Waste Management In Action

Painting thermal pictures

While the human eye can detect electromagnetic radiation in the visible light spectrum, all other forms of electromagnetic radiation, such as infrared, are invisible.

Discovered in 1800 by astronomer Frederick William Herschel, infrared radiation lies between the visible and microwave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The primary source of infrared radiation is heat, or in the case of water and wastewater applications, abnormal pump and electrical device conditions.

To identify these problems, Leong Au, CBC Service Technician, says water and wastewater operators rely on thermal imaging cameras to record radiation intensity. He adds that by highlighting potential problems before they arise, radiation detection serves as predicative maintenance.

“Thermal imaging has evolved into one of the most valuable diagnostic tools for predictive maintenance in the water and wastewater sectors, facilitating increased reliability and critical asset uptimes,” Leong says.

“By detecting anomalies often invisible to the naked eye, thermography allows corrective action to be taken before costly system failures occur.”

Infrared thermography is the art of transforming an infrared image into a radiometric one, which allows temperature values to be read from the picture.

“Every pixel in the radiometric image is in fact a temperature measurement. In order to read this, complex algorithms are incorporated into thermal imaging cameras, which makes them a crucial tool for electrical and mechanical water applications,” he says.

To facilitate predictive maintenance for their clients, Leong says CBC, in partnership with leading thermal imaging camera design and manufacturing company FLIR, offer a full range of thermology cameras suited to the water industry.

He adds that due to CBC’s fully accessible range of stock, cameras can be purchased on demand and delivered at lighting quick speeds.

FLIR thermal cameras are able to identify unstable connections between main electrical cables, highlighting which phases are operating at higher temperatures.

“Infrared technology provides thermal images of temperature differentials within the detection field. It is then reliant on a human understanding of the image to determine the presence of faults, which is why it’s important to work with qualified technicians,” he says.

Leong adds that it is common practice for insurance companies to require 6-12 months’ worth of external audits on all electrical panels in water applications. As such, operators require consistent monitoring.

“When dealing with mechanical systems at water treatment plants, infrared images can detect problems such as bearings running at high temperatures. This is often the fault of misalignment or a lack of lubrication, both relatively easy fixes that can prevent further corrosion or even explosion,” Leong says.

According to Steven Blott, FLIR Systems Country Manager Instruments, FLIR’s partnership with CBC began in 2010.

“When the price of thermal cameras went down, interest went up, which meant we needed to work with out-of-house distributors to match demand,” Steven explains.

“FLIR engaged CBC because we knew they had the customer focused mentality and technical abilities required to positively represent and distribute our products.”

When an operator doesn’t take a thermal photograph correctly, for example not focusing the lens or using the correct temperature scale, the resulting picture will be inaccurate.

“Whoever said a picture paints a thousand words was absolutely correct. The image has to tell a thermal story of what’s going on with internal machinery and water pumps. If not, the problem is going to persist, costing clients time and money,” Steven says.

Following initial engagement, FLIR worked with CBC to train technicians in level one thermology. From there, in addition to being a product they supply, FLIR cameras became a core component of CBC’s maintenance kit.

According to Steven, working with an organisation like CBC is highly valuable because while operators can buy cameras outright online, there is no back-up support when issues arise.

“Without local support, operators are unable to simply pick up the phone when they have issues,” he says.

“Additionally, if they have to ship their camera overseas for diagnostics, they lose the ability to apply predictive maintenance for an extended period of time, which can have dire consequences when dealing with water and electricity.”

Alternatively, CBC and FLIR offer a complete package, with after-sales support, servicing and ongoing diagnostic assistance.

“CBC is focused on bringing qualified, experienced and technically savvy personnel together within our engineering services team and across the organisation on a broader scale,” Leong says.

For more articles like this go to: www.lets-roll.com.au

Related stories: 

Out and about with Costa: Penrith City Council

International Compost Awareness Week is coming up in the first week of May and Costa is excited, writes Mia Ecob, Resource Recovery Education Officer at Penrith City Council. 

Penrith City Council had the privilege of giving Costa and his team from Gardening Australia a sneak peek into what makes Penrith a recognised leader in sustainable waste management.

For over 10 years, Penrith City Council has diverted a significant amount of organic material from being sent to landfill, resulting in great environmental benefits and financial savings. In ensuring all residents are sorting their waste correctly, Penrith City Council’s Resource Recovery Field Team engages with residents daily to educate on the importance of sorting waste.

Costa, Penrith’s Waste and Resource Recovery Strategy Ambassador, is very enthusiastic about the positive sustainability and environmental behaviours Penrith has instilled into its management of waste over the years. One of these practices includes council’s implementation the food and garden organics (FOGO) service back in 2009. 

As Costa loves composting, he wanted to see how it can be done on a large scale. Two members from Penrith City Council’s Resource Recovery Field Team, Kate Bradshaw and Drew Turner, detailed to Costa how this could be achieved, while also educating residents on how to minimise the amount of contamination found within the organics bin. The benefits of having our field officers out and about in the community demonstrates the friendly and helpful education approach to waste.

Having a holistic approach to getting everyone across the community involved in composting through the FOGO bin service enables positive results to be achieved. Simple things such as placing food waste into the council provided green compostable bags and removing food waste from packaging are just some of the ways to improve sorting behaviours.

The commitment Penrith’s Waste and Resource Recovery Department has in achieving 70 per cent diversion of waste from landfill by 2021 is well on track. By continuing to focus on educating and supporting the community with their sorting habits, highlights the benefits of providing long-term social, economic and environmental value in moving towards a circular economy of reducing waste.

Catch Penrith City Council’s Resource Recovery Field Team talking all things waste with Costa on ABC’s Gardening Australia 1 May. 

Related stories:

What can businesses learn from Recycling Victoria?

With landfill down by 80 per cent – what can businesses learn from the Victorian Government’s Recycling Victoria Strategy? Melanie Barstow of Source Separation Systems explains. 

The Victorian Government has introduced a new waste and recycling program, aiming to reduce their waste to landfill by 80 per cent over ten years. It’s an ambitious goal compared to those being set by many commercial organisations, so what can we in business learn, and potentially leverage, from their strategy?

There are two key initiatives which underpin Victoria’s new recycling program. Firstly, the introduction of a new purple glass jars and bottles kerbside bin for residents, which will see household waste source separated into four streams: organics (for composting), plastic/metal/paper and glass (both for recycling) and landfill. The second initiative is the future introduction of a container deposit scheme, which at its core, further source separates waste into cleaner streams, albeit with an incentive.

Source separation into single uncontaminated streams is the key to reducing landfill. It transforms mixed ‘waste’ into a single resource, which can be more cost effectively processed, enabling the commercial scale recycling we are striving for. The new purple bin introduced in Victoria ensures that glass bottles and jars can be accepted as a cleaner single stream resource and so more cost effectively recycled into products such as road base.

The key to achieving best practice resource recovery for business often lies in the landfill bin! Waste is obviously site specific, so the content of landfill bins, once key waste streams are removed, provides further opportunities for recovery.

For many organisations looking to move forward from a traditional two stream program, an organics stream will have the greatest impact. The good news is that such organics can be easily ‘recycled’ through composting, just as nature intended.

For organisations with more advanced source separation already in place, single streams such as coffee cups are becoming more prevalent. These single stream units ensure not only can the wax coated cups be recycled through specific technology, but equally importantly, reduce contamination in the recycling stream, which can see entire recycling bins end up in landfill.

Towards the end of the source separation journey, as effective resource recovery increases and landfill volumes drop, often what remains is dry waste with high calorific properties. Innovative organisations, and indeed even full precincts such as Barangaroo, are introducing ‘dry waste’ streams, which coupled with their single recovery streams, actually eliminate landfill. Such dry waste is processed into briquettes, which are then used in power stations as an alternative to fossil fuels.

As new streams are introduced, consistent with all change programs, effective communication is key. Best practice recycling streams, with Australian standard colours, differentiated apertures, text and graphic labels can play a key role in communication.

The future of resource recovery in Australia, leveraging these single source streams, is looking increasingly positive. We at Source Separation Systems look forward to continuing to partner with more businesses to eliminate landfill, with rainbows of resource recovery solutions customised to each location.

Related stories:

Off-the-road tyre traction: Tyre Stewardship Australia

A critical first step to accelerating off-the-road tyre resource recovery has been completed, with the release of a new report commissioned by Tyre Stewardship Australia.

While the Australian tyre recycling conversation has traditionally focused on passenger and truck tyres, the disposal and recycling of off-the-road (OTR) tyres is largely uncharted territory.

OTR disposal and recycling is particularly challenging in the mining sector, where their size, construction and remote location makes material processing onerous.

To get an accurate picture of OTR, Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA) engaged Randell Environmental Consulting for a research project. Working with Brock Baker Environmental consulting, the firms completed an analysis of the consumption and fate of OTR tyres.

The analysis was borne from the recommendations of a previous report that same year which identified the need to better understand OTR tyre consumption and fate.

This was given the estimated recovery rate in 2018-19 was a mere 11 per cent, compared to 89 per cent recovery within the passenger and truck sector. The remaining 89 per cent of OTR tyres were not recovered, with an assumed 81 per cent disposed onsite at mining, farming or similar sites.

The report covers the agriculture, aviation, construction, manufacturing and trade and mining sectors. In breaking down the findings, the mining sector had the highest OTR generation in 2018-19 at 68,000 (58 per cent), followed by agriculture at 31,400 (27 per cent) and the other sectors. Combining all the sectors collectively, the five-year average for OTR generation is around 119,000.

Importantly, the report is an entry point to facilitate more informed discussions and does not look to provide the answers to improved used mining tyre recovery.

Lina Goodman, TSA CEO, says stakeholder interviews and visits will inform further information-gathering.

“OTR tyres have been left off the discourse for a while. This is largely  because the opportunities to manage them from a resource recovery perspective haven’t been there, or were limited. We’re now starting to see that change,” Lina says.

“While OTR research has traditionally focused on the mining sector, this report tells us there are other parts of OTR that are just as important like agriculture and construction.

“What’s significant is they may be a little bit simpler to manage than the large earthmoving tyres on mining sites.”

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TYRES?

Australia’s used OTR tyres are subject to a range of different fates possible, including retreading for reuse, civil engineering, turned into processed rubber products, pyrolysis, stockpiles, landfill and exported overseas.

The report’s authors consulted with state and territory regulators and the used tyre recycling industry to understand the fate of these tyres.

Around 93 per cent of used OTR tyres within the mining sector, or 63,300 tonnes, went to onsite disposal.

Industry consultation finds that while repair of large mining tyres is a well-established practice, retreading of OTRs is not practised in Australia except in aviation, where retreading is a normal practice.

Civil engineering is not a significant fate either, with an uptake of around 1200 tonnes of used OTR tyres used in the construction of retaining walls or similar.

Notably, illegal stockpiling, excluding onsite disposal of OTRs was not common in 2018-19, with only 2300 tonnes. Likewise landfilling is unlikely (at 4000 tonnes) and pyrolysis and crumb, granules and buffing is rare.

An estimated 14,400 tonnes of used OTR tyres were exported overseas for processing in 2018-19, with 2500 tonnes of this from the aviation sector. The remaining 12,000 tonnes is believed to be from the construction and manufacturing sectors and sectioned into manageable sized pieces for export.

FUTURE AND EXISTING PRACTICES

After consultation with key mining jurisdictions (WA, QLD, NSW and NT), environment protection agencies and the waste industry, the report highlighted the various storage practices which differ from state to state.

Onsite disposal has been the historical practice as there hasn’t been alternatives. The report points out that mining companies should expect the current practice to cease.

A key point is that only a few of Australia’s used tyre processors are currently able to receive large mining OTR tyres.

Moreover, the report estimates the collection cost of large mining tyres can fall anywhere between $300 to $770 per tonne, with indicative processing per tonne a further $300 to $800 per tonne depending on the recovery outcomes.

All jurisdictions consulted allowed onsite tyre disposal but the requirements were nuanced.

For example, WA permits used mining tyres to be disposed onsite in designated areas defined in the mining site environmental licence. Conversely, Queensland had no limits on quantities or location for onsite storage and disposal, but specific projects had their own requirements. Consultation with EPA NSW staff found that mining tyres were allowed by EPA to be stored and disposed onsite with no limits on quantities or location.

QLD, NSW and WA are all reviewing the current practise of allowing onsite disposal and the QLD Government has raised the issue with the Minerals Council of Australia.

Other areas such as converting mining OTRs into crumbed rubber and steel or tyre-derived fuel are technically feasible, but energy intensive.

Recovery by pyrolysis remains an emerging option, with several sites in Australia targeting used mining tyres as a primary feedstock. This includes the Pearl Global facility and Tytec Recycling as examples which are all based in Queensland.

“The good news is there is a lot of interest from organisations to invest in providing solutions for the sector,” Lina says.

As for the critical next steps? An OTR working group is already underway comprising the earthmoving sector, tyre companies and government.

To improve Australian OTR recovery, the report proposes a range of options to consider. This covers continued collaborative discussions via the working group and OTR manufacturers contributing to the scheme with an aim of expediting the solutions.

Additionally, State and Federal Government intervention is also proposed with a regulatory framework to support these activities.

The framework should work in tandem with OTR sector moving towards the cessation of onsite disposal in all jurisdictions. Recyclers could then support that by developing onshore energy markets for tyre-derived fuel recovery.

Lina says all of these factors, in addition to a roadmap coming in 2020 from the working group, will be critical to achieving change.

Related stories:

Demolishing waste: CJD Equipment and Repurpose It

George Hatzimanolis, Repurpose It CEO, speaks with Waste Management Review about achieving C&D recycling process efficiency through heavy duty equipment. 

As the nation’s third largest industry, construction predictably generates a significant amount of waste, representing 38 per cent of Australia’s total waste in 2017.

That said, the recycling sector has adapted quickly, with C&D recovery regularly hitting 90 per cent across major urban areas.

Repurpose It opened Australia’s first construction and demolition washing plant in March 2019, just 20 kilometres north of Melbourne’s central business district.

With a process capacity of 250 tonnes per hour, the facility accepts a variety of waste streams. These include traditional excavation waste such as rock, sand and silt and other unnatural inert materials, including concrete, grit and rail ballast.

George Hatzimanolis, Repurpose It CEO, says when dealing with material variability and tonnages of this scale, equipment reliability is crucial to achieving efficient recovery operations.

George adds that with stringent infrastructure project timelines and a steady influx of C&D carting trucks, he needs to ensure the Epping plant maintains maximum uptime.

To ensure streamlined handling and loading, George operates a range of Volvo excavators and wheel loaders. He adds that Repurpose It acquired the machines through long-term equipment partner CJD Equipment.

“We chose Volvo equipment because we feel there is an alignment between Volvo’s energy efficiency engineering values and Repurpose It’s aim to reduce our carbon footprint,” George says.

“CJD has been the preferred equipment partner of Repurpose It since the business was established, and currently offer servicing and after-sales support for the entire Volvo fleet.”

Repurpose It operates three Volvo excavators out of its facility: an EC250DL and two EC220DLs.

George says the excavators are used for general earthmoving, screen feeding, sorting and stockpiling. He adds that all three machines provide impressive fuel efficiency and operator comfort.

“Operator comfort and safety was a key factor for us, given our team is sometimes working eight hours a day in the machines,” he says.

All three excavators operate with Volvo’s modern D6 diesel engine, which reports 10 per cent extra fuel efficiency compared to competing designs.

On the loading front, Repurpose It decided on two Volvo wheel-loaders, an L110F and L220H.

“The former provides quick and easy operations, while the latter’s 32-tonne classification makes it the heavy hitter of the site,” George says.

CJD supplied both loaders with a collection of buckets, hydraulic breaks and grabs, including four-in-one hi-dump and light material buckets and fork attachments.

According to a new report from SGS Economics and Planning, Melbourne is set to overtake Sydney as Australia’s most significant economic city in 2020, largely on the back of construction. This suggests George could see an influx of material over coming years.

“Our workforce is growing as a result of the new product streams we are developing, and we’re backing that up with investment in new technology and processes,” George says.

“But it’s also important for us to maintain the efficiency of our traditional heavy machinery, which CJD facilitates through a customer-focused service strategy.”

Related stories:

Sifting rubble: GCM Enviro

As Queensland’s infrastructure pipeline accelerates, Jim Murphy, Lantrak Waste Division Manager, speaks with Waste Management Review about the efficiency effects of heavy-duty separation.

Workers on Queensland’s Gateway Upgrade laid tools down in March 2019, after 15 years and a $1.1 billion spend.

Designed to unlock economic growth through congestion busting, the project saw the motorway jump from four lanes to six.

To manage material movement, the Queensland Government engaged earthmoving and plant hire specialists Lantrak to move and process clean fill.

Annually moving over 10 million cubic metres of clean and structural fill, the Gateway Upgrade isn’t Lantrak’s only landmark construction project venture, having worked on the Snowy Mountains Scheme and the Wonthaggi Desalination Pipeline.

In addition to its earthmoving service, Lantrak operates a waste and recycling facility in Swanbank, Queensland. The facility is licenced to accept C&D, clean fill and low contaminated soil.

Jim Murphy, Lantrak Waste Division Manager, says the facility prioritises investment in high-quality and heavy-duty processing equipment. He adds that this was the key driver behind Lantrak’s recent Terra Select W 80 Windsifter acquisition.

“We needed a new piece of equipment to separate construction and demolition waste after it had been screened and crushed, so we engaged equipment distributor GCM Enviro,” he says.

“As Australia’s exclusive distributor of Terra Select equipment, GCM Enviro was the obvious the choice on the parameters required.”   

The Terra Select W 80 Windsifter is designed to separate heavy from light materials, such as stone from wood or concrete and bricks from timber. It also removes other light materials such as plastic or paper. Jim says the machine’s efficient ability to separate impurities from useable material flows has streamlined Swanbank’s operations.

The Windsifter is equipped with a high continuously adjustable cleaning level, at throughput rates up to 120 cubic metres an hour in certain streams.

“The machine has a unique hopper with dosing roller, which provides closed operations independent of the screening process. This ensures an even infeed of material into the machine,” Jim says.

Material is fed via an upstream feeding conveyor, with equalisation and distribution conducted via a proportioning drum and downstream acceleration belt. A compressed air nozzle then blows under the material, holding light impurities in the air.

“At the end of the acceleration belt the material is blown over the separation gap, before moving to the separation drum,” Jim says.

“The machine is also very flexible, with the ability to fine tune configurations via taps ducts and separate on heavy and light settings.”

According to Jim, the separator hasn’t disappointed, with minimal downtime or blockages. He adds that through constant dialogue between manufacturers and clients, GCM Enviro is able to ensure reliable customer-orientated servicing support.

“If our material intake grows like I think it will, I look forward to maintaining a long-term partnership with GCM Enviro.”

Related stories: 

Washing billions of bottles: Applied Machinery

With onshore plastic processing set to grow, Daniel Fisher, Applied Machinery, details the streamlining ability of high-energy washing.

The onshore consequences of the upcoming waste export ban could see the domestic resource recovery industry swamped by mountains of plastic.

To fully capitalise on this, Daniel Fisher, Applied Machinery Project Manager, says plastic recycling operators need to invest in efficient and high-capacity washing systems.

“The significance of washing is often understated, with importance placed on seemingly more complex processes such as sorting and granulating,” Daniel says.

“But, given the nature of most plastic waste, and the fact it often takes the form of packaging, removing contaminants and impurities efficiently is critical to sustained operations.”

According to Daniel, Applied Machinery’s range of plastic-washing systems are designed for high-performance recovery of rigid and flexible plastics derived from a variety of sources.

“We’re able to facilitate modular systems to tackle HDPE and PET bottles, and depending on application requirements, can provide bale breakers, infeed conveyor belts, pre-shredders for wet or dry size reductions, pre-washers and screw washers,” he says.

In particular, Daniel says Applied Machinery’s HDPE Bottle/Container Washing System is well suited to operators hoping to take advantage of the upcoming domestic plastic processing boom.

Developed by Guangzhou-based equipment manufacturer Genox, the HDPE washing line is designed for rigid plastics.

Daniel says the washing system’s wear-resistant design works to maximise operating time and throughput via consistent processing.

“The high-speed washing system works to liberate plastic flakes from contaminants,” Daniel says.

“The washing tank’s under-water force-washing paddles then work to amplify washing efficiency, while mechanical and thermal drying systems reduce end product moisture.”

Shredding and washing are set at calculated intensities, Daniel says, to avoid over friction and material loss.

“Label separation can also be achieved through advanced wind separation,” he adds.

The system features an inclined friction washer, float-sink washing tank and vertical dewatering machine, before material passes through a zig-zag classifier.

In the current economic and political waste climate, Daniel says investing in a Genox HDPE Bottle/Container Washing System can deliver significant returns on investment.

“The Australian resource recovery industry will see major opportunities over the next few years, so the time is right for facilities to upscale their operations and capitalise on the next generation of plastic processing.”

Related stories:

Shredding the unshreddable: Tutt Bryant

Waste companies are reaping productivity gains from Metso Waste’s M&J 4000M shredder, available through a new partnership with Tutt Bryant Equipment.

Tutt Bryant Equipment has had a long history of serving the waste sector through its iconic BOMAG and Metso brands.

With its various iterations, the machine has for decades helped reduce costs and improve safety through intelligent compaction. While Tutt Bryant is perhaps best-known for its landfill compactors, crushers and screens, the Australian supplier recently bolstered its presence in the waste sector with a new OEM partnership.

With branches in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Darwin and a number of independent dealers, Tutt Bryant Equipment is able to support the market effectively.

In September last year, Tutt Bryant became the exclusive distributor for Metso Waste’s mobile shredders, with the first machine sold to Cleanaway. The company offers an array of shredders to the marketplace, from the M&J 4000M to M&J 6000M, available for a variety of throughputs and applications.

Paul Doran, Tutt Bryant Equipment Business Development Manager, explains Metso Waste approached the supplier due to its long history with Metso Minerals in the quarrying sector.

“We’ve been the distributor for crushing and screening equipment for Metso since 2012,” Paul explains.

“Metso Waste realised it was a good fit for us as because of the broad range of products that Tutt Bryant equipment provide in the waste sector, including landfill compactors, crushers, screens, excavators and front end loaders.”

He says Tutt Bryant is seeking to expand its offering to the waste industry by supporting transfer stations with their processing needs.

“This is an opportunity for us to provide a variety of equipment, whether it be crushing concrete, screening waste material or reducing landfill volumes,” he says.

Metso Waste Recycling shredding technology is based on an extremely aggressive knife design and open cutting table, which provides outstanding performance when dealing with mixed and challenging materials.

“A lot of other shredders have a single shaft and rely on the shaft to cut the product, whereas with the Metso design, the knives drive the material into the cutting deck to break it up,” he says.

Paul adds that high-performance pumps maintain high torque levels, in addition to a variety of program settings on the knives allowing both shafts to cut in both directions and  asynchronously.

“They shred materials other machines wouldn’t shred due to a heavy robust engineering design,” Paul says.

He adds the shredder also comprises a detailed fleet management system to monitor the performance of the machine.

“You can get into an amazing level of detail on the pressures, how it’s running and how much fuel it’s using to ensure you’re getting the most out of your investment.”

These key features make M&J PreShred units extremely resistant to wear caused by materials and waste normally considered unshreddable, including solid steel, reinforced concrete and rocks. The machine has sensors that notify the operator of overloading which helps to protect it from damage.

Throughputs can be as high as 100 tonnes per hour depending on the type of input, number of knives specified for the cutting table and loading procedure. The interaction between the rotating knives on these shafts running asynchronously, and in both directions, ensures that the input material is constantly in motion. This prevents bridging and provides maximum shredding capacity.

With the Queensland waste levy underway, management at Cleanaway’s Willawong Transfer Station decided to start looking at shredding materials onsite to reduce volumes and improve separation.

The initial discussions between Cleanaway and Tutt Bryant Equipment were around Cleanaway’s requirement to purchase suitable plant to provide adequate reduction of municipal solid waste. This would enable efficient screening into separate products for further downstream treatment.

Due to great experiences with Metso crushers, the Willawong management team decided to explore the Metso M&J PreShredder range.

Further details and specification options on the M&J 4000M were discussed with Site Operations Manager Chris Thomson. The Tutt Bryant team gained a clear understanding of the impending needs of the site and ongoing volume increases. The large installed base of the units and Chris’ personal experience with Metso Crushers and Screens ensured confidence in the quality and support from Tutt Bryant.

After some benchmarking and considering several different supplier offerings, Cleanaway ordered the M&J4000M and it was delivered to Willawong in July 2019.

“The main reason for selecting the M&J 4000 was that we were confident in it providing the necessary volume reduction, and because of its twin shaft design, we knew it would be very reliable,” Operations Manager Chris Thomson says.

Chris attributes reliability to the Metso build quality and understanding that the production capacity would be there.

After five months of operation, Chris says the machine has performed far better than expected.

“It is user-friendly, even for staff with little exposure to shredders. We got a good feeling about how this relationship was going to go before the machine arrived as Metso Waste and Tutt Bryant senior managers came to site and met with us to discuss the machine and our application,” he says.

“The after-sales support and service from Tutt has been excellent. I can’t fault it.”

The M&J 4000M will be showcased at this year’s Waste 2020 Conference in May at Coffs Harbour.

To find out how the M&J 4000M will improve your material transfer, recovery or landfill operations, please contact Tutt Bryant Equipment on 1300 658 888 or metso@tuttbryant.com.au

Related stories:

Lubricating the waste sector: Gulf Western Oil

Ben Vicary, Gulf Western Oil Director, speaks with Waste Management Review about achieving machine and vehicle efficiency with high-quality oils and lubricants.   

Sustainability discourse often centres around big ideas – the circular economy, digital transformation and export markets. Without consistent and steady operational chains on the ground, however, the ability to translate those ideas into practice is limited.

While not as glamourous as high-tech plastic reprocessing plants or multi-million-dollar waste-to-energy facilities, kerbside collections and waste transfer stations are a critical component of the sustainability system. So too are the vehicles and equipment that facilitate their operations and function as a link between consumer and recycler.

As Director of a national lubricant manufacture and supply company, Ben Vicary of Gulf Western Oil understands the importance of streamlined processes. Given accelerating waste generation rates, he says it’s important now more than ever that waste and resource recovery vehicles maintain uptime and high efficiency levels.

Ben adds that lubricants, an often-forgotten component of waste and resource recovery operations, are critical to machine and vehicle maintenance in harsh, stop-start waste environments.

“Waste facilities have some of the harshest conditions for heavy vehicles possible. Trucks collecting at kerbside for example have to deal with a lot of dust, while waste transfer station vehicles need to contend with extreme temperatures and constant heavy loads,”

“It is definitely a very demanding environment, that’s for sure.”

To minimise vehicle challenges and ensure productivity, Ben says Gulf Western Oil has long-term lubricants and maintenance contracts with a range of leading Australian waste management and resource recovery organisations.

“We work with a number of companies that operate hundreds of vehicles for municipal and commercial waste contracts, including heavy vehicles, cars and various light vehicles,” he says.

“If they don’t keep their equipment lubricated and in-check, they won’t be able to effectively service those contracts, which highlights the importance of reliable and trustworthy relationships with quality lubricant suppliers.”

As a family-owned and operated business, Gulf Western Oil has been producing maintenance products for the Australian market since 1988.

Embracing leading global lubricant programs such as the ISO 9001 Quality Assurance Management System Certification, API and OEM approvals, Gulf Western Oil prides itself on only using the highest quality virgin base oils and technologically advanced American Petroleum Institute approved additive systems.

Gulf Western Oil’s extensive range of products includes full synthetic and semi synthetic engine oils, transmission fluids, diff and hydraulic oils, gear oils, coolants, greases and cleaners. Ben adds that the Gulf Western Oil range is continually growing. One of Gulf Western’s most popular ranges is “Top Dog” which has both mineral and semi synthetic options available.

The unique formulation of this particular range contains performance-enhancing wear protection, oxidation control and contaminant handling technology that exceeds the requirements of current lubricant specifications. This facilitates improved efficiencies, Ben says, while reducing downtime within mixed fleets, especially in the harsh conditions of the waste management sector.

Additionally, Gulf Western Oil’s range of coolants and greases work to manage load bearing in high-temperature, high-load and extreme operating environments. The waste sector has highly stringent industry standards and corrective services and maintenance regimes, Ben says. He adds that Gulf Western Oil’s products always go above and beyond those standards.

“We’ve been told by clients that they often drain oil that’s still in good condition, which goes to show the quality of our product. This kind of feedback is what we love to hear,” he says.

In addition to product quality, Ben says Gulf Western Oil’s commitment to service and after-sales support is a high priority for the company.

When clients require oil sampling or information on a product, Ben says they can send an information request via phone, email or through their website. “Customer service is something we pride ourselves on, so we always ensure our responses are prompt, no matter how they are received,” Ben says.

“Our Gulf Western Oil sales representatives work extremely hard to develop strong relationships with their clients and their teams. They make sure to touch base with everyone regularly, keeping them up to date with new developments and products.”

Related stories:

X