Intensifying recycling
Thanks to a new contract with REMONDIS, the municipalities of the state of Western Australia will be cleaner and more environmentally friendly. The system coordinator “WA Return Recycle Renew” commissioned REMONDIS Australia to collect and recycle plastic and tinplate beverage containers in the Perth, Peel and Wheatbelt regions for an initial period of five years. As part of the “Containers for Change” program, West Australia’s newly introduced container deposit system, REMONDIS will help to recover and process more valuable materials and, by doing so, intensify recycling. Around 7,500 tons or 550 million containers are to be collected annually. REMONDIS covers around 85 percent of the state’s households and will be responsible for approximately 70 percent of the total volume of the scheme.
7,500 t are to be collected annually. This is equivalent to 550 million containers
Recycling rate is to be doubled
Containers for Change encourages local residents to bring empty beverage containers to a collection point where they will receive a refund of 10 Australian cents for each beverage container. Collection takes place at collection points or where return machines are in place. Until now, the beverage containers were simply thrown away or disposed of with household waste. The goal of Containers for Change is to double the recycling rate.
Containers for Change encourages local residents to bring empty beverage containers to a collection point where they will receive a refund of 10 Australian cents for each beverage container.
The highlight: After a one-time registration, participants can get an ID number to collect their credit on. They can then decide to transfer the money earned from the deposited containers to a bank account, to receive it in cash or to donate it to a good cause. Hundreds of charitable institutions that can be supported have registered for this purpose. The system is financed from the proceeds of the sale of these recyclable materials.
The scheme will collect 550 million containers every year
The launch date: 01 October 2020
Containers for Change started in Western Australia on October 1, 2020. The container deposit system is an initiative that was launched in 1977 in South Australia. Only two Australian states, Victoria and Tasmania remain without container deposit schemes with both already having corresponding plans. An interesting variant of promoting recycling has thus established itself in Australia.
Tim Cusack, CEO WARRRL, Chris Gusenzow, General Manager REMONDIS Western Australia (from left to right)
New sorting plant in Queensland: latest technology improves recycling rate
Sorting technology is key to extracting as much valuable material as possible from refuse streams. After all, accurate sorting vastly improves the quality of recycled raw materials and yields resources that live up to customers’ expectations.
In an effort to do just this, REMONDIS has incorporated a new sorting process into the Rocklea Resource Recovery Facility near Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. This technology pairs a finger screen and magnets with a sorting line and picking cabin to recover plastic, cardboard, timber and ferrous scrap from commercial and industrial refuse arriving at the site. The new system can process up to 50 tons of material per hour and is operated by 7 employees. In total, REMONDIS processes over 130,000 tons of recyclables at its Rocklea Transfer Station.
The Rocklea Resource Recovery Facility is helping to increase the recycling rate for commercial and industrial refuse in Queensland as part of a government strategy that includes more ambitious landfill diversion and recycling targets.
The location also plays an important role in Australia’s efforts to be self-sufficient in recycled raw materials as it prepares to ban refuse exports in the coming years.
Image credits: image 1: Adobe Stock: 223429663, creator: Loic; image 2–4: © REMONDIS
