WA CDS legislative provisions in place

Western Australia’s container deposit scheme (CDS) is in full implementation phase, with legislative provisions now complete.

The Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery (Container Deposit Scheme) Amendment Regulations 2019 set out rules for the scheme co-ordinator, participants, refunds and eligible containers.

Environment Minister Stephen Dawson said more than 170 refund points will be in place by June 2020, with at least 229 points to be in place by the end of the scheme’s first year.

“The state government is working to deliver the best CDS in the nation, with more refund points per person than any scheme in Australia,” Mr Dawson said.

“People will receive a 10-cent refund when they return eligible beverage containers to refund points throughout the state.”

According to Mr Dawson, over the next 20 years the scheme is estimated to result in 706 million fewer beverage containers littered, 6.6 billion fewer beverage containers sent to landfill and 5.9 billion more containers being recycled.

“Containers for Change will also help create 500 jobs across the state, with a key objective of the scheme to support employment of people with disability and the long-term unemployed,” Mr Dawson said.

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The importance of engineering expertise in wastewater treatment

Wastewater treatment plants carry out a vital function for urban and regional areas of Australia, removing contaminants from water and sewage before it is reused of discharged into the environment.

Effective treatment relies on robust, sturdy equipment and machinery that can operate reliably in biochemically extreme conditions over long periods of time.

However, parts and components will at times need replacement to maintain the smooth operations that guide wastewater through the primary, secondary, and tertiary treatment processes. As sudden failure of components or machinery can lead to significant environment risk, it is necessary for regular monitoring and servicing of wastewater treatment equipment.

This is where Inenco Group’s engineering services team comes in. Wayne D’Souza, National Accounts Manager at Inenco Group, explained that while many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for most part only supply products to wastewater treatment, Inenco and its companies BSC and CBC have the expertise to both provide high-quality products and experienced engineering support.

“The wastewater sector, due to the potential for environmental harm, is very averse to risk. And we understand that and that is something we cater for. Wastewater treatment plants not only require reliable components, but they also require high-quality engineering support. What they aren’t getting from the OEMs is the latter. We offer both.”

D’Souza explained that the rapidly-evolving nature of technology has meant that products, and the installation and maintenance processes required for products, have changed, sometimes dramatically.

“Components and products often last a lot longer now. We’ve identified a number of what we call ‘problem-solver’ products, which we put in front of the customer and explain what applications they can be used for and what the benefits are. Further, we can demonstrate that we have the engineering support to not only install the products, provide monitoring and maintenance, but also provide specialist training for the operator’s maintenance team,” said D’Souza.

“We can also invite in our suppliers to provide training and knowledge on their particular products. We have a longstanding relationship with suppliers such as Schaeffler and Gates, for instance, where they come out onto a wastewater site and supervise installations.”

Close relationships with suppliers and in-house product expertise at Inenco’s BSC and CBC branches also enable product recommendations that are suited to particular wastewater operations.

“In the wastewater treatment space, one treatment plant may have totally different processes to another, so some of our problem-solver products might be relevant to one site but not to another. We hone-in on what the customer needs,” D’Souza explained.

For the Inenco’s wastewater teams, determining what works for a particular treatment plant often starts with carrying out site surveys, mapping out the equipment and machinery that the customer is using, and identifying applications which have the potential to cause problems.

“We can determine whether there are better products that can replace existing ones. And we can suggest what products they should use for those applications,” said D’Souza. “That’s what distinguishes us. What sets us apart from our competition is that we offer an extensive range of quality products, which is supported by our engineering expertise.”

BSC and CBC have extensive branch coverage across Australia. BSC, in particular, has a strong presence in regional areas. This means that wastewater treatment plants run by local governments in these areas can have reliable access to the company’s engineering services.

“We were called in by a major wastewater utility company to look at some thermography work, which led into product supply – a large order. The customer felt confident that we could not only provide quality service, but also provide the right products to improve operations. We don’t just supply product for the sake of it. If we have something more suitable, we will make those recommendations. That comes with having in-house expertise,” said D’Souza.

Inenco’s engineers will periodically carry out scheduled condition monitoring services for critical pieces of equipment, which D’Souza said served as a critical safety check for customers.

“This is usually on customers’ critical pieces of equipment. It is ongoing and it is relatively inexpensive to do, especially if you consider the cost of a catastrophic failure that occurs because condition monitoring hasn’t been carried out,” he explained.

Wastewater treatment is a 24/7, 365-days-a-year operation. With potentially huge environmental impacts if something goes wrong, it is critical that engineering support is reliable and easily accessible when it is needed.

“We run a 24/7 operation to back up what we supply,” said D’Souza.

“Our customers need to be able to know they can ring us up at 3am in the morning and get us to come out and look at a broken motor or gearbox. We always have someone on call. When you’re working in such a critical space, its essential that we can give the customer that confidence.”

For more information click here: www.lets-roll.com.au

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Pharmaceuticals in the water

Waste Management Review speaks with Ace Waste about a waste definition loophole that’s seeing upwards of 525,000 kilograms of pharmaceutical waste landfilled in Victoria each year.

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Applications open for Australian Recycling Investment Fund

The Federal Government is inviting applications for the newly established Australian Recycling Investment Fund.

According to Environment Minister Sussan Ley, the fund will support projects that increase recycling rates, turn waste into valuable products and encourage innovation.

“Australians want to be confident that when we put things in our recycling bin, or deliver them to a collection centre, that they will be recycled and not dumped in landfill or simply sent overseas. That is why we committed to the Australian Recycling Investment Fund at the 2019 election, and today we are delivering,” Ms Ley said.

“Last month’s Meeting of Environment Ministers set a clear message about our commitment to a circular economy and a timetable for banning problem waste exports. Growing our recycling capacity is critical in that process and this scale of investment will make a real difference.”

The fund will be managed by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, with funding offered as concessional loans.

The announcement follows criticism from Labor Assistant Environment Spokesman Josh Wilson, who said the Federal Government was not doing enough to build on the national waste strategy.

“We know the so-called recycling investment plan is predominantly bulked out with prepackaged or repackaged funds,” Mr Wilson said.

“The hundred million dollars in the Australian Recycling Investment Fund consists of nothing more than a fresh label on existing clean energy finance moneys.”

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the Federal Government had provided a direction to the CEFC Board to ensure the establishment of the fund.

“The Australian Recycling Investment Fund will provide the CEFC with the capacity to support waste and recycling technologies by making investments which attract private sector support, and by working with strategic financing partners to attract additional investments into this sector,” Mr Cormann said.

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Bin Trim opens $4.9 million grant round

A total of $4.9 million in grant funding is now available to help NSW businesses cut waste and increase recycling, as part of the state government’s Bin Trim program.

Waste and recycling service providers, equipment providers, consultants, councils and not-for-profit organisations can apply for the grants, which range from $50,000 to $300,000.

Planning, Industry and Environment Department Circular Economy Executive Director Sanjay Sridher said reducing waste sent to landfill has environmental and economic benefits for everyone.

“NSW businesses send more than 1.8 million tonnes of waste to landfill each year. From cardboard, paper and plastic through to food waste,” Mr Sridher said.

“So much of this ends up in the general waste bin, when in fact more than 70 per cent could be re-used or recycled.”

Bin Trim, administered through the state’s Waste Less, Recycle More initiative, funds waste assessments for NSW businesses with up to 400 full time equivalent employees.

Waste experts undertake free assessments, entering waste data into an online Bin Trim App that generates a tailored action plan. The assessor also provides support and implementation advice.

Additionally, participating businesses are eligible for a Bin Trim rebate to cover 50 per cent of recycling equipment costs, up to $50,000.

According to Mr Sridher, Bin Trim has helped over 29,000 businesses and diverted 70,000 tonnes of waste from landfill.

“Businesses taking part in the program are helping the environment, with 94 per cent of Bin Trim participants implementing actions to reduce the amount of waste they send to landfill,” Mr Sridher said.

Applications close 28 February 2020.

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Facility managers go green: National Weighing & Instruments

A push towards increased sustainability performance outcomes is inspiring the commercial and industrial sector to turn to waste management audit software.

A sustainable transformation towards NABERS ratings usage has in the past year been making waves across the commercial and industrial (C&I) waste sector.

According to the NABERS Annual Report for the financial year 2018-19, the new waste rating acts as the foundation of a circular economy, with 10 leading retail organisations using the system.

The popular system, which measures the environmental performance of Australian buildings, tenancies and homes, has according to National Weighing & Instruments led to a spike in demand for its industrial weighing solutions in the C&I space.

It comes as firms are increasingly looking to understand how much waste they are producing to not only reduce their environmental impact, but potentially lower their costs.

Marketing Manager Ryan Reinker says unlike traditional waste management audit software, the Industrial Waste Management (iWM) System is an all-in-one package that comprises scale, weighing and software componentry.

“The benefit of our system is you have one point of contact through us with no yearly license or software fees. Once operators purchase the system, it’s theirs,” Ryan says.

He says that there is minimal maintenance required with only yearly calibration and scales, unless users choose to take up a leasing option.

The iWM system offers a comprehensive record for managing a variety of waste streams at a diverse range of facilities, including office blocks, hotels and restaurants, school, colleges and universities, factories and hospitals. The system is powered by a weighing computer and runs on Windows CE.

The system also offers legal-for-trade weighing systems for those charging by weight. Key features include a versatile touchscreen, spreadsheet printouts in CSV form, full traceability for invoicing and suitability for all types of wheeled bins up to 1100 litres.

Waste bins and containers can be electronically tagged by waste type and client, with a tag reader sending data directly to the terminal. Tags can be programmed with information including tare (empty weight), client ID and location. Data redundancy ensures the data can be captured using the device itself in the event of SIM failures.

“For tenants, they can have a breakdown of waste streams to monitor how much they are producing,” he says.

Ryan says it’s also a closed system, meaning that if companies need to allow remote access they can supply their SIM cards to National Weighing & Instruments on a closed network for remote support, assistance or training. Additionally, changes or alterations to software are not possible, preventing troubleshooting issues from exacerbating.

With a national presence in every major city except Canberra, National Weighing & Instruments stands ready to provide strong after-sales support.

“This, added to the remote login feature for service support, gives us superior after-sales assistance,” he says.

As for the company’s next steps? Ryan hopes it can become even more user-friendly by offering innovative features, such as taking snapshots of bins to provide evidence of contamination in real time, as opposed to traditional manual recording.

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ICCPM to hold international risk management roundtable

The International Centre for Complex Project Management (ICCPM) will hold a 2020 International Roundtable Series that explores risk, uncertainty and opportunity in complex projects.

According to the 2019 State of Risk Oversight: An Overview of Enterprise Risk Management Practices report, most of the 445 executives surveyed believe business environment uncertainties created complex risk challenges for their organisations.

The report also highlights that few executives described their organisation’s approach to risk management as mature or robust.

An ICCPM statement suggests the dynamic nature of complex projects across all industries, including waste and resource recovery, creates unique challenges for leaders.

“Increasingly volatile project contexts require leaders to integrate emergent phenomena into their adaptive response in order to sustain best practice and realise better outcomes,” the statement reads.

“The 2020 International Roundtable Series will consider what this might mean in relation to risk and opportunity in complex projects, and how we might harness the dynamics of emergence, exploit the necessary uncertainty to create value and through better decision-making, achieve better outcomes.”

The ICCPM International Roundtable Series was established in 2009 as a thought leadership initiative to help organisations stay at the forefront of successful complex project delivery.

“The ICCPM and Queensland University of Technology will facilitate workshops throughout 2020 in key locations across Australia and internationally, to gather insights from across industries, sectors and cultures,” the statement reads.

“At the end of the series, the workshop findings will be synthesised and written up into a final outcomes report to be released no later than mid-2021.”

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VIC EPA to assess battery recycling plant proposal

The Victorian EPA is assessing a works approval application for a battery recycling plant with the capacity to process 50,000 tonnes of used lead acid batteries each year.

The development proposal, received from Chunxing Corporation, seeks to recycle the material into 28,000 tonnes of refined lead each year.

The proposal estimates 98 per cent of the lead, plastic and electrolyte (sulfuric acid) in batteries will be recycled.

According to the Chunxing Corporation application, Australia generates roughly 150,000 tonnes of used lead acid batteries a year, most of which is sent to four existing facilities.

The application highlights that of the four facilities, only one conducts secondary lead smelting to produce lead product.

“We believe such incomplete ‘recycling’ is unsustainable, and vulnerable to overseas demand and policy changes, similar to the export of kerbside recycling, which collapsed after China introduced its China National Sword Policy,” the application reads.

“We also see this low penetration of ‘full recycling’ in the market as an opportunity.”

Chunxing Corporation intends to engage in ‘full recycling’ to produce lead ingot, a valuable commodity that is returned back to battery manufacturers.

“They plan to secure significant market volumes of used lead acid batteries that are currently partially processed and sent for export, and believe the extra market capacity our plant will provide will lead to the federal Department of the Environment an Energy rejecting some export permits in favour of in-country full recycling options,” the application reads.

Chunxing Corporation’s proposed plant will use a six step process including physical separation, waste acid processing for value added fertiliser, smelting and desulfurisation.

The EPA will assess the proposal against all relevant environmental policies and guidelines and consider any potential environmental and human health impacts that could result from the proposed development, including, but not limited to, air emissions, noise and residual waste management.

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Tackling the changing waste segment: Isuzu

Isuzu is responding to waste industry trends with a plan to improve fuel economy and durability through the launch of its new Dual Control waste and refuse line-up.

When problems in the Australian recycling sector arise, such as in the international landscape, it grabs our attention quickly.

At an on-the-ground level, the volatility of international recycling markets makes the triple bottom line an increasingly valuable proposition. In this vein, increased efficiencies and better environmental outcomes become critical to providing best practise contracts.

Amid the chorus of calls for transformational change to our waste and resource recovery systems, Isuzu Trucks is stepping up to the plate.

At this year’s Waste Expo, the company recently announced the launch of an all new dual control waste and refuse truck line-up with four models available (plus wheelbase options).

The new range of factory-built and backed dual control solutions hits the Australian market as the waste sector responds to a post National Sword era.

As the waste industry calls for greater efficiencies throughout their operations, the release of Isuzu’s new low-tare weight dual control waste solutions couldn’t be timelier.

Developed in Australia and with celebrated origins in Isuzu’s tried and tested FSR 140-260 4×2 Dual Control model, the new, expanded dual control range aims to offer high value coupled with reliability.

Isuzu Australia Limited (IAL) National Sales Manager Les Spaltman says the Isuzu Dual Control range represent best value and performance in each model and is smartly specified.

He says the factory developed range has been carefully designed for Australian conditions and considerations.

“Many would be aware of the discontinuation of some of the more traditional, go-to truck models in this sector. In response, we have a highly competitive, low-tare weight solution on offer – one which ticks some key boxes for Australian operators,” Les says.

The existing dual rated FSR dual control model is available in 12- and 14-tonne gross vehicle mass (GVM) models.

It features robust Isuzu axles, multi-leaf steel spring rear suspension, dual circuit air over hydraulic front and rear drum brakes with ABS, Allison LCT 2500 transmission and ISRI 6860 with integrated seat belt in both left- and right-hand driver positions.

The new 16,500- and 24,000-kilogram GVM dual control models comprise standout componentry, including Hendrickson airbag rear suspension, which delivers substantial tare weight advantages. Les says these features offer a key advantage over competing brands.

The new FVZ dual control models use Isuzu’s robust six-rod and trunnion taper leaf type rear suspension, offering excellent levels of cross-articulation for work in arduous terrain, for example at a waste processing facility.

The new line-up applies the spotlight to two proven platforms from Isuzu’s medium-duty F Series line-up.

Isuzu’s Dual Control range boasts the company’s much-lauded six-cylinder, 24-valve 6HK1-TCC and TCS engines, renowned for their power, performance, economy and efficiency, especially under high idle conditions.

Common features across all Isuzu dual control models include high precision cross shafts linking both left- and right-hand steering columns.

Both driving positions are furnished with ISRI 6860 adjustable air-suspended seats with integrated seat belts, offering maximum comfort and operational visibility.

All Isuzu dual control models also come equipped with Allison automatic transmission as standard equipment, from the LCT 2500 Series in the FSR, through to the rugged 3000 Series in the FVD model and the 3500 Series in the FVZ and FVY 6×4 variants.

For ease of operation, the instrument panel has been duplicated on the left-hand driving side. Both driving positions feature air-assisted steering wheel height adjustment for complete driver customisation and control. The design also retains existing cab electrical harnessing, with ‘plug and play’ additional wiring harnesses.

Fresh safety elements include interlocks for control change overs, safety yellow grab handles and steps, along with Isuzu’s existing safety suite including ABS, RHS driver airbag and cornering lamps for urban laneway safety.

“We’ve worked really hard to develop a compelling total cost of ownership argument across these models,” Les says.

“Lower tare weights bring improved productivity and payload. And when you add the commonality of parts we’ve developed with our F Series range, the equation really adds up in favour of our customers.”     

Les says the trucks were designed specifically for Australian conditions and in response to industry needs.

“We have incorporated proven efficiencies across our engines, driveline and chassis componentry, wheelbase options and in-cab appointments, making this dual control line-up extremely competitive on a number of fronts.

“We know that when it comes to the waste and refuse industry, reliability, economy and durability are non-negotiables. We believe these new models have these qualities in spades.”

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