Shoalhaven City Council has improved machine efficiency, maximised airspace and extended its landfill site after turning to Position Partners for support.
Shoalhaven City Council waste services is responsible for recycling, resource recovery and waste disposal activities for a NSW local government area of approximately 5000 square kilometres and 100,000 residents.
Peter Windley, Team Coordinator Waste Operations with Shoalhaven City Council, leads a team of 56 staff that manages daily operations at Shoalhaven City Council’s 10 recycling and waste facilities.
The council’s waste operations comprise two landfills, transfer stations at each site, a pre-booked garden organics and bulky goods collection service, 10 community recycling centres, seven buy-back recycling shops and three former landfills.
To further augment its overall waste management service, Peter was looking to improve machine efficiency, maximise airspace and extend the landfill life of council’s West Nowra landfill site.
In particular, Peter wanted to use global navigation satellite system technology on the site’s landfill compactor. To achieve these goals, Position Partners worked with Shoalhaven City Council to implement the Carlson LandfillGrade machine guidance system.
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“Overall reduction of landfilling is certainly an organisational goal for Shoalhaven City Council Waste Operations,” Peter explains.
“Maximising airspace within our current landfills is a major factor in our strategic planning and when used in conjunction with effective resource recovery activities, will ensure we prolong the landfill lifespan.”
Peter says that Shoalhaven City Council conducted a trial of the Carlson LandfillGrade system in partnership with Position Partners.
“The system was fitted to our existing landfill compactor at the West Nowra landfill site. The results have been extraordinary,” he says.
The West Nowra landfill site required a technology solution that would complement the site’s current strategy and allow Peter’s team to be agile in its recycling and waste operations. The solution would also ensure council would continue to provide residents with state-of-the-art waste management services.
Following the trial with Position Partners, the team at West Nowra landfill site kept the Carlson LandfillGrade installed on their Tana E520 landfill compacter and now have plans to include a rover unit on the site in 2019.
Peter found that the Tana E520 landfill compacter and the Carlson LandfillGrade from Position Partners work together seamlessly.
“It is a natural fit and we have seen some excellent results in airspace savings and significant reductions in filling and compaction costs,” he says.
Prior to implementing the Carlson LandfillGrade from Position Partners, the West Nowra team struggled to ensure consistent landfilling practice with inconsistent filling and considerable reworking a common problem.
“Supervisory staff had to hold tipping face meetings multiple times per week and at shift changes just to ensure consistent landfilling practice,” Peter says.
“These issues are now a thing of the past, our compaction rates have increased, cell filling is exact, we use significantly less cover material and have seen considerable reduction in fuel usage.”
Peter says that the reporting and monitoring features of the system are excellent. He says that the Carlson LandfillGrade from Position Partners was the best fit for the landfill site due to its ability to improve airspace utilisation and maximise compaction to reach optimum density in less time.
It also allows council to measure waste volume and density daily, import weighbridge data to accurate daily density calculations, track waste compaction (deflection and pass counts) in real time, determine slope and grade management and a range of other areas.
He says that the reporting and monitoring features of the system are excellent.
“The 3D replay feature is great for operator tool box talks and issues relating to multiple operators and continuity on a filling face over seven days have been eliminated entirely. They just follow the design on the screen,” he says.
One of the major factors that Peter took into consideration when choosing to implement Carlson LandfillGrade machine guidance technology was the service and support offered by Position Partners.
“Dieter Von Mollendorf, from the landfill and mining section of Position Partners, has been excellent. He has conducted training sessions for our team and provided a thorough level of support,” he says.
“The improvements to our disposal cell areas and filling activities are substantial. Operators have been able to fill according to the exact design, with reduced machine passes and use minimal cover. This saves time, cost and maximises airspace utilisation.
“Every landfill operator should consider this technology to maximise landfill life and reduce costs.”