Sydney Water’s liquid waste management

Solution manages the collection and disposal

A new initiative by Sydney Water is being implemented to manage liquid trade waste.

A computer-based system called Wastelink promises improved control, safety and efficiency across every stage of the management of commercial liquid trade waste within the 12,700 km² area for which Sydney Water is responsible.

“Our new system electronically records precise data from the point of collection - eg, a restaurant grease trap - right through transport to a liquid waste depot and disposal,” explains Andrew Kirkwood, Manager, Customer Sustainability, Sydney Water.

“Data is recorded and uploaded to our central system by handheld scanners operated by contractors in the course of their daily collection runs.

“This gives Sydney Water the comprehensive, current and accurate data to monitor and plan liquid waste operations more cost-effectively and reliably than ever before - and so fulfil our overall mission to protect public health and the environment.”

Kirkwood said there were other benefits of the new system, including enabling contracted liquid waste collectors to plan their runs more reliably and efficiently using a streamlined administrative process. “Also, businesses registered as dischargers of liquid waste have more accurate and timely feedback, making it easier for us to deal with non-compliance issues,” he added.

“Sydney Water had operated a liquid trade waste tracking program for two decades using our own proprietary management software - and this was just not up to the growing future demands we forecast,” Kirkwood said.

“We needed a system providing much greater control of the whole transport to disposal process so we could minimise the impact on sewerage facilities.”

“The choice was to stay involved in developing and managing ever-more complex software tools or to take the ‘intelligent outsourcing’ path. We decided to focus on our core mission of delivering excellent water products and services,” he explained.

After reviewing options here and overseas, Sydney Water contracted software developer Wastelink to host and maintain its Wastelink system - an off-the-shelf standard solution already proved in use by other Australian water utilities.

Wastelink is a more powerful and advanced development of the software previously used as part of Sydney Water’s Wastesafe process. Because of this, the new solution reliably handles core Wastesafe functions - and is seamlessly integrated into the utility’s existing procedures.

Having worked with Sydney Water since 1991 in developing its previous system, the Wastelink company was well placed to assist in the change to a more advanced system. It has the resources and expertise to ensure its system keeps ahead of the industry’s evolving needs - and is backed by a commitment to ongoing support.