April 2019

Scania P-series

Scania builds on its history of providing robust urban workhorses suited to the waste industry with the arrival of its next generation P-series.

Available as a prime mover or rigid, in a variety of power train and drive train combinations, the Scania P-series offers high levels of safety, driver comfort and excellent visibility, critical for safe and fuss-free manoeuvring in built-up areas.

The new Scania P-series comes with a range of frugal Euro-6 low emission engines with up to 450 horsepower available, making it suitable for a wide range of tough jobs. The P-series has been a successful front lift or rear-loading waste trucks, as well as being fitted with various hooklift and skip bin systems over the years and has a well-established following within the waste industry. 

The high output six-cylinder engine easily pulls bulk compacted waste bins with high gross combination mass.

In the 2019 NTG P-series, the windscreen is larger, and the A-pillars and door mirror mounts are repositioned, providing far greater visibility at intersections.

As part of the launch of a more spacious, frugal, safer and efficient overall package, Scania is offering a five-year or 500,000-kilometre service inclusive package that provides fully predictable maintenance costs for operators.

And as supplies of the NTG P-series arrive in Australia, a small number of previous generation P-series 8×4 hooklifts remain available. 

Superior Pak partners with SEA-Electric and IVECO

IVECO’s Australia-first ACCO waste truck is powered by battery electric power.

Powering the truck is a SEA-Drive 180 electric driveline featuring 220-kilowatt-hour NMC batteries, which provide the vehicle with a range of approximately 250 kilometres at full gross vehicle mass (up to 23.5 tonnes) along with a limited top speed of 100 kilometres per hour.

The vehicle features a 22-kilowatt-hour on-board charger, allowing the truck to be plugged in and charged from any three-phase power source. Battery charging time from totally flat to full charge is about eight hours.

Battery longevity is calculated at 3500 charge cycles, giving it a life of over 10 years based on a single charge, five days per week. According to IVECO, the remainder of the driveline is virtually maintenance-free.

As an Australian manufacturer, IVECO has the production line flexibility to provide Superior Pak and SEA Electric with a ‘glider’, a complete cab chassis minus the driveline and associated equipment such as exhaust, fuel tanks, traditional battery boxes and related items. 

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NSW councils commit to funding waste-to-energy research

10 NSW councils, with support from the NSW Country Mayors Association, have committed to funding research into the viability of council level waste-to-energy solutions.

Led by Tenterfield Council in regional NSW, the proposed project will ensure a fully independent, scientific and rigours study is undertaken.

Tenterfield Chief Executive Terry Dodds said waste-to-energy initiatives would reduce the amount of material sent to landfill and produce low carbon energy that could be used locally or fed into the grid.

“Some people would ask why the hold up, as waste-to-energy plants are used all over the world already? Regional NSW has less scale and population density than most city areas where waste to energy plants are already proven solutions,” Mr Dodds said.

“We need to determine what the smallest scale solution would be that still proved to be economically and environmentally sound regionally.”

Mr Dodds said $160,000 of the $540,000 needed to conduct the study has been committed so far.

“The time to hide our waste problem in ever increasing landfill sites is drawing to a close. Local government needs to seize the lead on addressing these issues given the failures at a state and federal level.”

Tenterfield Shire Council Mayor Peter Petty said as the market for recyclable exports decreases and existing land fill sites reach capacity, a waste-to-energy facility could address the growing waste problem for many regional councils.

NSW Country Mayors Association Chair Katrina Humphries has invited all councils in NSW to contribute to the study.

“We are looking at contributions of $15,000 per council, which compared to the costs of dealing with waste is chicken-feed,” Ms Humphries said.

Tenterfield Shire Council have met with the NSW Office of Regional Economic Development to seek financial assistance.

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Circular Economy Innovation Network hold first meeting

A new circular economy group has been launched by the NSW Government through the Office of Chief Scientist to bring stakeholders together from across governments, industry, universities and not-for-profit groups.

The Circular Economy Innovation Network (CEIN) will look to map and identify opportunities for stakeholders to work together in the goal to reduce waste, enhance sustainability and ultimately boost industry (growth and jobs) by developing a circular economy.

The first stakeholders’ meeting was held at UNSW as CEIN host, was attended by 150 stakeholders wanting to enhance sustainability, and was emceed by Michael Sharpe, Director of the federal government-initiated Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre.

The size and complexity of the waste challenge facing society dominated discussion at the first stakeholders’ meeting of the newly announced CEIN.

CEIN Director, Professor Veena Sahajwalla, who is Founding Director of the UNSW Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) Centre, said that many stakeholders have already been making great progress in reducing waste and using it as a resource, and the first stakeholders meeting was a testament to that.

“What is clear is that we need much greater coordination and connectivity across stakeholders to identify the opportunities and problems in getting a circular economy really going,” she said.

“And that is where the new network comes in. CEIN will bring stakeholders together to not only enhance current efforts to build a circular economy, but to identify the big impact opportunities.”

CEIN Co-Director, Ashley Brinson, who is Executive Director of the Warren Centre at Sydney University, said the passion and enthusiasm displayed during the first stakeholder meeting session demonstrated a strong collective desire to truly establish a circular economy in NSW and Australia.

“We heard from both the Chair and Co-Chair of the NSW Government’s Steering Committee for the CEIN, as well as many stakeholders representing the different sectors and industries that are central to a circular economy, and a key acknowledgement was the need for a coordination of sustainability efforts,” she said.

The CEIN is undergoing its start-up phase and is developing a series of stakeholder workshops to identify themes and opportunities, as well as other activities such as identifying tools and resources needed to promote innovative solutions to reduce and re-use waste and improve product design and production to reduce and re-use waste.

Ms Sahajwalla said that by making the right connections between researchers, businesses and governments, we can play a significant role in developing a true circular economy in Australia.

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Woolworths working with start-up to tackle food waste

Woolworths is working with independent start-up Escavox, a business tasked with extending the shelf life of fresh fruit and vegetables in retail outlets by tracking and monitoring produce from the farm to the supermarket, according to an Australian Financial Review report.

Escavox was started last year with a plan to track each pallet of fruit and vegetables and measure temperature, time and location.

John Dahlsen, former chairman of Woolworths has joined the start-up led by CEO Luke Wood.

Temperature controls and specialised packaging are common measures to prevent product losses in the supply chain.

According to Escavox’s website, production and supply chain data needs to be automatically collected and impartially managed if it is to be trusted and acted on.

It points out that siloed operators, inconsistent visibility in each leg of the chain, limited incentives to collaborate and multiple points of handover has led to no aggregated data and no person or party able to see or understand the complete supply chain.

This makes it difficult to assign product accountability and prevent liability from those who own the product even if that cause is not within their control.

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Entries open for Victorian Premier’s Sustainability Awards

The Victorian Premier’s Sustainability Awards is now open for entries and features a new category to celebrate outstanding contributions made by volunteers.

The new environmental volunteering category will recognise the impact made by thousands of dedicated individuals and groups who give their time to sustainability projects and environmental protection.

Sustainability Victoria CEO Stan Krpan said as the most prestigious program of their kind in Victoria, the awards are a terrific showcase of leading edge sustainability practices.

“Through these awards we proudly showcase the businesses, government, schools, institutions and community groups that are leading the way helping to stop the effects of climate change, developing more integrated circular economies and creating a more liveable, engaged, prosperous community for us all,” Mr Krpan said.

According to Mr Krpan, recent research shows that while sustainability remains an important concern for most Australians, only half believe they are doing enough.

“Joining the program’s existing ten categories, the new environmental volunteering category will make the awards more accessible to more people who take environmental action in real, practical and tangible ways,” Mr Krpan said.

The Premier’s Sustainability Awards includes the categories built environment, community, education, environmental justice, environmental protection, environmental volunteering, government, health, innovative products or services, small to medium sized businesses and large business.

2018 winners include small business Yume Food, who won for building a marketplace exclusively for surplus food, the Caulfield to Dandenong level crossing removal project and a campaign by Zoos Victoria and Phillip Island Nature Parks that addressed the threat of plastic debris to marine life.

Entries in the Premier’s Sustainability Awards close on Thursday 13 June.

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Geelong installs recycled roundabout

Recycled rubber has been used for the construction of a roundabout in Geelong, a first for south western Victoria.

The innovative road design includes road resurfacing works and the installation of a right-hand turn onto Horseshoe Bend Road from Barwon heads Road, which will allow for better traffic movement.

The intersection of Barwon Heads Road and Marshalltown Road, which functions as a feed for five roads in Geelong, had been flagged for improvement by Regional Roads Victoria following incident reports and multiple near misses over the last five years.

A spokesperson for Regional Roads Victoria said to increase safety, a permanent 60 kilometre per hour speed limit has also been introduced on Barwon Heads Road when drivers are approaching the intersection.

Regional Roads Victoria’s use of recycled rubber follows a recent acceleration in the use of recycled material in roads by local councils in New South Wales and Victoria. A trial in Melbourne last year for example, saw 27 tonnes of recycled rubber used in Tyre Stewardship’s Equine Air paving product and installed on 550 square metres of the Pakenham Racing Club Tynong.

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