hull,
as well as high-grade aluminium. Informed of the violation of a war grave with home-made explosives, Rossid bin Musa, director of the Marine Department of Malaysia, said in October that he would order a
a diving boat and its 17 Vietnamese crew, including some who were still diving at the sea bed, believed to be looting a warship that was sunk during the Second World War," it said.
work quiet.” "When we used to arrive at the site during the diving season, from May to October, they would see us coming, saw through their buoy lines and get away in any direction
survey of the wreck sites. That intervention appears to have paid off, with the Malaysian warship KD Perkasa responding in late-February to information provided by the Pahang Fishermen's Association. "The foreign fishermen who were diving illegally in the waters about 60 nautical miles from Tanjung Gelang were apprehended at 6.45am," The Royal Malaysian Navy said in a statement. "KD Perkasa detained a fishing boat which had been modified into
Of the crew, only the captain had identification papers. Jeremy Whitaker from diving consultants TechThailand, who has made video recordings of the damage being caused to the two ships, told media, "It is very positive that they have caught people in the act of damaging the ships and detained them.” "It's interesting that they were in the water that early in the morning as it would have been dark and clearly not safe," he said. "They obviously want to try to keep their
they could go." Descending on the wrecks subsequently, divers would find dynamite stuffed in coffee cans attached to the hull and primed to detonate. "We once dived on the Prince of Wales and tied our lines to the prop shaft," Mr Whitaker said. "We went back two weeks later and it was gone. It was lying in the sand with ropes attached and waiting to be lifted."
foundation removals were still to be undertaken in the central city at the start of the year. To date, there have been over 1000 Cera and Civil Defencemanaged full and partial
demolitions in the Christchurch CBD on commercial and residential buildings.
Source: The Telegraph
Completion target for Christchurch red zone demolitions extended With 85 percent, or 6050 flat-land residential dwellings in Christchurch demolished by Christmas 2014, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) has extended the deadline to bring down the remaining 15 percent, or around 1000 properties, until June this year. Cera’s original target was to have all flat-land residential dwellings demolished at the end of last year. But the organisation’s acting deputy chief executive of implementation, Baden Ewart, recently told reporters demolitions would now need to continue in the red zone until
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June 30. Cera would also be doing landclearance, including the removal of any other built structures and vegetation on the site work, in areas where properties had already been demolished. This work will not be completed until April 2016, Ewart said. Meanwhile in the central city, the largest demolition projects still to be undertaken by Cera are the Manchester Street car park, which will happen in mid-2015, and Calendar Girls on Hereford St, which will be demolished in late 2015. In all, 22 key demolitions and seven
Source: The Press
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AUTUMN 2015
The Group
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NEWS BRIEFS
CHINA TO INCREASE SCRAPPING OF HIGHLY-POLLUTING CARS In order to combat severe levels of air pollution in its largest urban areas, China’s provincial governments have declared war on highly polluting cars and trucks, with domestic vehicle recycling rates set to increase as a result. Under an identification scheme introduced in 2012, vehicles deemed to be highly polluting earn a yellow tag. In the intervening three years around 13 percent of the nation’s 224 million vehicles have been tagged ‘yellow’. The China National Resources Recycling Association (CRRA) has estimated that approximately six million ‘yellow’ vehicles were scrapped during 2014; 160,000 removed from the teeming streets of Shanghai alone. In tandem with its rapidly increasing industrialisation, China’s air pollution has become notorious globally and a national crisis. The CRRA says that of 74 cities monitored for airborne pollutants last year only three returned acceptable levels of air quality. A national goal of removing all
‘yellow’ vehicles from roads by 2017 has been set, but the CRRA reports that some provinces – especially where heavy industry is a prevalent component of the economy – are struggling to achieve their part of the national target. The CRRA reports that most
India’s scrap metal recyclers urge government to abolish import tax The main message to government from India’s scrap metal recyclers is an urgent need to remove what is seen as a crippling import tax on steel scrap. The call to abolish the duty came during the Metal Recycling Association of India (MRAI) 2015 international conference in Mumbai.
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Under current regulations – and despite free trade agreements being in place between India and several countries – semi-finished products can be imported duty free into the country, but there exists a five percent import duty on steel scrap. India is the only country in the
provinces have their own local policies to encourage standard 'yellow' cars to be scrapped. In some cities, high-emission vehicles must display yellow stickers on their windshields while cleaner cars are marked with green ones. In other urban centres yellow-
labelled cars and trucks are banned from the city's main areas from 6.00am until midnight. In Hengshui, one of China's most polluted cities, diesel-powered vehicles that are more than nine years old are banned from its centre. Source: Recycling International
world to have such an import tax and, as a consequence, recyclers are struggling with profitability, says MRAI president Ikbal Nathani of the Nathani Group of Companies. And according to a Frost & Sullivan report, Indian steelmakers are losing substantial export business to competitors such as China and Taiwan as a result of the import duty. Government intervention to remove the duty will reduce the cost of secondary steel production, recyclers say. India's annual scrap consumption is 20.4 million tonnes while its imports amount to 6.5 million tonnes per year, making it the world’s third-largest importer of scrap. India's metal recycling industry has the potential to grow 11.4 percent per year until 2020 but only once the import duty has been removed, MRAI claims.
The call to solve the problem of import duty for metal recyclers comes as e-scrap also hits headlines in India. Data released by research firm TechNavio suggests growth in India’s e-scrap market is set to continue, with a 26.22 percent compound annual growth rate anticipated. But the lack of effective infrastructure to adequately deal with electronic waste will hinder the country’s ability to grow the sector any further, TechNavio warns. India has been identified as a “key e-waste exporting and dumping nation” and the rapid growth in technology together with more affordable hardware means there is a need to plan ahead for what the report calls the “forthcoming threat” of increased hazards linked to handling growing volumes of e-scrap. Source: Recycling International
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AUTUMN 2015
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NEWS BRIEFS
Sims Metals plan to quadruple earnings remains on track Sydney’s monorail carriages saved from the scrap yard A public appeal has led to 21 of Sydney’s old monorail carriages being saved from the crusher, with nearly half of that number potentially destined for a Taiwanese amusement park. Workshop owner Harry Tsoukalas brought the potential fate of the carriages – part of the 3.6km-long straddle loop system that hung above the streets of downtown Sydney for 25 years – to public awareness late last year, suggesting that selling the iconic conveyances for scrap metal would be a national shame. What’s more, Tsoukalas argued, the monorail had somewhat ironically received a $5m upgrade shortly before it was decommissioned in 2013, meaning that with almost brand new computer systems and air conditioning onboard, the carriages could prove a worthwhile – and working – investment for the right buyer. Tsoukalas, who had been contracted by the New South Wales government to sell or dispose of the carriages, got his wish in February when Sydney-born Taiwanese businessman Hung-Tien (Charlie) Chi came to the rescue of eight carriages, paying $59,000 for them. Mr Chi told Fairfax Media his intention is to clean the carriages up and rectify any superficial damage, before deciding their ultimate destination. “Using the carriages in an amusement park is one of the options I am considering, but there are several other options. I’m also talking to some local governments,” Mr Chi told reporters. “My plan is to contact the engineers who worked on the original monorails and see if I can get the carriages running again.” Mr Chi said that when he saw the monorail was going to be sold as scrap metal he “just felt sorry for it” and added that, if he couldn’t find buyers for any of the carriages in his possession he would probably simply keep them for himself. In addition to the carriages potentially destined for a theme park, other sets have been shipped to the Australian National Transport Museum at Inverell and Sydney’s Electric Train Society for static preservation, while Google’s Australian headquarters in the Sydney suburb of Pyrmont has converted another set of carriages into a meeting room with a difference. Meanwhile “self-confessed monorail nut” Helen O’Boyle has bought four carriages, while a handful of other Sydneysiders have snapped up single carriages, destined to be used for – among other things – garden sheds and coffee carts.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
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Sims Metal Management says it remains on track to achieve its five year plan to more than quadruple earnings, after overcoming falling commodity prices and metal volumes to lift underlying profit to $64.4 million in the six months to December 31. Profit for the same period the previous year was $42.1 million, while overall Sims was on track to lift full year earnings from $67 million in 2012/13 to $321 million in 2017/18. Sims Metal Management chief executive Galdino Claro told media the five year turnaround strategy implemented in 2013 still had a way to go, but had so far proved promising given falling scrap metal prices and a 10 per cent-plus drop in sales volumes. "Market and industry conditions remain difficult," Mr Claro said. "A steep drop in iron ore prices has challenged the competitiveness of our EAF (electric arc furnace) steel mill customers.” Sims achieved a jump in earnings in North America, from $10 million to $33 million, due to better margins and an improving economy, as car and appliance sales rose. Source: AAP
Robots learn to disassemble LCD screens for recycling Researchers at Australia’s University of New South Wales (UNSW) have successfully ‘taught’ a robot how to disassemble liquid crystal display (LCD) screens for recycling. The research team, led by Professor Sami Kara, programmed industrial robots to learn and memorise how screens are designed and then remove the display and printed circuit board without damaging them. What’s more, the UNSW researchers have also successfully programmed the industrial robots to apply the disassembly knowledge they already possess to unfamiliar models, resulting in a consistent work speed and limiting the amount of errors made. Professor Kara says that automating LCD disassembly could take human workers out of that component of the recycling process, limiting exposure to potentially toxic materials used in electronics manufacture. Additional robots could be incorporated into the set-up to handle e-scrap as it is loaded to or unloaded from a robot performing disassembly. The UNSW team believes the approach could also be adapted for recycling other products such as lithium batteries. With lab testing complete, the technology is now ready for industrial trials.
www.unsw.edu.au
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OPINION: METALS MARKETS
ON THE MARKET If we thought last year dished up tumultuous times in the metal market, then January 2015 showed us that 2014 might well have only been a warm up, says Scrap & Demolition Australasia’s new metals market columnist Jeff Harris. In particular during January, copper and steel scrap prices have plummeted.
Non Ferrous In December 2014 the LME copper price was sitting at around USD 6,400/tonne and then postChristmas in January it took a significant dive, falling to a low of USD 5,390.50/tonne on January 29th. Copper prices haven’t been this low since the depths of the GFC in 2009. Investors panicked and sold off copper after the World Bank
At a scrap purchasing level it is proving time consuming in terms of managing supplier expectations around price.
expressed concerned about the health of the global economy. They cut their growth forecast for the next two years and expressed further concerns about the Eurozone. The sell-off in copper dragged other metals lower. Lead prices fell to a 30 month low and zinc and aluminium are also well down. But generally the drop in nonferrous metals is an extension of the sell-off in the bigger bulk commodities like oil and iron ore. Declining oil and copper prices are partly a function of oversupply but they have also been hit by declining demand, particularly from China which accounts for about 45 percent of global demand. Copper is a diversely used ingredient in any economy where new infrastructure is being built.
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While China is still growing fast against advanced nations such as the USA and some European countries, growth has definitely been slowing. How long this will last is anyone’s guess, as it is often hard to get accurate information from China. There was even an announcement that the Chinese administration had recently approved over a trillion dollars’ worth of new spending on
infrastructure. Another factor influencing commodity prices is the stronger US Dollar. When the Dollar is strong the price of commodities denominated/traded in US Dollars tends to fall. Because the commodities are traded globally they’re suddenly more expensive for traders and users of these commodities, who need to use their local currencies to convert to US Dollars to buy them. It would seem however that the sell-off was overdone and was largely driven by investor panic rather than a total deterioration of the physical fundamentals. Analysts still predict a global supply deficit of copper during 2016. At time of writing, during the last 10 days the copper price
has recovered to just over USD 5,800/tonne. In fact post Chinese New Year there has been a slight increase in the level of interest in copper scrap from various countries across Asia.
Ferrous Scrap During January 2015 ferrous scrap prices have plummeted from over USD 300/tonne back in December 2014 to a current low of around USD 245-USD 255/tonne for bulk parcels. Containerised parcels have been selling for as low as USD 220/tonne C&F Taiwan. It’s easy in hindsight to say that we should have almost seen this drop coming. The iron ore and coal prices have been falling for the last few months and the Chinese Steel Mills who use more of these ingredients than steel scrap to make steel have been pumping out massive quantities of cheaper finished steel products. The Chinese have then been exporting their finished steel to other Asian countries whose local steel mills use a greater percentage of scrap. The only way they have been able to compete is to pay less for scrap. The other factor which has
caught ferrous prices is the stronger US dollar and other currencies which have become weaker against the US Dollar. As an example the Russian Ruble has dropped to a level against the US Dollar not seen since 1998. Russia is a significant exporter of ferrous scrap and they have been offering bulk parcels at significantly lower prices in US Dollars/tonne. With a significantly lower Ruble they convert the US dollars into Rubles and are just as well off in their local currency. The global steel market still seems to be running along in a position of excess supply. It would definitely appear that 2015 is set to be one of very average prices. At a scrap purchasing level it is proving time consuming in terms of managing supplier expectations around price. It’s useful to remind them of the positives that will apply to them; in particular cheaper fuel and energy prices and if they are using metals as a raw material then they should definitely be paying lower prices for these.
PROMOTION
CALL FOR ENTRIES FOR THE 2015 WORLD DEMOLITION AWARDS The best of the best will be on show at the 2015 World Demolition Awards. Demolition companies throughout Australasia are urged to get entry submissions into the judging panel by July 31st, 2015. The 2015 World Demolition Awards will once again celebrate the best that the demolition industry has provided its clients in the construction sector, this time during the period June 2014 to June 2015. The basic criteria is simple – the judges require all entrants to tell them why they think their company, project or product is special, and
why it should be selected as a winner. The Awards are open to any demolition contractor from anywhere in the world and there
is no requirement for membership of any professional body, although the event itself is endorsed by many of the leading national and international demolition associations and federations. Entries for the 2015 Awards should cover demolition and related work that either started or was completed during the period July 2014 through to June 2015. Entries can be made for contracts that began before July 2014 provided they were completed during the required timeframe. Entries can also be made covering contracts begun during this timeframe where work is currently still on-going but the basis for the entry must be for elements of the contract that have already been completed. Companies can submit entries for more than one award, and
more than one entry per category, should they so wish. However, specific projects may only be entered for one category, i.e. Contract of the Year or Urban Demolition Award, not both. There is no charge for entering. The prestigious venue for this year’s awards will once again be NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam, with winners announced at the gala evening on November 6th, 2015. Deadline for entering the awards is July 31st, 2015.
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO ENTER, VISIT WWW.KHL-GROUP/EVENTS/DEMOLITION-SUMMIT/AWARDS
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AWARD CATEGORIES Contract of the Year over US$1 million • Contract of the Year under US$1 million • Safety and Training Award • Collaboration Award • Explosive Demolition Award • Urban Demolition Award • Industrial Demolition Award • Civils Demolition Award • Recycling and Environmental Demolition Award • Manufacturers’ Innovation Award: Plant and Equipment • Manufacturers’ Innovation Award: Tools and Attachments
AUTUMN 2015
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TECHNOLOGY: CONTAINER TILTERS
TILT, SHIFT An Alert Engineering ACT-90-20 working hard at CMA Recycling in Auckland
Container tilters are complex, featuring more attention It’s a simple enough concept: instead of bringing the scrap to the container, bring the container to the scrap. But things aren’t as simple as they seem when you start looking at container tilters up close. You certainly begin to appreciate the research and development that goes into engineering the end product. New Zealand’s Alert Engineering has been manufacturing scrap metal recycling machinery for over 35 years, counting shears, baling presses, bins, cages and compactors among their bespoke engineered product lines. They’ve also been building 20 foot container tilters for many years too. The ACT-90-20 is the latest generation machine and one that sales and marketing manager Kelvin Healy says has become a key growth
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component within the company’s various product lines. “As the local reliance on a busy scrap metal export market increases during the next few years, I think we’re go ing to see higher demand for container tilters because, quite simply, everyone will be using more containers,” says Kelvin. Heavy duty robustness of design and hydraulic pumps that offer high capacity grunt are a given on this sort of machine. But many of the features that really stand out on the ACT-90-20 are those designed purely to make life for the operator easier and safer when the container is at 90 degrees. “As the container is loaded, that’s a lot of mass stuck up there in the air so it’s expected that the unit will have the hydraulic power to deal with heavy loads,” says Kelvin.
“But what we’ve found from talking to customers over the years is that it’s equally important just how accessible that container is for operations staff when it’s inverted, rather than just for the guy driving the materials handler that’s loading it.” With the need to photograph and record container details for export, as well as the purely manual tasks of ensuring there is no material inside the fully loaded box inhibiting the doors from closing properly and securing the doors before the box is lowered back to horizontal, safe access to the inverted container for ops staff is a must. Once the container has been loaded onto the frame, hydraulic powered container locks secure the box in place. Nowadays the operator can even be safely distanced from the
machine while the tilt process is underway, thanks to Alert’s remote control system, which is a feature of every container tilter they manufacture. Once the box is inverted, integrated guardrails and harness loops offer the operator extra levels of safety, while the standard steel rung ladder with surrounding safety cage makes access to the container easier and safer. The Alert Engineering team say they value the idea of no worker being harmed on or around their products. “We’re still servicing and reconditioning units that we made over a decade ago and I suppose it’s a measure of the work that went into those early units that clients continue to use them day in, day out even now,” says Alert Engineering managing director Allan Lewis.
Another unit almost ready to go; this one is destined for an Australian customer
to detail in their manufacture than you might expect. The design utilises a double pump yard if needed, or between sites via a skeletal Semi B trailer. system featuring twin high capacity “Those pick-up points mean hydraulic pumps for a noticeably that this is a truly manoeuvrable faster tilt speed; increasing the efficiency with which customers can machine. As the volume of process container loads. The ACTfeedstock in a yard changes, or depending on what operations are 90-20 also features built-in load scales which allow operators to keep happening around the yard, the tilter can quickly be moved to suit.” an eye on precise container weight as fill progresses without the risk of Not only does Alert Engineering overloading. “Sometimes it’s the Sometimes it’s the simple modifications that actually make simple modifications that the biggest difference too,” continues actually make the biggest Kelvin, motioning difference too towards the two forklift slots along the have firm orders lined up for both base of the unit. These simple slots make it quick Australia and New Zealand, but for the forklift to lift and transport bright orange ACT-90-20s have the ACT-90-20 either around the already found homes on both sides
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“But if you take our first model from 2004 and line it up against a current generation ACT-90-20, certain aspects of them are like chalk and cheese. The principles of operation are all the same of course, as are the basic dimensions. “But my engineering team and I have worked hard to refine everything incrementally so that now we really have a top notch machine that’s safer to use.” Alert Engineering offer customers in New Zealand and Australia the choice of diesel or electric powered units, potentially cutting down on running costs across an operator’s yard in the process; especially where electric drive materials handlers might also be deployed. Much of the fabrication is completed onsite at Alert Engineering’s Auckland workshop.
of the Tasman; the Alert team having already completed a number of builds and installs this year. “These machines really are incredibly robust,” concludes Kelvin. And as if to illustrate the point, the very first unit the company ever developed and sold happens to be in their workshop when Scrap & Demolition Australasia visits. “It just needs a bit of a re-fit on a few parts, but nothing major really. These things live outside and they get bashed about a bit. But they can withstand years of hard work; we’ve staked our reputation on that for a long time now and we’ll continue to do so.”
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TECHNOLOGY: GOING ELECTRIC
ELECTRIC COMPANY There’s more to consider than pure initial purchase price when looking at investing in an electric materials handler. Whichever way you slice it, this increasingly popular technology offers savvy operators greater long term savings. Many scrap metal recycling entities have been transitioning to electric drive materials handler machines in the European market for some years now. Here in Australasia electric machines are slowly becoming a more common site in both scrap metal and log handling applications, but generally speaking the uptake has been slight in comparison with diesel machines. So what benefits does a fully electric drive machine – whether static or crawler – offer Australian and New Zealand operations? We asked Liebherr-Australia for some insight into these machines. Liebherr states that it’s easy to focus on the biggest advantage of electric drive materials handlers, which is whole-of-life running costs. But there are a lot of variables within this equation that means each operator needs to do their homework before opting for the technology. The real economic advantage in moving to an electric drive machine not only depends on how much the operator pays for diesel and electricity. Both can fluctuate and pricing for both can differ from state to state, even suburb to suburb. In the European market, Liebherr has done a lot of comparison testing and while the precise totals will differ for the Australasian market, the fact remains that electric machines are cheaper to run across a working day. Although it isn’t only pure hourly running costs that factor into the advantages of electric materials handlers. When assessing electric drive machines against traditional diesel, actual machine availability becomes a benefit too. Availability? Liebherr explains:
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As soon as the materials handler stops, that means the shredder has to stop and the shear has to stop. So naturally the amount of machine downtime affects large aspects of operational ability. Liebherr has estimated the highest possible availability time for both diesel and electric machines based on standard servicing intervals. Given that electric machines don’t require refuelling or mechanical servicing of components such as air, diesel or oil filters and so on, an electric machine is always going to be available to use more of the time than a conventional diesel machine. Also, with the conventional power pack out of the equation for
LEFT: A Liebherr EP (stationary) series machine positioned on the company’s new relocatable four-point auto-stable pedestal mount. BELOW: A large Liebherr ER (crawler) model works a busy yard in tough weather conditions. Note the large cable reel mounted to the front right point of the base structure, alowing for a degree of movement around the site.
electric drive machines such as Liebherr’s EP (stationary) and ER (crawler) models, servicing costs are theoretically half the amount of those for a diesel machine; labour, consumables, lubricants – the costs for each come down considerably. The boom and stick cylinders and pump, as well as the hydraulic components are all the same across both platforms, but without the need for ongoing engine maintenance, the owner can look to make decent long term savings. Liebherr states that while many diesel engines require intensive servicing and possibly even major rebuild work after 15,000 hours,
Photos supplied
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What the market is seeing coming through in terms of electric machines and options around them is just the beginning.
electric machines can work for close to 30,000 hours without the same level of rebuild work required. Naturally there is a premium to be paid for the newer technology in electric drive models, but with the ability to cancel out thousands of dollars in engine servicing as the machine gets older – in addition to saving on ongoing service and maintenance fees – the cost advantage remains. Infrastructure around an electric drive machine also needs to best suit its use; opting for a stationary or crawler model will depend on any site flow or logistical compromises that need to be made in order to accommodate the plant within the yard. Cable reels on crawler machines make them viable where the machine needs to move about the yard, although Liebherr cautions the bigger the
cable reel, the more cost involved. Cable reels of up to 80m are available, but 20m is standard. Bigger reels are heavy and naturally the more cable required, the higher the cost. While stationary machines have until now required heavy civil engineering in order to correctly site them within yards, Liebherr has recently developed a four-point auto-stable pedestal for EP model machines that offers rigidity, but can still be re-sited if necessary. The steel pedestal comes straight out of the factory and, rather than offer a permanently sited mount for static machines, is designed to be moved if the nature of the operation or the most efficient position of the machine within the yard needs to change. Liebherr says that what the market is seeing coming through in terms of electric machines and options around them is just the beginning. As technology develops it becomes cheaper to operate, cheaper to maintain and eventually cheaper across the lifespan of the machine. What is happening in Europe will translate to Australasia faster in the years ahead. For further information visit www.liebherr.com
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TECHNOLOGY: RADIATION DETECTION
DETECTING AN INVISIBLE THREAT While it is the responsibility of the owner of any building or plant being decommissioned to dispose of radiated metal correctly, once it’s inside the scrap yard gate it isn’t cheap or easy to get rid of. Preventing such material from entering your metals recycling facility with adequate radiation detection systems is vital. As Dr Joseph Young, director of Melbourne’s SGS Australian Radiation Services Pty, told Scrap & Demolition Australasia correspondent Lawrence Schäffler when we last covered the topic of radioactive materials in 2013, companies or individuals disposing of radioactive metal are often doing so unwittingly or unintentionally. They genuinely might not know what they’re dealing with. The three most common radioactive metals found in the scrap stream are radio isotopes – cobalt 60, caesium 137 and americium 241. All three are used in a wide range of applications across various industries, mostly in scanning, measuring and sensing technology. When plants utilising such technologies are decommissioned, these materials can often make their way into the recycling stream. If your mind’s eye is conjuring up large drums of glowing green liquid, unfortunately it’s much, much more difficult to detect than the Hollywood-ised version. In fact,
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most radioactive material likely to make its way to the scrap yard will be in the form of tiny pellets. Regardless of the path the radioactive material takes to the scrap metal processor’s door, once it’s there, action needs to be taken. It’s neither cheap nor easy to get rid of radioactive material once discovered. There are only two legal ways of processing radioactive material; by either placing it in a specially designed safe storage facility until the radiation falls to a safe level (which could take many years at a premium storage rate), or re-using it for a different application. Regardless, if it’s inside the gate before that discovery is made, the onus is all of a sudden on the scrap metal recycler to correct the situation. As Dr Young put it when we spoke to him; “This puts the scrap metal dealer in a difficult situation. If the dealer doesn’t have radiation screening technology at the gate, the load goes into the smelter and
contaminates everything. The consequences are always expensive.” The need for effective radiation detection systems, particularly in North American and European markets, has led to a number of companies spearheading the manufacture of highly specialised radiation detection equipment. Canadian-headquartered Radcomm Radiation Detection Systems has over 500 systems operating at scrap metal recycling facilities worldwide. They manufacture a variety of different detection systems, including hand-held, wand, personal, entry gate, magnet and grapplemounted detectors. One such product becoming more popular in this part of the world is the fully customisable RC4000 series. This system utilises what are known as PVT plastic scintillation panels that are sensitive to ionising radiation. The geometrical shape of the detector panels have been designed specifically for monitoring the various sized trucks
(and even goods wagons) that transport scrap into yards. The modular system allows operators to place between one and seven detector panels at the gate. The system incorporates a high-speed micro-controller, so checking can be completed swiftly as the vehicle moves between the panels and is operated by infrared; every time a vehicle approaches, the panels are ready to detect. These systems are incredibly sensitive and will detect a radioactive point source at one metre from the face of the detector panels. Byron Judd, business development manager with Pacific Materials Handling – the company that looks after Radcomm distribution in Australia – says that one large company has RC4000 units at several sites, with a handful of smaller private scrap metal companies utilising the smaller RC2000 series vehicle monitoring system as well. “We’ve also supplied handheld
PVT plastic scintillation panels are sensitive to ionising radiation and monitor every vehicle entering or exiting the yard. While not a common sight yet in Australasia, these systems are very popular in the Northern Hemisphere.
The modular system allows operators to place between one and seven detector panels at the gate. The system incorporates a high-speed micro-controller, so checking can be completed as the vehicle moves between the panels.
Systems such as the RC4000 and smaller handheld units like Radcomm’s RC2 are a scrap metal processor’s best defence against unwittingly handling radiated metals.
devices such as Radcomm’s RC2 for trial and we’re happy to hire the RC series on long term arrangements where we can make sure the current software and re-calibration processes are carried out as required,” says Byron. “This essentially means that we’re helping to protect the end user from poor maintenance practices.” All of Radcomm’s vehicle detection systems utilise a Windows operating environment for back-end setting and analysis, allowing scrap metal operators to adjust detection parameters, pinpoint the source of a radioactive reading and log and monitor vehicle information. All of this information can also be monitored remotely in real-time. While the RC4000 gate
monitoring system allows for the detection of radiated metals in a moving truck, Radcomm’s RC2 hand-held unit has been designed to detect very low radiation intensity levels from radioactive material buried in scrap metal. Rather than the large external PVT plastic scintillation detectors utilised by the RC4000 and RC2000 systems, the RC2 features a 32cu.in. (524cu.cm) internal scintillation detector; it features single-button operation and automatically calibrates as soon as it is switched on. The LCD display records radioactive counts per second and updates continually as the unit is passed over metal. Weighing only 2.6kg and contained within a sturdy
weatherproof aluminium case, the RC2 is a truly portable option for operators. A rechargeable battery pack gives eight hours continuous usage. Kelvin Healy from New Zealand Radcomm distributor Alert Engineering says that one example recently reinforced the idea that, while they might seem like passive tools, radiation detection equipment is definitely worthwhile investing in. “We had a client who bought an RC2 hand-held detector system some time ago. He’d been dutifully scanning loads exiting his yard for awhile and, with nothing happening on the screen and no audible alerts registering, had actually started to convince himself that the detector wasn’t working properly.
“He was on the verge of ringing us and asking to bring it back, when all of a sudden one day it went off while he scanned a container that was due to leave for the US. He did everything right and immediately called GNS Science who brought out their heavy duty detection equipment and, sure enough, there was radioactive material in the container. “Just think what issues would have been created for him if that container had made its way to the US and been offloaded at a port, where you can be sure it would be scanned for radioactive material. All of a sudden he’d have had a container no one wanted to move, full of material no one wanted to buy and the probability of a hefty fine and a black mark against his company name on top of that,” says Kelvin. While radiation detection systems do require a significant investment – and in the case of gate monitoring systems, ground works to install – the fail-safe for exporters large and small that reliable and highly sensitive detection systems present makes this technology well worth considering for any operation. You’re not only protecting your people and equipment, but your reputation as well.
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TECHNOLOGY: METALS SORTING AND GRADING
A SCIENCE OF SORTS X-Ray based metals sorting. Laser-assisted copper wire identification. Atomic particle analysis. There are significant technological changes just over the horizon that will impact heavily on non-ferrous metal values, reports Hugh de Lacy.
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The other technological advance, the improved recovery of insulated copper wire, is much nearer for both Australia and New Zealand, with Auckland likely to get the first such New Zealand plant, probably within the next three years. Whiteware, motor vehicles and general scrap yield considerable quantities of copper in the forms of wire and circuit boards, and sorting by laser beam is promising a previously unattainable rate and quality of recovery.
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The way the market is moving is to separate the red or heavy metals – brass and copper – away from the aluminium grades. That trend started three to five years ago.
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It’s not here yet, but the Australasian scrap metal industry is on the cusp of two technological advances that will significantly raise the value of its non-ferrous products on the world market. In the case of aluminium, new technology offers a premium in the order of US25cents an ounce on the United States market, while a similar increase in value could be obtained globally for copper from insulated wires. “The technological gains in scrap processing these days are in atomic particle analysis, where it’s geared much more closely towards cleverly designed product groups,” says Kurt Palmer, Australasian and South-East Asian environmental area manager for German mining and resource recovery multinational Steinert. The current practice is for scrap metal dealers to take ferrous metals as one product and non-ferrous metals called “zorba” – which actually comprise several grades of metal – as another, and on-sell them. “The way the market is moving is to separate the red or heavy metals – brass and copper – away from the aluminium grades,” Palmer says. “That trend started three to five years ago.” Now the aluminium market is saying it wants all aluminium sorted by grade – cast, extruded and iron – and that has led to the development of x-ray technology to identify the grades at the particle level. The market force behind the trend is the rapidly increasing cost of electricity, combined with the fact that re-melting graded aluminium scrap requires only about half the power needed to make aluminium from bauxite. “The problem with quality at the moment is that scrap aluminium is varied and mixed, which affects the quality of the final product it’s recycled into,” says Palmer. Steinert already has that sort of technology in Australia, with one x-ray sorter sited at its Melbourne testing facility, and another available for rental or lease. Palmer said he believes competitors are not far behind, and x-ray sorters will soon become more common in Australia, though, because of the small size of the market, they probably won’t make it to New Zealand for another five to seven years.
The lasers draw a three-dimensional picture of the scrap on the conveyor belt where insulated copper wire presents a specific image in terms of shape and colour. From its shape the laser can identify copper wire, and it can cross-reference the colour to identify the type. An induction metal sensor is then able to determine that the product is indeed copper wire, and not, say, PVC tubing. “Copper and brass are very attractively priced on the open market when they’re sold as a high-grade product rather than as a mixture of copper, brass and zinc, and also, to a degree, stainless steel,” says Palmer. One of these processing systems is currently being installed in Melbourne and others are in the pipeline there. It’s pretty well impossible to put an exact figure on the premium for higher-quality sorted red and heavy metals, he said, because of huge variations in the factors impacting on the various markets. Even the figure of $US25c/ounce as a premium on graded aluminium products in America is by no means set in concrete as the world struggles to
decide whether it has fully emerged from the 2008 global financial crisis, or is still floundering in its shadow. But the pressure is on in Australia in particular to gear up technologically for higher specifications in recycled scrap as the industry ponders the impact of the imminent closure of the Australian car manufacturing industry which has provided a major source of recyclable materials in both countries for well over half a century. “The industry has gone through massive technological changes since the big investments of the 1970s, and it’s now looking to take the next step by getting its toes in the waters of atomic particle analysis,” Palmer concludes.
The aluminium market is saying it wants all aluminium (top) sorted by grade, while copper is fetching higher prices when sold without zinc (above) and brass in the mix.
Grapples, Shears, & Pulverisers DISTRIBUTORS FOR LABOUNTY SABER SERIES SHEARS
AUSTRALIAN MADE
www.embreyattachments.com.au
CONTACT: David Embrey, Sales Manager MOB: +61 (0)438 342 988 OFFICE: +61 (0)3 9504 5008 EMAIL: david@embreyattachments.com.au
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AUSTRALIAN DEMOLITION
DISMANTLING SYDNEY’S BOOM WITH A VIEW
Images by Helen Esdaile, Martin Grant and Mark Merton
Deconstructing the historic Hammerhead Crane at Sydney’s Garden Island Naval Base was a massive job conducted at lofty heights. But removing this colossal structure and preserving key heritage components still proved to be all in a day’s work for Liberty Industrial. Liberty Industrial has recently completed the deconstruction of a monumental crane in Sydney Harbour. Located at the Garden Island Naval Base, the historic Hammerhead Crane was constructed in the early 1950s and was built to lift up to 250 tonnes. At the time of its construction the 61 metre high cantilevered crane was the largest such crane in the Southern Hemisphere. Recently the decision was taken by the Australian Department of Defence to remove the crane, due to ongoing maintenance, safety concerns and limitations on ship berthing options. Contracted to undertake the deconstruction work, Liberty Industrial were able to engineer an efficient design solution, reducing the proposed number of lifts from the planned 250 to just 70. “Reducing the number of lifts required to dismantle the crane greatly reduced our team’s exposure to heights and minimised the safety risks involved with carrying out the project,” says Liberty Industrial’s Todd Solomon. “Completing most of the required deconstruction work out of a suspended workbox certainly made this an unconventional project, but we were able to engineer solutions that ensured we met all of our project
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goals during the eight month process.” The project team engineered a solution to free stand a Favelle FAVCO M120RX tower crane, constructing a steel support structure off the wharf and erecting the bottom third of the tower with a 55 tonne mobile crane, then completing the assembly with a 300 tonne mobile crane. Before deconstruction commenced, the Liberty Industrial crew carried out spray painting and paint stripping works to prepare the crane. They covered the crane’s existing paint coating with a high build flexible water-borne acrylic paint to stabilise any flaky paint on the structure. This was done in order to prevent the release of lead chromate paint. The acrylic was applied by airless spray to avoid disturbing the crane’s hazardous coating. Predetermined separation locations were carefully marked and the paint removed from these areas to prepare the surface for oxy cutting. This prevented the release of harmful vapours during cutting, and served to protect the environment and the health of workers and base personnel. The structure was then progressively dismantled in large sections in
an engineered sequence to maintain overall structural stability of the crane. “We assessed the structural quality of the crane before commencing work in order to best plan for sectional dismantling,” continues Todd. “Aside from rust patches, the existing structural integrity of the crane actually wasn’t compromised much at all.” Sections of the crane were rigged to a Favelle FAVCO M2480D tower crane and separated from the remaining structure by oxy cutting from a work box rigged to the M120RX tower crane. Once separated, the sections were lifted down to the designated materials processing area and downsized. “We used a Favelle FAVCO M2480D to do the heavy lifting. The M2480D is the world’s largest capacity heavy lift tower crane and is capable of lifting some 330 tonnes. It has been used on some of Australia’s largest resource sector and civil engineering projects,” continues Todd. The M2480D deployed was chosen for its lift capacity and small footprint. To dismantle such large heavy sections required a crane capable of heavy lifts; Liberty Industrial was lifting out sections of the structure weighing up to 65 tonne. The M2480D’s small footprint was crucial given how limited the team was for workspace at ground level. “We then deployed a 33 tonne Volvo EC330LC excavator with a shear attachment to carry out the heavy duty downsizing. “Oxy-cutters assisted to further downscale and process scrap material and removed paint from the cut locations prior to cutting. The processed components were then transported to an offsite recycling facility.
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Liberty Industrial were able to engineer an efficient design solution, reducing the proposed number of lifts from the planned 250 to just 70.
“The Department of Defence made access in and out of the site for our team very straightforward, although transporting oversized items out of the site did present a few logistical issues. “The usual constraints of working on a live site had to be taken into account, as well as available space for processing materials, which was limited. But overall the flow of materials off-site was very smooth,” he says. In all, approximately 1900 tonnes of steel was recycled. Another key difference with the Hammerhead Crane project for
The Hammerhead Crane was the largest such crane in the Southern Hemisphere when it was built in the 1950s. Liberty Indusrial were not only tasked with deconstructing the colossal structure, but preserving key historical components during the process
Liberty Industrial was the requirement that, in addition to the removal of the structure, the project had a substantial salvage component with the preservation of numerous heritage artefacts required. Components including the crane’s main hook assembly, hook platform and trollies and the driver’s cabin were carefully removed and transported to an off-site facility where they were decontaminated of their coating and refinished. Because of their value to the community it was imperative these items were not damaged or structurally altered during the removal and refinishing works, so a detailed methodology for the removal, relocation, refinishing and storage of the heritage components was developed. “In addition to the deconstruction work, we also prepared a detailed management plan for the removal, relocation, refinishing and storage of all the heritage components to ensure their condition was preserved,” says Todd. “We even fabricated a specialised frame for the crane’s enormous 25.7 tonne hook assembly, which was the largest heritage item we salvaged. Due to the oversize nature of that single item we had to transport it to the storage location under police escort.” With the successful preservation of some of Australia’s rarest industrial and maritime heritage completed, this project certainly showcased Liberty Industrial’s award-winning dismantling and salvaging capabilities.
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NEW ZEALAND DEMOLITION PROJECT
SOUNDS: IMPRESSIVE
Interior images courtesy of Trent Hiles
We discover the demolition of the former Christchurch Central Police headquarters in the city isn’t quite your average project. And we’re not even talking about the implosion scheduled to bring the structure down. Well, not quite...
While on the surface the demolition work on Christchurch’s old central police station at 48 Hereford Street is progressing as quickly and normally as one might expect, the process of bringing down the 13 storey building is being quietly documented like no other New Zealand demolition project before. Photographic records and even a carefully positioned time-lapse camera capturing all the action on the site are nothing out of the ordinary these days, but what sets this project apart is the audio component of the demolition. Part art, part archive, Trent Hiles is documenting everything to do with the demolition of the building from the inside out. “It occurred to me that there is a lot of visual imagery of demolition projects in Christchurch, but I wanted to know where the sound element is,” he says. “What does a building sound like when it is going through its death throes? Pulling down damaged structures is a necessary part of the rebuild process and with the police station encompassing a lot of the city’s recent social history, it’s the perfect building to utilise for this project. “Whether people worked there or were incarcerated there, it loomed large in a lot of people’s lives. It’s also one of the last Brutalist-style buildings to leave the Christchurch skyline. These were such a feature of 1960s and 1970s government architecture through the old Ministry of Works, so there’s New Zealand engineering history tied up in this building too.” Built in the 1970s, the former police station was the sixth tallest high rise building in Christchurch when it was completed. When not leading his own projects such as this one, Trent is Lead Project
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Coordinator for Gap Filler, a post-quake urban regeneration initiative designed to bring life back to the city. Relying predominantly on teams of volunteers and with funding from the Todd and Tindall Foundations, Christchurch City Council and Creative New Zealand, Gap Filler create activations on vacant sites around the city, such as the temporary “pallet pavilion” music and arts space created out of 3000 Chep pallets. Trent is working with sound artists Rose Jamieson and Malcolm Riddoch to capture as much of the sounds of demolition work – and general ambient noise inside the building – as possible. They’re using equipment such as an ambisonics microphone which, when played back through four channels gives the listener as true a representation of surround sound as possible, along with contact mics on steel, which pull vibratory sounds to the foreground. The team has already captured some interesting noises, and not all of them mechanical. “Because the contact mics are on steel and capturing sound reverberating up and down the structure, often you’ll hear the noise of machinery interlaced with muted voices of workers inside the building,” says Trent. “The resultant effect is actually quite ghostly, like you’re hearing voices of decades gone by from down in the cell blocks. It almost makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.” Across the road from the work site, principal cameraman Dave Isdale has set up a time lapse camera on the fifth floor of the Christchurch City Council building which captures all visual activity – including, it is hoped,
the eventual implosion that will bring the police station down. The camera captures one still shot every 10 minutes and has been in place since July 2014. The project has been well received and supported by those overseeing the demolition work, namely Ceres Environmental NZ, consulting engineers Lewis Bradford and building owners Ngai Tahu Property. “Everyone has been onboard with this idea from the start. The Ceres team are very accommodating and essentially as long as the project manager is happy to have a microphone in a certain spot, we’re good to go. “What we’re doing is a little out of the ordinary and I’m conscious of the fact the work being undertaken inside the building has its risks. But I follow all of the safety criteria expected of any site visitor and Ceres has been fantastic at letting us get our gear into some interesting positions inside the structure.” Trent admits he’s a “total magpie” when it comes to recording, seeing the need to document as much of the demolition as possible.
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What we’re doing is a little out of the ordinary and I’m conscious of the fact the work being undertaken inside the building has its risks.
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Through his recording gear he feels that even the most mundane task can reap sonic rewards. “I went on site one day and some of the team were gas axing through water pipes that run from the ground all the way up to the top floor. It was just one of those days where I called in on the off-chance, but the sound of the gas axe from three floors above was so unique that I rushed back to the car and grabbed my gear. “It’s those aspects of the deconstruction work that people don’t usually get to hear that I think will prove very interesting.” In addition to the detailed work going on within the building itself, Trent and his team intend to mic the implosion too.
“We’ll place contact mics inside and bring the cables out of the building in reinforced galv steel pipe; the intention is to keep recording right until the dust settles. I’d like to get cameras inside the building for the implosion as well. “We haven’t had any collateral damage yet as far as sound equipment goes, but I’d say there might be some gear that is offered up in the name of art when the building comes down!” he laughs. Should it be confirmed following completion of asbestos removal work, the implosion will be the second in New Zealand after Radio Network House in Christchurch’s Latimer Square was brought down in August 2012, also by Ceres Environmental NZ. As we go to print the implosion is scheduled for April. “I’m not working to a script so I’m not a hundred percent sure what the final shot will look like – or sound like,” he says. Trent says that once the 15,500 square metre site has been cleared of debris, it will remain vacant for some time while Ngai Tahu Property develop a rebuild plan for the central city site. “Although it’s tempting to think of the implosion as a great big full stop to the project, there’ll still be interesting images and audio to capture after that moment as the site is progressively cleared. Once the land has been safely cleared and the fences are down, from a data capture point-of-view that’s when we walk away.” Working with Malcolm Riddoch, Trent is planning to exhibit the finished collection of sounds (with associated imagery) at the Auricle Sonic Arts Gallery in New Regent Street, but is aware of the sensitivities of his audience. “When you’re up in the building and the Ceres team are using concrete cutters and jack hammers or working with the Bobcat, the whole place is continually shaking like an endless tremor. That comes across in the footage and I’m aware it might not be comfortable to absorb for some, especially from Christchurch. “But I’d love to see this project tour throughout New Zealand and possibly even overseas; I see the demolition of the police station as a homage to all the buildings that have vanished from the city over the last four years. “I hope the images and sound recordings from 48 Hereford Street and the resulting creative responses, will serve as a memento of what the people here have lost.”
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HEALTH PROJECT& SAFETY
NZ BUSINESSES URGED TO PREPARE FOR FORTHCOMING
HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK ACT What are the proposed changes to health and safety policy and how will they affect Kiwi businesses? Employment law specialist and Senior Associate at Hesketh Henry, Alison Maelzer gives us an expert overview of what’s on the horizon. We’re often told that change has to start at the top. If New Zealand wants to change its safety record and its safety culture, the change will need to come from those in control of businesses – the directors, CEOs and general managers. The New Zealand Government has very clearly signalled that it wants directors and managers to sit up and take notice of their health and safety responsibilities. This has been backed up by the recent successful prosecution and sentencing by WorkSafe NZ of a company director under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 (read about the case on p26). It will be further reinforced by the Health and Safety Reform Bill, expected to pass through New Zealand Parliament this year and come into force sometime near the end of 2015 as the Health and Safety at Work Act. Despite increasing best practice measures by operators, along with technology that can sometimes remove workers from potentially dangerous environments, the New Zealand scrap and demolition industries remain more hazardous than many. Thus it is even more crucial that directors understand and comply with their responsibilities. So with wide scale change on the horizon, what do New Zealand’s company directors need to know?
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CURRENT LAW
Under the present New Zealand legislation, the directors of a company can be held liable for a breach of the Act – but only where they have participated in, contributed to, or acquiesced in their company’s failure. Fines can be significant and imprisonment is an option. The company itself can be prosecuted, fined, and made to pay reparations to the victim of any breach.
WHAT’S CHANGING?
The new Health and Safety at Work Act will impose an active duty on those in a governance role to proactively manage workplace health and safety. The new laws will impose a due diligence role on New Zealand company directors with regard to health and safety.
WHO IS AFFECTED?
Duties under the new law will be imposed on Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU). This will include any legal person, company or entity which conducts a business of any sort, or size, whether it is conducted for profit or not. Essentially, this means that every New Zealand business operation will be a PCBU.
The due diligence obligations apply to what the new law calls “Officers”. Where a PCBU is a company, the officers will be the directors of the PCBU. Where it is a partnership, the officers will be the partners (including – in a limited partnership – any general partner). ‘Officer’ also includes “any other person, who makes, or participates in making, decisions that affect the whole, or a substantial part, of the business of the PCBU (for example, the chief executive).” So the net is cast pretty wide. Any director, deemed director, very senior employee, or even potentially a shareholder who has the authority to make or be involved in making the big decisions, will be bound by the new obligations.
WHAT ARE THE NEW OBLIGATIONS?
The officers of a PCBU must exercise due diligence to ensure that the PCBU complies with that duty. Under the new law, “due diligence” includes taking reasonable steps to: Acquire and keep up to date knowledge of work health and safety matters; and Gain an understanding of the nature of the operations of the business or undertaking of the PCBU and generally or the hazards and risk associated with those operations; and Ensure that the PCBU has available for use, and uses, appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety from work carried out as part of the conduct of the business or undertaking; and To ensure that the PCBU has appropriate processes for receiving and considering information regarding incidents, hazards, and risks and responding in a timely way to that information; and To ensure that the PCBU has, and implements, processes for complying with any duty or obligation of the PCBU under the Act; and To verify the provision and use of the resources and processes referred to in the above paragraphs
WHAT CAN OFFICERS DO NOW?
While this is still a Bill and has yet to get through Select Committee and the rest of the law-making process, it is likely that legislation will be enacted in more or less this form. Trying to meet the due diligence requirements the night before the legislation comes into force is doomed to failure, so now really is the time for New Zealand businesses to review their current situation and get health and safety matters in order.
WHERE DO I GET MORE INFORMATION?
The Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment , in conjunction with the Institute of Directors has issued a guideline document for directors on managing health and safety risks, including practical tips on how to assess your business, and take action. The Good Governance Practices Guideline for Managing Health and Safety Risks guide can be downloaded for free from the WorkSafe NZ website (go to www.business.govt.nz/worksafe and click on the Information & Guidance tab). You’ll also find guideline information of the proposed new law on the WorkSafe NZ website, including information on directors’ duties (head to www.business.govt.nz/worksafe/about/reform/5-duediligence-).
Note that these requirements are cumulative and concurrent – to comply, each Officer must meet each of the due diligence requirements. Note also that the new law will continue to be one of strict liability – that is, there is no need to prove any intentional failure to meet an obligation. A director will have to prove that he or she met the “due diligence” obligations.
WHAT HAPPENS IF AN OFFICER DOESN’T MEET THE OBLIGATIONS?
An Officer of a PCBU can be convicted of a failure to meet the due diligence requirements whether or not the PCBU has also been convicted of an offence. However, if an Officer hasn’t met his or her specific duty, chances are pretty good that the PCBU itself has also fallen down somewhere along the line. Consequently, a director of a business could be facing liability in respect of his or her Officers’ duties, as well as the business facing liability as a PCBU in relation to the same event. Take a look at our table explaining the three tiers of liability under the proposed legislation:
Reckless conduct (where a duty-holder engages in conduct that exposes any individual to a risk of death or serious injury or illness, and is reckless as to that risk):
Failing to comply with duties and exposing individual to risk of death or serious illness or injury:
Failing to comply with any duty (including the due diligence requirements for Officers):
Individual but not a PCBU or Officer
Up to NZD $300,000 fine and/ or up to 5 years’ imprisonment
Up to NZD $150,000 fine
Up to NZD $50,000 fine
Individual who is a PCBU or Officer
Up to NZD $600,000 fine and/ or up to 5 years’ imprisonment
Up to NZD $300,000 fine
Up to NZD $100,000 fine
Body Corporate
Up to NZD $3m fine
Up to NZD $1.5m fine
Up to NZD $500,000 fine
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HEALTH & SAFETY
LARGE FINE AND HOME DETENTION “SENDS A CLEAR MESSAGE TO OTHERS” WorkSafe NZ sends a strong message to industry after a company director was recently sentenced to home detention after being found guilty of key safety failings. The Director of a house-moving company was sentenced to four months home detention and his company fined $60,000, after a house he was transporting brought down a power line. The power line was left live on the side of the road, killing six lambs, five ewes and two sheep dogs. The shepherd narrowly avoided being electrocuted in the incident. Arthur Britton’s company, Britton Housemovers Limited, was sentenced in early February in the Hastings District Court on charges under the Electricity Act 1992, and Health and Safety in Employment Act.
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On 18 December 2013, the company was moving a house under Britton’s direction along Herbertville Road in Herbertville on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island. The house crashed into a power line which then snapped and fell onto the roof of the house. An employee used a wooden stick to move the power line into a roadside ditch. Several sheep walked into the ditch and were electrocuted. Two sheep dogs then ran after the sheep and were also electrocuted. The shepherd reached out to grab the dead sheep but was pulled back at the last moment
by the farmer, narrowly avoiding electrocution. The house-moving convoy moved on, but the farmer and shepherd chased after the convoy and told them what had happened. Following a verbal dispute, a Britton Housemovers employee returned to the scene to put cones out. Even after this argument, the farmer had to call appropriate authorities, as no Britton Housemovers employee would do so. “Electricity is unforgiving. Leaving a live line on the side of the road and not notifying anyone is unacceptable – the shepherd
and others in the vicinity could have been killed,” says Brett Murray, General Manager High Hazards and Specialist Services. “This company was involved in a similar incident three years ago. There is no excuse for their behaviour and they were very lucky that the farmer’s quick thinking stopped a possible death. “Britton and his company did so many things wrong in this incident. Home detention and a large fine sends a clear message to others. It is also worth considering the consequences for this company if there had been a death.”
INDUSTRY PROFILE
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GRANT MUSGROVE In ACOR chief executive Grant Musgrove’s own words, he’s passionate about bringing economics and the environment together.
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ACOR will continue to push for the industry. If there has ever been a need for better alignment between Federal and State Government legislation, it’s right now
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Established in 1983, the Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR) is a not-for-profit national industry council representing the resource recovery and recycling industries in Australia. Grant Musgrove has been ACOR’s CEO for the past two years and served as a director prior to that. Musgrove’s team lobbies governments for policies and regulations that support the recycling and resource recovery industries, represents businesses in the supply and value chain of recycling and resource recovery and works closely with Federal and State Governments in Australia to develop policies and programs that improve and support investment in these industries. Under his direction the ACOR has had some big wins. “One of the biggest campaigns we’ve been championing lately is to eliminate ‘cash for scrap’ operations. It’s an undesirable element within the industry and the breeding ground for cash washing on a truly enormous scale; to the point that we believe it’s a national security issue,” he says. “Having large sums of cash onsite in this manner is bad business practice, as the increase in armed hold-ups and thefts from such operations attests to. The United Kingdom has banned ‘cash for scrap’ and the ACOR’s position is that the legal framework adopted there could easily be transposed onto our situation in Australia. “There has been no push-back from legitimate operators to our stance on this either; they have nothing to fear and no issue with our goal to clean up the industry. It’s not a quick-fix though and, state by state we have to work our way through to find amicable solutions.” Musgrove began his career working in landfill remediation; in particular focusing on environmental toxicology on proposed housing development sites. He then joined the Queensland Government’s central policy and planning agency, progressing to senior advisory roles and working on a broad range of sustainability issues relating to projects of state significance. Musgrove has also served as a member of Queensland Legislative Assembly, developing Queensland’s Innovative Strategy. Musgrove points to the national television and computer takeback scheme that the ACOR helped implement as another successful development for a newer facet of the recycling industry; reflecting the idea that innovations in technology necessitate innovations in handling such technology at the end of its life. “The annual target for collectors under the television and computer take-back program was 35 percent. We met that within the first few months of the scheme, so automatically the feedstock got switched off.
“In future I believe getting the annual target closer to 50 percent is more reflective of capacity. I’m pretty optimistic we can get that change through,” he says. “Electronic waste levels are only going to increase over time; hugely so in fact, as our consumptive culture evolves and we increasingly demand ‘latest and greatest’ personal technology. The Product Stewardship Act provides the framework to help manage the environmental impact of products, but we’d like to see this reviewed; it’s far from a one-size-fitsall solution to this growing issue.” As for what else the future may hold? As ever it remains uncertain for the recycling industry – especially as large scale Australian vehicle assembly draws to a close over the next two to three years – but despite the obvious clouds, Musgrove remains optimistic. “The ACOR will continue to push for the industry. And if there has ever been a need for better alignment between Federal and State Government legislation, it’s right now. “Queensland remains without a landfill levy and we believe this needs to be reintroduced, but in a very considered way. National pricing gets distorted as a result, which affects everyone.” Another key goal for the short term is lifting Australia’s recycling rate which, says Musgrove, is currently less than ideal. “We’re in the middle of the pack as far as OECD recycling rates go and that’s just not acceptable. Some European nation rates are close to 100 percent and we’re at about the 50 percent mark. “There’s still a lot to be done there and if anything, it reinforces the notion that the education process around recycling is constantly evolving and requires us to continually realign our approach. We need to be successful in sharing our goals and objectives with the general public and law makers in equal measure.”
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MACHINE PROFILE
HAMMER TIME Caterpillar has launched its new medium and large E series line-up of rugged hammers with plenty of hard-wearing, high tech engineered into them, including an impressive array of Cat-exclusive design features. Caterpillar has launched a new range of hard-wearing, high performing hammers; the E series. Numbering seven different models for a variety of different machine sizes and tasks, the E series range is shipped from Caterpillar’s brand new manufacturing facility in Texas, which brings research and development and manufacturing under one roof. “A number of new innovations debut with the E series range, all designed to not only increase the life of the hammer itself, but to eliminate heavy secondary costs for demolition operators,” says Gough Cat New Zealand attachments specialist Paul Janovec. “These secondary costs – namely wear and tear on the excavator the hammer is attached to – can be very high. Caterpillar has worked hard to eradicate this issue though and the E series hammers feature a sophisticated buffer system that helps take the stress off the machine itself. “The system consists of top, bottom and side buffers and an interlocking quad wear plate which all work together to reduce recoil significantly.” Looking at the E series hammers, a noticeable design difference makes
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itself obvious right away; a sleek, uniquely curved front and back profile keeps work stress confined into the housing’s strongest points. Meanwhile the side-plates are one piece affairs, meaning that there are no weld seams at crucial points where over time cracking could occur. Another Caterpillar first is a completely reversible housing, with the ability to rotate the housing 180 degrees so wear can be better evened out, increasing the usable life of the hammer. Protecting the excavator utilising the hammer is one thing, but Caterpillar also has the safety and comfort of team members working on and around the machine in mind, with standard silencer technology on all of their large hammers. This comes into play for demolition contractors who are often operating in medium to high density urban environments. Paul says as a rule of thumb, a simple guide to finding the right size hammer for any machine is the 10 percent rule; if you’re running a 20 tonne digger, then you should use up to a two tonne hammer. “The H120E, H115E and H110E hammers will sit in the sweet spot for most demolition companies. They’re heavy duty attachments and,
in addition to the rugged design of the housing itself, we also ensure all hammers for the local market are spec’d with wear plate armour that covers all four sides of the housing as standard. “This extra level of protection is especially critical when breaking through abrasive surfaces. It really offers an extra level of protection and potentially helps cut down on the amount of rebuild required to the hammer as it ages.” Depending on the application, Paul suggests most E series users could factor in multiple rebuilds during the life of the hammer, at thousand hour intervals. Gough Cat-supplied hammers come with a 12 month warranty. “You need to look beyond the purchase price of the hammer to the whole-of-life costs. Caterpillar has always produced exceptional gear and, while there is a premium to begin with over cheaper, less versatile
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Another Caterpillar first is a completely reversible housing
equivalents, the robustness of the E series hammer range and the efficiencies they will bring to the way an operator works over time are second-to-none. There’s a real long-term cost benefit to be had here.” Those efficiencies, says Paul, extend to the fact all of the new mid and large hammers are oil fired rather than gas fired. Traditionally the downside to oil fired hammers has been seal leaks and the resultant loss of charge pressure. Once again though, Caterpillar’s extensive R&D has resulted in a solution to this issue. “Caterpillar has reduced the tolerances on the seals as well as the pistons. In fact the pistons are essentially of the same architecture as the pistons you’d find in an internal combustion engine. The end result is that leaking and loss of charge are absolutely minimal and the hammer stays charged and efficient for much longer. “All-in-all we reckon these are the best hammers on the market. Caterpillar has done the hard yards in ensuring a top quality product for many different applications and we’re looking forward to seeing them on the end of an increasing number of excavator sticks, being used in all sorts of different scenarios.”
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MACHINE PROFILE
HEAVY METAL Meet two of the largest specialist demolition excavators ever built in Australia. Adelaide-headquartered McMahon Services is expecting big things from these big machines. Adelaide firm McMahon Services has just put the finishing touches on two of the largest specialist demolition excavators ever built in Australia. The machines are a pair of colossal Komatsu PC1250s running bespoke engineered booms manufactured by McMahon Services’ in-house development team, and featuring heavy duty Genesis XP shear attachments. Specifically designed to mechanically shear large industrial steel structures for the industrial and resources sector, McMahon Services managing director, David McMahon says there has been strong demand throughout Australia for the company’s expertise in these sectors in recent times. “We have seen the growth of large industrial demolition projects with the rationalisation of the manufacturing and mining industries, and companies today have policies of rehabilitating sites that are no longer economically viable. “We offer a unique turn-key solution, asset value realisation, demolition, remediation, and site rehabilitation which has fuelled our growth in this sector,” says David. To meet the challenges of a unique demolition project for an iron ore
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major in the Pilbara, McMahon Services has built on its existing fleet of equipment, adding to what is widely recognised as one of the most powerful and efficient collections of heavy demolition machinery in Australia. The new machines McMahon Services have manufactured are impressive, with one weighing 150 tonnes, the other 110 tonnes. The mechanical Genesis XP shears that are fitted to the machines are capable of cutting through 70mm steel plate and 1.5 metre steel beams, and can reach to heights of 24 metres. Both machines are heading to the same project, which will be a six month undertaking and involves the recycling of over 36,000 tonne of industrial structures into scrap metal. McMahon Services designed and built the machines in-house using a small team of expert tradesmen working around the clock over the past four months. “I’m proud of what my team has been able to achieve. Our design and fabrication capabilities can match anything that is available in the world today,” says David.
McMahon Services built these two machines utilising their own in-house team, choosing Genesis shears to do the hard yards up front
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The project that the two PC1250s are going to will feature a high amount of processing with significant tonnages involved, so we needed to know the Genesis shears would be up to the task.
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Ryan Brown, McMahon Services national business development and brand manager, says that the decision to include heavy duty Genesis shears was a straightforward one. “We’ve utilised Genesis attachments in the past and our team has a lot of knowledge about the product. Naturally for these types of machines, matching the attachment to the capacities of the excavator is crucial. “The project that the two PC1250s are going to will feature a high amount of processing with significant tonnages involved, so we needed to know the Genesis shears would be up to the task. Feedback from on-site suggests that they’re doing exactly what’s expected of them.” Genesis XP mobile shear feature four-way indexable cutting blades and a large-bore, long-stroke cylinder which provides unmatched power increases at the apex, throat and piercing tip. Maintenance is simple too, thanks to Genesis’ auto-lube system, coupled with fast cycle times from a field-proven regeneration (speed) valve, which yields more cuts per hour, more tons processed and lower costs per ton. McMahon Services – which started with 20 employees in a small office
in Adelaide in 1990 – has gone from strength to strength and has been aggressive with growth plans in recent times, opening offices in Gladstone, Whyalla, Alice Springs, Sydney and Townsville in relatively short order. David McMahon says the company is conservative and much of this growth has been organic, whereby the company is expanding geographically to meet the demands of its existing customer base. “These new offices are all being run by long term employees who have relocated as part of their career development and promotion,” he says. Today the company is a truly national business, employing over 500 staff. David McMahon maintains the impressive growth achieved in recent years can be attributed to ensuring the Company has maintained its cost competitiveness. “We strive to offer clients significant cost benefits over competitors, through smarter approaches, efficient delivery methods and providing people who are focussed on efficiency and delivering value,” he says. With the ability to manufacture purpose-built machinery like this pair, it’s certainly clear McMahon Services is at the top of its game.
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INNOVATIONS – PROLINE PLASTICS
Recycling the road cone Recycling road cones to make even more road cones: it makes perfect sense to New Zealand manufacturer Proline Plastics. A road cone is a road cone, is a road cone... right? Actually no; especially if it’s one of New Zealand manufacturer Proline Plastics’ bright orange cones. For the past five years the Auckland-based company has been taking back their old road cones to be shredded and recycled into new cones. More than 15,000 road cones have been recycled by the company over that time, at zero cost to customers. “We started small, just recycling as a service for customers,” says Proline Plastics managing director Don Brebner. “It quickly became a very good marketing tool though. People that find out about our process certainly see the environmental benefits and efficiencies in it. We don’t charge customers to do it; we just like to know it is being done.” Proline has been manufacturing road cones for 20 years now and is the only manufacturer of cones in New Zealand. “On average every month we probably produce between 2000 and 3000 cones, although when the Christchurch earthquakes hit, we all of a sudden found ourselves manufacturing around 10,000 cones a month.” Every year, thousands of road cones come to the end of their useful life. They become damaged,
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or lose their reflectivity, and roading companies have to dispose of them. Proline Plastics, has developed a process that enables them to recycle old cones into new ones. Companies from around New Zealand deliver old road cones to Proline for shredding. J&J Laughton Shredding Services Ltd utilise a heavy duty shredder to shred the old cones on Proline’s behalf, before the shredded material is then finely granulated. Next Proline grinds the plastic even further so the recycled material is in pieces small enough to go through production machinery. The finely granulated material is then mixed with additives including colourant, UV inhibitor and plasticiser, before being fed back into Proline’s manufacturing
process, replacing virgin PVC material. PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) is a thermoplastic and is fully recyclable. “The recycled material generally goes into the base component at the bottom of the cone, while the cone itself – which needs to take the knocks and bangs and remain UV resistant – is new material,” says Don. On average, finished Proline road cones contain between 15 and 20 percent recycled material. Over the last five years Proline has recycled in excess of 15,000 (or 100 tonnes) of road cones: material that would otherwise have ended up in land fill. It’s a great initiative and a good example of the growing trend
for manufacturers to help their customers deal with their products at the end of their life. Proline has effectively closed the loop by recycling its own products back into new ones, as well as helping their customers avoid landfill costs by recycling for free. “How long does the average road cone last? I have no idea!” laughs Don. “That’s like asking how many road cones there are in New Zealand – no one can say for sure. “What I do know, is that we’ll take them back in whenever they do reach the end of their usable life and get them reconstituted, remanufactured and back out on the road.”
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