Simply Cups to expand NSW coffee cup recycling

A $115,000 funding boost from the NSW Government aims to lead to 11 million coffee cups being converted into bench seats, kerbing and car parking stoppers through an expanded Simply Cups recycling program.

Closed Loop Environmental Solutions piloted its Simply Cups program in the Australian market in 2016.

Since then, coffee giants 7-Eleven as well as commercial sites and caterers from Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong have partnered with the company to tackle the near one billion coffee cups consumed each year with a significant proportion of the largely unrecyclable materials going to landfill.

NSW Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton said the “high visibility” coffee cup issue is something her government is working to resolve.

“The more coffee cups we recycle, the less that are littered – and that’s a good thing for everyone,” Ms Upton said.

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“The next time your car hits a bump stop in a car park, you may well be ‘using’ recycled coffee cups.

“Making useful products from waste or recyclable materials is one of the ways NSW is working to be ahead of the game in its response to China’s National Sword policy, which has effectively closed the Chinese market to Australia’s recyclable waste.”

While the Simply Cups program aims to divert 110 tonnes of coffee cups from landfill within a year, they are a small part of the Circulate grant program that has seen $407 million given to 1160 recycling projects from plastic milk bottles to mushroom biotechnologies.

“The Simply Cups program is one of several projects to benefit from the more than $510,000 awarded in this year’s Circulate grant program,” Ms Upton said.

Circulate grants are made through the $802 million Waste Less, Recycle More initiative.

Simply Cups programs are also operating in Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia.

 

WA freeway to use C&D waste as road base

Recycled construction and demolition (C&D) waste will be trialled as road base for use on the Kwinana Freeway widening project, WA.

The project is the first major road in WA that will use recycled materials as road base to boost the state’s recycling performance.

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The trial will take place between Russell Road and Roe Highway and will use about 25,000 tonnes of recycled C&D product.

Main Roads WA will work with the Waste Authority and the Department of Water and Environment Regulation (DWER) for the trial.

A new product testing scheme will aim to help C&D recyclers with the costs associated with meeting the appropriate specifications are free of contaminants and asbestos. An independent audit testing scheme aims to provide additional support.

The pilot aims to improve confidence in using recycled C&D products and supporting the state’s waste diversion target. Its findings will be used to establish the WA Government’s Road to Reuse program.

WA Environment Minister Stephen Dawson said the demonstration project is the beginning of a new practice for the government.

“It will demonstrate to local governments and industry that recycled content is usable and value for money, redressing the concerns from many years ago that effectively stopped any reuse of valuable construction and demolition materials,” Mr Dawson says.

“This partnership between DWER, the Waste Authority and Main Roads is a huge step forward for the reduction of construction and demolition waste in Western Australia.

“By using recycled construction and demolition products in projects across the state, we can help meet our landfill diversion targets and focus on recycling materials.”

WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said the interagency partnership is key to ensuring the ongoing use of recycled material in WA.

“Roads to Reuse establishes a strict testing regime to reduce the risk of contaminants to below allowable limits – protecting people and the environment,” she said.

Close the Loop unveils new soft plastics manufacturing line

Close the Loop has unveiled a new manufacturing line in Melbourne capable of converting 200,000 tonnes of soft plastic and toner waste into an asphalt additive for roads.

The new facility has the potential to divert two thirds of Australia’s total 300,000 tonnes of soft plastic waste from landfill annually. The TonerPlas asphalt additive comprises the equivalent of 530,000 recycled plastic bags, 168,000 glass bottles and 12,000 recycled toner cartridges per every kilometre of two-lane road.

The company’s product has already been laid on roads in major Melbourne and Sydney hubs in conjunction with integrated services company Downer, with the line opening to commercial scale during National Recycling Week.

Close the Loop Chairman Craig Devlin said the company has been at the forefront of the circular economy for more than 17 years.

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“Our goal of zero waste to landfill has seen us partner with manufacturers through take-back programs across multiple sectors, including printer cartridges, cosmetics and batteries,” Mr Devlin said.

Mr Devlin said its TonerPlas asphalt additive is a great example of how valuable materials can be recycled to not just create new products, but better-quality products.

“The addition of TonerPlas improves the fatigue life of traditional asphalt by 65 per cent, meaning longer lasting roads at a cost-competitive price.

“It also offers superior resistance to deformation over standard conventional asphalt for withstanding heavy vehicular traffic.”

He said that policy changes in China had highlighted the importance of a local recycling industry and improved energy use across the design, use and reuse of products through a circular economy.

Mr Devlin said Australia’s recycling industry needs to invest in future waste solutions with greater infrastructure research to meet problematic landfill demands.

“Our new manufacturing capacity to reuse soft plastics and toner into TonerPlas is a great example of what local companies can do. However, Australia needs to coordinate and invest in infrastructure to build a viable recycling industry,” Mr Delvin said.

“Banning plastic bags is a start, but it doesn’t solve the challenge”.

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Cleanaway unveils new optical container sorting facility

Cleanaway has officially opened its new automated optical Container Sorting Facility at Eastern Creek, NSW.

The facility initially opened on 1 December 2017 and included a manual sorting line, which used magnetic sorting and manual picking to separate steel, aluminium, cartons and plastics with a capacity of 1.5 tonnes per hour.

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With construction of the new automated sorting line completed, the facility now has a capacity of eight tonnes per hour.

Optical sorters used in the plant identify containers based on their material type at thousands of reads per minute with air jets being used to separate them for compaction and baling.

These baled materials are then distributed domestically and internationally to be recycled back into food grade containers.

Since beginning operation last year, the facility has processed most of the 900 million containers collected by the NSW Return and Earn scheme.

The NSW Government’s scheme aims to reduce the volume of litter across the state by providing a 10-cent refund for each eligible container returned.

Cleanaway CEO and Managing Director Vik Bansal said schemes such as Return and Earn require the community to pre-sort containers for recycling, reducing the level of contamination at the source.

“With the new sorting technology installed at this facility, we are now able to improve the quality of the commodity streams even further,” Mr Bansal said.

“The Eastern Creek Container Sorting Facility is a critical part of our Footprint 2025. We’re committed to putting the infrastructure and facilities in place to deal sustainably with Australia’s waste, well into the future.”

Mr Bansal says the challenges facing the waste industry over the past 12 months have changed the way Australians view waste.

“It is more important than ever before that we work together to address these challenges. Return and Earn is a great example of that,” he said.

“It has been encouraging to see so many people getting involved and increasing the amount of recyclables being sorted at the source.

Coupled with a better network of facilities to sort the containers collected, we can produce commodity streams which are in demand, meaning more items are being recycled into new products,” Mr Bansal said.

NSW Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton said the Return and Earn had been a great success, reducing litter across NSW by a third.

“I commend the people of NSW and congratulate Cleanaway on their state of the art facility that supports Return and Earn to provide a smart solution to reduce litter in NSW and contribute to a more sustainable future,” Ms Upton said.

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Canberra’s sustainability strategy tackles waste

A new sustainability strategy for Canberra has been released that set targets for waste reduction, increased recycling and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

It is part of Canberra’s City Renewal Authority’s goal to become a world class sustainable capital city as part of its built environment and design.

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Targets identified in the strategy for 2025 include waste and recycling management plans aim to target 95 per cent of construction resource recovery and increasing the onsite capture and reuse of organics, recyclables and bulky waste by 20 per cent over the 2015 level.

To hit these targets, the strategy plans to deliver exemplars of waste resource recovery in construction and operation phases of Canberran projects.

The City Renewal Authority’s sustainability program uses sustainability policies from across the ACT Government to form the strategy for the City Renewal Precinct.

City Renewal Authority CEO Malcolm Snow said Canberrans have a high expectation that their city be environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.

“We want a city that will still support future generations, so we need to create a city now where sustainable living is a part of everyday life. This responds to the community’s expectation for government leadership on sustainable development and access to green space,” Mr Snow said.

“Social and environmental sustainability are vital elements of our program as we implement the design-led and people-focused renewal of our city precinct.

“We will make Canberra an even more liveable city by reducing its environmental footprint and setting a high standard of social sustainability,” he said.

Mr Snow said the Authority has set these targets to influence outcomes across the precinct as new development proposals are submitted.

“Achieving these outcomes will require collective urban leadership from government, the community and the private sector. It is in all our interests that the city grows in a way that improves the lives of current and future generations,” he said.

“We can’t do this alone and we look forward to working with all stakeholders to help make the City Renewal Precinct an even better place for people to work, live and visit.”