Industry Updates Archives

Viva Energy and Cleanaway team up to address hard-to-recycle plastic waste

Cleanaway and Viva Energy today announced they have entered into an agreement to undertake a prefeasibility assessment of a circular solution for soft plastics and other hard-to-recycle plastics currently sent to landfill and transform them back into feedstock for food-grade plastic resin.

Industry Updates - Resource Recovery

April 15, 2024

Tags: Plastics

Highlights

The partners want to provide a sustainable soft-plastics solution for food manufacturers and packaging specialists seeking to cater to the growing environmentally conscious market, as well as households and businesses who want a landfill-diversion option.

The facility being assessed would incorporate a dedicated sorting and mechanical pre-treatment plant and an advanced chemical recycling plant to convert waste plastic into plastic pyrolysis oil (PPO), a feedstock for co-processing at Viva Energy’s Geelong Refinery. Recycled plastic manufactured through this process would have identical properties to virgin resin, opening the potential for food manufacturers to use recycled packaging.

The project could provide an important solution for food manufacturers and packaging specialists to meet their obligations under the Australian Government’s new recycling regulatory scheme that is expected to be in place by the end of 2025. Implementation of the packaging reform with mandatory obligations and a product-stewardship scheme for soft plastics are critical to enable this investment.

This project follows Viva Energy’s announcement in May last year that it intends to introduce coprocessing at its Geelong Refinery as part of it’s plans to transform the site into a broader energy hub. Co-processing will allow the refinery to demonstrate the important role it will play in plastic recycling while also reducing the facility’s carbon footprint.

For Cleanaway, pursuing this opportunity is part of its broader focus on providing low-carbon, high circularity solutions that reduce the need for virgin resources and lift Australia’s recycling rates.Assessing the potential for a circular solution for soft and other hard-to-recycle plastics follows Cleanaway’s recent investment in three Circular Plastics Australia recycling plants in Melbourne and Albury which process PET beverage bottles, milk bottles and other plastic packaging to create food and non-food grade resins to make new packaging.

Viva Energy Chief Business Development and Sustainability Officer Lachlan Pfeiffer said the project offers a significant advance in addressing Australia’s plastic waste issue. “For Australia to have the ability to recycle its own plastic – a true circular economy – we need to have a facility like this to convert waste plastic to pyrolysis oil on a commercial scale,” Mr Pfeiffer said. “If feasible, over time it will support a market for plastic collection and processing while also providing the pyrolysis oil we need to allow the refinery to produce recycled food-grade plastic. It will be a true end-to-end
solution for manufacturers.”

“This strategic alliance forms an exciting foundation on which to pursue a circular solution for soft plastics. It brings together Cleanaway’s experience and strategic infrastructure in the waste collection and processing sector, with the processing capability of Viva Energy’s refinery and polypropylene plant.”

Cleanaway Executive General Manager, Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions, Frank Lintvelt said: “This is an exciting opportunity for Cleanaway to expand our existing operations enabling plastic and packaging circularity in Australia. We are looking forward to leveraging our experience piloting new collection methods for soft plastics alongside Viva Energy’s refining capability. “An end-to-end circular solution for soft plastics is desired by many of our customers, consumers and governments. We are keen to progress this early-stage planning work, so that once we have a federally harmonised policy framework for plastic packaging and mandatory obligations for packaging design, recovery, and recycled content – together, we can provide a circular plastic packaging solution in Australia,” said Mr Lintvelt.

Viva Energy Media Enquiries
Michael Cave
T: +61 409 647 910
E: michael.cave@vivaenergy.com.au

Cleanaway Media Enquiries
Mark Biddulph
T: +61 499 332 601
E: mark.biddulph@cleanaway.com.au

About Cleanaway
Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd (ASX: CWY) is Australia’s leading waste management company with a national network of unique collection, processing, treatment and landfill assets. Cleanaway operates from more than 350 locations and employs more than 7,600 people. Our philosophy is that all waste is a resource and we aim to incorporate recovery, recycling and reuse throughout our operations and those of our clients. Our mission is making a sustainable future possible together.

Circular Plastics Australia (PET) is a joint venture partnership between Pact Group, Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd, Asahi Beverages, and Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP). Circular Plastics Australia (PE) is a joint venture partnership between Pact Group and Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd.

About Viva Energy
Viva Energy (ASX: VEA) is a leading convenience retailer, commercial services and energy infrastructure business, with a history spanning more than 120 years in Australia. The Group operates a convenience and fuel network of almost 900 stores across Australia, and exclusively supplies fuels and lubricants to a total network of approximately 1,500 service stations. Viva Energy owns and operates the strategically located Geelong Refinery in Victoria, and operates bulk fuels, aviation, bitumen, marine, chemicals, polymers and lubricants businesses supported by more than 20 terminals and 60 airports and airfields across the country. www.vivaenergy.com.au

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Victoria’s biggest PET plastic bottle recycling plant opens for business in Melbourne

Communities - Industry Updates - Partnerships

December 15, 2023

Tags: Media release

Highlights

Cleanaway announces the Bromelton Energy & Resource Centre project

Communities - Industry Updates

October 3, 2023

Tags: Media release

Highlights

Erskine Park Landfill emerges as a winner at the 2023 Australian Landfill and Transfer Station Awards

The site won the Outstanding Innovation, Project or Facility award for the successful completion of its Mechanically Stabilised Earth (MSE) wall project

Industry Updates

July 3, 2023

Highlights

“In a climate where fewer and fewer landfills are being approved, this technology opens up the opportunity to revitalise dormant assets or extend the life of assets heading towards closure.”

Tags: industry updates

Highlights

“In a climate where fewer and fewer landfills are being approved, this technology opens up the opportunity to revitalise dormant assets or extend the life of assets heading towards closure.”

Cleanaway’s Erskine Park Landfill recently won the Outstanding Innovation, Project or Facility award at the 2023 Australian Landfill and Transfer Station Awards for its Mechanically Stabilised Earth (MSE) wall project.

The MSE wall at Erskine Park Landfill is the largest landfill application of mechanically stabilised earth technology in Australia. At 900m long and over 16.5m high, it has raised the bar for landfill engineering.

As the current landfill fence line was fixed, the MSE wall technology allowed our team to vertically expand the landfills available airspace. The MSE wall project is in line with our Blueprint 2030 strategy, Blueprint 4 – Landfill Optimisation, which focuses on investing in new capacity to ensure that there is sufficient airspace at our existing landfill operations.

By building the MSE wall, we have unlocked 430,000 cubic metres of airspace that was previously not available. This extends the operational life of Erskine Park Landfill by over three years and alleviates some of the pressure on Sydney’s landfill network.

“We have set a precedent for the Australian landfill industry,” says Landfill Manager Daniel Wright.

“In a climate where fewer and fewer landfills are being approved, this technology opens up the opportunity to revitalise dormant assets or extend the life of assets heading towards closure.”

Erskine Park Landfill will continue servicing customers in Western Sydney until 2025. After this point, the Engineering team will install an engineered final cap to safely and compliantly transition the site into post closure.

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.

The growing threat of embedded lithium-ion batteries

Industry Updates - Resource Recovery

March 30, 2023

Tags: industry updates

Highlights

While largely out of sight, embedded lithium-ion batteries are all around us. They power many of our everyday devices such as:

baby monitors and cameras
bluetooth devices (headphones, speakers, etc)
computer accessories (wireless keyboards, mice, etc)
digital cameras
electric bikes and scooters
smartwatches
tablets
toys
videogame controllers.

The list goes on and on. Many Australians aren’t even aware of the existence of batteries in the products they use every day, and unknowingly dispose of these items in bins.

Pictured: In March 2023 Cleanaway operators servicing a customer’s site found a fire in one of our hook lift bins. The fire is suspected to be caused by an embedded lithium-ion battery.

Why are embedded lithium-ion batteries so dangerous?

The short answer: it doesn’t take much for lithium to combust.

There have been reports of lithium-ion batteries catching fire by simply coming into contact with moisture which makes them especially dangerous when placed in kerbside recycling bins.

On top of that, lithium fires even more dangerous than fires caused by other kinds of waste. Lithium releases oxygen as it heats up so using water to put out such fires is not only difficult but can lead to explosions.

Data provided by state fire departments show that more than 450 incidents linked to lithium-ion batteries have been reported over the past 18 months.

This alarming statistic is expected to rise as more and more lithium-ion batteries in use today reach the end of their life cycle.

Pictured: Embedded lithium-ion batteries such as the one inside this charred device shown above regularly catch fire in waste collection vehicles and facilities. This complicates an already difficult challenge for Australian waste management workers.

What to do with devices that contain embedded lithium-ion batteries?

Batteries of all types are a direct threat to our ecosystem and should be kept away from household waste bins or recycling bins.

Lithium-ion batteries pose an even greater hazard because they can combust at any stage of the waste management chain. These have been reported to catch fire during collection, transportation, handling and processing.

End of life devices that contain embedded lithium-ion batteries should be discarded at e-waste drop off points. This includes permanent collection sites at local waste transfer stations and retail outlets such as Bunnings.

Product stewardship programs such as MobileMuster accepts a large variety of e-waste such as mobile phones, smartwatches and tracking tags.

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.

Grasshopper Environmental is recertified by Good Environment Choice Australia (GECA) for meeting new standards

Industry Updates - Partnerships

March 28, 2023

Highlights

“The GECA ecolabel is an independent ‘tick’ that shows our service is better for the environment and has been ethically administered."

Tags: industry updates

Highlights

“The GECA ecolabel is an independent ‘tick’ that shows our service is better for the environment and has been ethically administered."

Member of the Cleanaway group Grasshopper Environmental was recently recertified by Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) for meeting its new construction and demolition (C&D) waste service standards.

GECA is Australia’s only independent advisory and eco labelling program. It’s recently announced new Green Star recognition covers six new standards:

building insulation materials
cement, concrete and concrete products
steel and steel products
recycled products
waste collection services
sustainable products and services (lifecycle assessment based).

Grasshopper Environmental services the C&D sector and is on a mission to divert C&D waste from landfill. C&D waste – which includes broken bricks, concrete, green waste, plasterboard, metals, soils, tiles and timber – has a recovery rate of up to 80%.

Cleanaway acquired Grasshopper Environmental in October 2020. In 2021 it became the first construction and demolition waste management supplier company in New South Wales to be licensed by GECA.

“The GECA ecolabel is an independent ‘tick’ that shows our service is better for the environment and has been ethically administered,” said Grasshopper Environmental Regional Manager Gavin Stewart.

“We’re proud of this significant achievement, which follows months of preparation and assessment, and demonstrates the high standards we have maintained over our 40 plus year history.”

“We’re committed to not only complying with environmental regulations but operating in a safe and ethical manner and exceeding the expectations of our customers.”

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.

The waste industry’s fight for fire safety

Communities - Industry Updates - Resource Recovery

February 9, 2023

Highlights

“When we think about the journey our rubbish goes on, from kitchen bin to the street for collection and then to waste facilities, if there’s a battery in the mix, the risk of a fire starting along the way soars.”

Tags: Recycling

Highlights

The waste industry is seeing a sharp increase in waste fires on garbage trucks and in waste facilities. In Australia more than 450 fires have been linked to lithium-ion batteries over the past 18 months, according to data provided by state fire departments. WA alone recorded 81 lithium-ion related fires in the last year compared to 21 in 2018, NSW recorded 180, 120 in VIC and 72 in QLD.

Many of these incidents are a direct result of waste contaminated with lithium batteries and other household batteries, which are a no go for kerbside bins.

Late on Boxing Day 2022 the Canberra suburb of Hume was rocked with news of a blaze at the local Materials Recovery Facility (MRF).

ACT Fire and Rescue chief, Matthew Mavity, said in an interview with The Guardian that an incorrectly recycled battery or vape had not been ruled out.

“Any battery … has potential chemical energy stored and that can be released if it’s damaged,” he said.

Pictured: Facebook post by the ACT Emergency Services Agency detailing the Boxing Day blaze at Hume MRF. The fire has detailed residential recycling in the ACT.

ACT transport minister Chris Steel added that the incident should serve as a wake up call for people to make sure they only placed non-hazardous recyclables in their bins.

“Unfortunately, we do see too many dangerous objects put into the recycling stream that simply shouldn’t be there,” he said.

“Things like vapes, batteries and even gas cylinders that can cause a hazard and a risk of fire.”

The destruction of the Hume MRF is a massive blow to waste management in the ACT.

Thousands of tonnes of waste that could’ve previously been recycled locally is now being transported interstate for processing.

A nationwide concern

The Hume MRF fire is far from isolated. At around the same time, two fires broke out at a facility for yellow lidded waste in Kwinana, WA.

Just like the Hume incident, the Kwinana fires are believed to be caused by lithium batteries thrown into kerbside bins.

Pictured: Facebook post by City of Kwinana reporting on the fires that broke out at the local MRF in December 2022.

Pictured: Facebook post by Department of Fire and Emergency Services WA showing firefighters battling a fire on a garbage truck in November 2022.

Since 1 January 2022, Fire and Rescue NSW crews have responded to 180 li-ion battery fires compared to just over 16 in 2021.

Up north in Queensland, discarded batteries are believed to have caused eight Brisbane City Council garbage truck fires since July 2021.

All eight incidents forced the truck drivers to dump their hot loads on suburban streets.

In an interview with the Brisbane Times, Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said that household batteries that were discarded in council bins were suspected of causing the fires.

Not even landfills are safe from battery fires.

The Australian Battery Recycling Initiative (ABRI) in its Inclusion of all batteries in the Victorian landfill ban submission to the Victorian EPA mentioned reports of at least two fires in a Victorian landfill believed to have been caused by li-ion batteries.

ABRI further explained in its submission that the incidence of battery fires in landfills continue to grow and that these incidents create hazardous fumes which are a danger to both firefighters and landfill operators.

A cause for change

According to the Hazardous waste infrastructure needs and capacity assessment report by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) the surge of li-ion entering the waste stream in the years to come is of particular concern.

The report estimates that waste li-ion batteries will grow by upwards of 300% each year by 2036. The result is the generation of between 100,000 to 187,000 tonnes of waste per year.

To put this into perspective, the Sydney Opera House weighs roughly 165,000 tonnes.

Source: Randell Environmental Consulting Pty Ltd & Blue Environment for the Hazardous Waste Section Department of the Environment July 2016.

Statistics by ABRI published in Waste battery disposal and recycling behavior: a study on the Australian perspective show that Australia’s battery recycling rate is still lagging behind many countries.

Pictured: Battery recycling rate in OECD countries including Australia (ABRI 2017).

The waste industry’s fight for fire safety requires concerted action to tackle Australia’s rapidly growing li-ion waste stream. This can be addressed by further developing the current battery recycling ecosystem to keep household batteries away from kerbside bins.

A nationwide effort such as this demands cooperation from the public, waste service providers and industry to support stewardship programs such as B-cycle, Australia’s official recycling scheme.

B-cycle was launched in January 2022. In its first six months of operation the scheme has collected over 900,000kg of batteries for recycling from more than 3,200 drop off points across all eight states and territories.

Safe and sustainable alternatives are also being developed by Australian companies as a long term solution to the li-ion waste problem.

Brisbane-based Redflow and Sydney-based Gelion have developed batteries with world leading zinc bromine flow technology.

Zinc-bromide batteries offer a safer and more reliable alternative to li-ion batteries. These next gen batteries also provide performance advantages over li-ion batteries by maintaining 100% state of health even after thousands of cycles.

Apart from new and emerging technologies, battery recycling education remains the waste industry’s best safeguard against waste fires.

Cleanaway provides free resources for Australians to learn how to properly discard of their batteries and other potentially hazardous household waste.

This includes information on free battery and e-waste recycling programs for residents to bring in their end of life household batteries as well as tips on handling and managing different battery types.

Pictured: Cleanaway battery recycling education poster.

We also partner with organisations such as Clean Up Australia to support hazardous waste disposal in communities across Australia and organise hazardous waste collection events with councils across the country.

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.

Cleanaway demonstrates carbon leadership in line with Global Methane Pledge

Industry Updates

November 16, 2022

Highlights

“We set our emissions targets to align with leading science and global climate dialogues, and we will ensure that these targets are underpinned by concrete activities in all business units right across Cleanaway."

"Lowering our operational emissions will benefit our customers, too. Reduction in our emissions translates to lower cycle emissions for our customers."

Tags: Carbon

Highlights

"Lowering our operational emissions will benefit our customers, too. Reduction in our emissions translates to lower cycle emissions for our customers."

On 23 October the federal government signed up to the Global Methane Pledge. This commitment will see Australia reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.

Cleanaway recognises the role the waste and resource recovery sector has in reducing methane emissions.

Waste management activities generate two different greenhouse gases: methane and carbon dioxide. When expressed on a carbon dioxide equivalent basis, around 80% of our greenhouse gas emissions come from methane, generated from the natural breakdown of waste across 10 active and closed landfill sites.

Around 20% of our greenhouse gas emissions come from carbon dioxide, primarily from the combustion of fossil fuels in our fleet, the electricity we use, and the natural gas we burn at our facilities.

Pictured: Cleanaway’s greenhouse gas emission profile. Total emissions are expressed in carbon dioxide equivalent.

To reduce our carbon emissions footprint, we have separated our methane and carbon dioxide targets which will help us drive specific emission reduction initiatives across our business.

For methane emissions, we have set a -30% reduction target by 2030. For carbon dioxide emissions, we have set a net zero target by 2050. Our 2030 targets are consistent with Australia’s 2030 emission goals outlined by the Global Methane Pledge.

Pictured: Our separate 2030 and 2050 reduction targets for methane and carbon dioxide.

Our FY21 Sustainability Report outlined our ambition to align reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to the 2015 Paris Agreement. That included holding the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Head of Carbon Taku Ide said “We set our emissions targets to align with leading science and global climate dialogues, and we will ensure that these targets are underpinned by concrete activities in all business units right across Cleanaway.”

“Lowering our operational emissions will benefit our customers, too. Reduction in our emissions translates to lower cycle emissions for our customers.”

Pictured: In FY22 more than half of all our captured landfill gas was used by third parties as renewable energy.

As Australia’s leading waste management solutions company Cleanaway continues to lead the line of carbon reduction technology. Our recent partnership with Zeotech and Griffith University will help us optimise our landfills by using manufactured zeolite .

We are also pushing the envelope of fleet decarbonisation by undertaking Australia’s most ambitious hydrogen mobility project. This project will explore the performance, impact and real-world experience of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) for fleet owners and operators, customers and other road users.

Our FY22 Sustainability Report details our commitment in expanding our knowledge and technology with the aim of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.

It also highlights the importance of our low carbon transition across our three sustainability pillars: people, planet and prosperity.

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.

Cleanaway congratulates the Australian Government for signing up to the Global Methane Pledge

Industry Updates - Partnerships

October 26, 2022

Tags: Media release

Highlights

Cleanaway welcomes Minister Bowen’s announcement that the Australian Government has signed up to the Global Methane Pledge.
This will see Australia join 125 other signatories to reduce global methane emissions across all producing sectors by at least 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.

Cleanaway recognises the important role the waste and resource recovery sector has in reducing methane emissions. It is the third largest emitter of methane emissions, primarily through landfills, making up approximately 10% of the annual methane emissions in Australia.

Cleanaway’s CEO and Managing Director Mark Schubert said “In August Cleanaway committed to reducing menthane emissions by 30% within the company by 2030. These targets are based on the Global Methane Pledge and compliments the Minister’s recent announcement. This demonstrates Cleanaway’s commitment to reducing emissions and making a sustainable future possible together.”

“Cleanaway looks forward to working collaboratively with the Australian Government in a concerted effort to reduce Australia’s methane emissions.” he said.

For further information contact:

Media
Mark Biddulph
Head of Corporate Affairs
Tel: +61 499 332 601
Email: mark.biddulph@cleanaway.com.au

Cleanaway expands Sydney footprint with GRL acquisition

Industry Updates - Resource Recovery

September 20, 2022

Highlights

“This acquisition represents an important step in the acceleration of our Blueprint 2030 strategy."

Tags: Prized assets

Highlights

“This acquisition represents an important step in the acceleration of our Blueprint 2030 strategy."

Cleanaway has acquired composting business Global Renewables Holdings Pty Ltd (GRL) in Sydney for $168.5 million. The acquisition is expected to complete within Q3 2022.

“This acquisition represents an important step in the acceleration of our Blueprint 2030 strategy,” said Cleanaway Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Mark Schubert.

“The facility provides a strategic location and infrastructure to enhance our broader network and customer offering today and into the future as we position ourselves for the growing FOGO market opportunity.”

“The announcement of Cleanaway’s acquisition of the GRL facility at Eastern Creek is a huge moment for our Organics Blueprint,” said Matt McKenzie, General Manager, Solid Waste Services, NSW/ACT.

“GRL provides us with large scale and licensed composting infrastructure in a highly strategic location and will complement our planned transition to food and organics waste processing at Lucas Heights. Both sites are expected to deliver leading landfill diversion rates, high resource recovery, and improved carbon outcomes, and will position us well to lead as the Sydney market transitions to FOGO.”

“I’m looking forward to continuing the great work on NSW Organics and welcoming the 100 strong team from GRL into the Cleanaway family!”

Pictured: The GRL organics composting facility in Western Sydney.

GRL is a New South Wales Environmental Protection Agency (NSW EPA) licensed large-scale organics composting facility.

The facility’s strategic location will enable Cleanaway to play a pivotal role in the processing of 220,000 tonnes or approximately 20% of Sydney’s mixed household waste and Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) waste.

GRL will also help us deliver 30% landfill diversion and better carbon outcomes than red bin waste sent directly to landfill. The diversion of FOGO from landfill is a crucial component of a more sustainable resource recovery, as organic waste trapped in landfill releases methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

Cleanaway is the exclusive contracted provider of waste to the GRL facility until 2032, with waste supply underpinned by contracts with surrounding councils.

Contact us to learn more about how we’re making a sustainable future possible for communities and businesses across Australia.