George Hatzimanolis, Chief Executive Officer of Repurpose It, says local councils are in a prime position to drive change as Australia moves toward national waste targets and a circular economy.
He’s encouraging councils to look beyond traditional procurement models and give more weight to businesses that can give something back to the community.
“Historically, waste service procurement was just that – a need to dispose of waste,” George says. “Repurpose It is challenging local government to not just dispose of waste but have a service that can close the loop and supply materials back.”
Australia’s National Waste Policy Action Plan wants Food Organics, Garden Organics (FOGO) collection services available for every household by 2030 and to halve the amount of organic waste sent to landfill for disposal.
Repurpose It has invested in preparing for the shift to FOGO collections and is building capacity to cater for the needs of Melbourne councils. A 3000-square metre decontamination hall for packaged and unpackaged food waste at its Epping site will process up to 215,000 tonnes per annum of organics.
An open windrow compost pile is also operational, and a decontamination hall for in-vessel composting tunnels is expected to be commissioned later in 2022.
The processed organics will be used as compost and high-quality soil amendments. Repurpose It acquired organic landscape supplier Bark King in July 2021, adding decades of knowledge to the business to produce a range of VicRoads and Australian Standard soils, composts, barks and mulches. George says the company is also partnering with Melbourne Polytechnic to bring in more horticultural expertise.
He sees the move to FOGO collections as the impetus for councils to look at procurement models across their entire organisation and points to the City of Whittlesea and Hume City Council in Melbourne’s north as examples of what can be achieved.
Repurpose It has a long-term partnership with the City of Whittlesea, processing the food and organics waste of more than 62,000 households. The processed FOGO is turned into compost and can be mixed into soils.
Recently, compost and soil were donated to six community garden projects to help grow food and plants in the local community.
“Residents could see that what went into their green bin was able to be supplied back to them to help the local community,” George says. “It was a really powerful message.”
Repurpose It has also worked with the council on construction projects, supplying almost 3500 tonnes of recycled quarry products in the past three months. These materials are made from recycled products usually destined for landfill.
“We are really proud of our partnership with the City of Whittlesea and helping them reduce their reliance on virgin materials,” George says.
“Transition to a circular economy is happening at a rapid pace. Consumers are wanting to buy recycled content and understand the importance of resource recovery.
“We’re showing councils there is a way to procure differently. Obviously, the recycling industry hasn’t always had the capacity to offer these services but more investment in a circular economy is driving bigger opportunities.”
In April 2022, Repurpose It began a long-term contract to receive and process FOGO and street sweepings and drain cleaning material in the north-east of Hume municipality.
George says FOGO material from Hume will be processed to create soil amendments for supply back into local communities. Repurpose It will also supply the council with quarry products and landscaping materials.
“Whittlesea and Hume are big advocates of promoting a circular economy,” he says. “They deserve kudos for their willingness to look at outbound and inbound products.
“They’re targeting several different areas within council. There’s been amazing interest in inquiries about raw materials, compost and landscaping materials and we’re really starting to see a lot of traction.
“We’re seeing a want, and recognition of the need, to change.”
That change is not just in local government. Larger, commercial customers are more incentivised to buy recycled content and look for ways to recover resources.
Repurpose It has been involved in major Victorian projects including the North East Link, M80 and various Level Crossing Removal projects as well as the Melbourne Airport rail works.
George says the roads sector is ahead of the game in resource recovery and government agencies are looking to adopt similar criteria for infrastructure projects.
“It’s exciting to see learnings around advanced procurement starting to drive change and be applied across industries. It’s something we’ve spent a lot of years advocating.
“It’s fundamental to Repurpose It’s beliefs that all waste can be converted to a valuable resource. Promoting relationships that are different to traditional waste disposal is important, and councils are resonating with that concept.”
For more information, visit: www.repurposeit.com.au