Driving sustainability in waste collection and management

The introduction of waste levies and targets to reduce landfill by 60%, are driving local councils to look at more sustainable options for collecting and managing household waste.

Sustainability has increased in its importance to the general population, and local government plays a critical role in delivering sustainability in waste management and resource recovery. In fact, councils are the front line when it comes to delivering key sustainability messages to local communities.

An important step was taken with the implementation of recycling bins across most of Australia a decade ago. And, while this initiative has been well accepted, there is still a way to go before an acceptable output to input ratio is achieved in most resource categories.

For example, further changes need to be implemented to reduce the ‘leakage’ of comingled recyclables to the waste bin where recycling bins are too small and to address the level of food organics going into the waste bin. Out-of-home recycling also needs to become more of a priority, as many recyclables are simply lost to the waste system when there’s no opportunity for people to recycle. I have not seen compelling evidence that the current national push for a container deposit scheme will, alone, achieve this goal, however it may improve litter control for public places and event management.

Sulo has been working together with local governments to help communities achieve more sustainable practices in waste management. In Queensland, one council is set to implement the first Australian initiative to address the issue of leakage of recyclables. By increasing the capacity of the recycling container, residents can fit more in - and there’s no need for a second container or more trucks on the road as existing side grab arm and comb lifters can lift the locally made 360 L bins.

A recent project in the Sydney region was designed to engage residents and ensure they could comply with the council’s waste management program. Sulo applied a durable multi-coloured print directly onto the lid of new recycling bins with clear instructions for residents. This replaced the need for the post-production application of costly multi-coloured stickers that generally fade or crack in the sun after short periods.

The issue that’s currently topping the agenda when it comes to sustainability in waste management is the amount of organic waste going to landfill. It is generally accepted around the states that the residual waste container currently includes up to 40% organic matter that could be diverted or collected separately.

For local governments to meet their obligation of up to 60% landfill reductions, collecting organic matter separately would help meet targets as well as saving money, by reducing the amount of waste attracting increasing state government waste levies. It also makes sense to compost organic matter and potentially provide this processed material back to the community.

Sulo recently partnered with an Australian company - Cardia Bioplastics - to provide local governments with a solution to the collection of household food and green organics. Cardia produces fully accredited and compliant compostable bags that work together with the Sulo organic collection system to enable fortnightly or monthly green collection. The compostable bags assist in reducing odour and vermin, and improving amenity of the street collection container and vehicle.

Finally, it’s important that Sulo models sustainable practices internally. The company is committed to re-using 30% of post-consumer plastic in the manufacture of new product. With the help of the NSW government a new cooling system has also been introduced within our manufacturing plant. It’s estimated that this will reduce water use by more than 7 million litres each year, while reducing energy consumption.

As for the future of domestic waste management, the newly introduced waste levies in many states will drive a need for greater diversion of resources that could otherwise be recycled or reprocessed. Extracting more of these usable resources, by reducing leakage and addressing food organics, will remain a priority.

*John Kernahan is Director, Sales & Marketing at Sulo Australia. He is involved in commercialising a number of new waste collection systems, including kitchen to vehicle organics collection containers, larger capacity recycling containers and public-place recycling and waste technology. His vision is to assist local government with better ‘whole of life’ asset management around waste equipment and technology.