With maximising resources at the heart of its business, Corio Waste Management turned to Scania to underpin its reputation as an environmentally-friendly waste services firm.
Taking its name from the Port Phillip bay close to its head office, Corio Waste Management (CWM) this year celebrates its 20th birthday.
Owned by the Geelong-based Dickens family, CWM specialises in the collection, treatment and disposal of solid, liquid and other waste types, including hazardous materials.
The company employs more than 60 people, has a fleet of 45 vehicles and performs 10,000 waste and recycling collections each week. It serves around 1,600 commercial and industrial customers across the Surf Coast, Corio Bay area, and Melbourne’s west and south-eastern suburbs from depots in Geelong, Altona North and Dandenong South.
Its unique organics resource recovery facility in Shepparton, operated by subsidiary, Western Composting Technology, processes green, commercial food and industrial organic wastes. Using Horstmann WTT-Tunnel concept technology from Germany, the initial decomposition and pasteurisation of the feedstock takes place in closed tunnels.
“It’s an accelerated process. What takes six to 12 weeks outside takes two weeks in our facility,” says Chief Executive Officer Mat Dickens.
This product is then sold to wholesalers to blend with their own range of composts.
Such efficiencies across the business are vital to keep the CWM wheels turning. As such, it relies heavily on its truck fleet, none more so than its Scanias, of which a new model has recently been added.
Asset Innovation and Technology Manager Peter Wilkes, a 25-year military engineer specialising in facilities operations, explains the decision to go with Scania.
“I conducted a feasibility study on driver performance and productivity two years ago, and found room for improvement,” he says. “After trialling different brands of trucks it was clear the Scania ticked all the right boxes.”
CWM initially bought a hooklift and a frontlift, so it had the two different systems covered.
“I wanted to establish if the Scanias could do the job, but with less driver fatigue and improved economy. The answer was ‘yes’ to both, so we have stuck with Scania since,” he adds.
CWM replaces its vehicles every five to seven years, so it is steadily updating its fleet. Mat cites several reasons for choosing Scania.
To continue reading see page 48 of Issue 8.
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