High-tech recycling facility opens in WA

The City of Perth has become home to what is claimed to be the most high-tech recycling facility in the Southern Hemisphere.

Cleanaway’s new materials recovery facility (MRF), based in South Guildford, has the capacity to process the city’s entire household recyclable waste. Up to 250,000 tonnes of recyclable material — enough to fill almost 470 Olympic-size swimming pools — could be handled by the MRF each year.

Cleanaway’s MRF is said to be the most advanced commingled recovery system in the country, with optical sorting technology capable of separating recyclable materials including plastics, metals, paper and cardboard. The plant is expected to deliver diversion rates of as high as 97%, in comparison to average recovery rates of less than 85%.

Other material recovery capabilities include:

• 95% recovery of all recyclables — up to 10% higher than current MRFs.
• 50 tonnes throughput of recyclable materials every hour.
• 53,000 tonnes of recovered paper and cardboard every year.
• 7500 tonnes of recovered mixed plastics every year.
• 1000 tonnes of recovered aluminium and metals every year.

“This multimillion-dollar facility is a major step forward in both infrastructure and technology and will take recycling in Western Australia to a whole new level of quality and purity,” Cleanaway CEO and Managing Director Vik Bansal said. “The Perth MRF is a significant investment for Cleanaway in line with our Footprint 2025 plan, and a demonstration of our firm commitment to creating a sustainable future for Australia.”

Cleanaway’s general manager for Western Australia, David Williamson, said the high-tech facility has the ability to address Perth’s recycling needs for the next decade and beyond.

“Our new MRF will be the first facility capable of recycling household and business waste,” he said. “We are opening the door to small- and large-scale commercial customers and making recycling easier in the workplace, giving businesses the ability to recycle in the same way as households.”