Local manufacture of wastewater screening technology

Customers and jobs benefit as wastewater leader CST achieves full local manufacture of screening technology vital to efficiency and sustainability.

Australian municipal and industrial wastewater treatment leader, CST Wastewater Solutions, is now fully manufacturing its rotary drum screen and screw screen/compactors locally to enhance quality and certainty of supply in Australia and New Zealand.

The move to total local production comes as intensifying supply chain issues interrupt, delay and lessen the supply of some vital wastewater treatment technology, which is key to the sustainability and environmental performance of industrial and municipal wastewater treatment plants and key to their overall reliability in delivering services to entire communities.

CST Wastewater Solutions Managing Director Mr Michael Bambridge says the switch to local production also enables his company to offer full stainless-steel products with world-respected standards of Australasian metals engineering, replacing carbon steel components and further improving corrosion resistance in harsh local environments.

Quality leadership

Such testing environments — in which the screens, compactors, and wedgewire and perforated drums are typically used — extend from municipal sewerage, waste management and water supply networks through to broad industrial uses: including food and beverage, red meat and poultry, dairy and primary processing, including paper, agricultural horticultural and mining and resources waste management and process engineering designed to protect the environment against flooding, spills, water table and waterway damage.

New CST Wastewater Solutions Technology being fabricated to globally respected Australasian standards of quality and durability.

“We have been moving progressively to local manufacture for the past two years now, to maintain quality leadership and guarantee reliable supply as the pandemic has wrought havoc with imports.

“Shortages and erratic supplies have had a knock-on effect right through the wastewater engineering sector, so we took the decision early to give our customers an edge in quality and certainty.

“Not only does local manufacture deliver a more robust and low-maintenance product — and better whole-of-lifecycle value — but it places the customer next to the source of supply for spare parts, future extensions and retrofits to boost performance long-term. This is a very important factor as more and more municipal and industrial organisations don’t have the engineering services on-site to totally maintain and to repair equipment without delay if it needs rapid attention.

Mr Bambridge says a very important additional advantage of the move away from cheap imports to local manufacture of superior product is the boost local spending gives to this country’s jobs and skills base.

“Everyone benefits — the customer gets a better product and greater certainty of supply; local suppliers — including, tooling, cutting and component makers — get the benefit of the local spend; and more local families get the advantage of more and better jobs.

“Local spending by Australian business makes sense on so many levels. Where the government is concerned, particularly, far greater preferences should be given to local manufacture over cheap imports that don’t pay Australian taxes or benefit the local economy.

CST’s range of screening equipment now fully designed and fabricated in Australia includes the following:

• Internally fed Rotary Drums — Model RDs
• In-Channel Horizontal Rotary Drum — Model FS
• Screw Screens and associated equipment — Model SF

“If it has taken a pandemic crisis to wake us up to the benefits to local manufacturing, then at least some good has been done by this plague that no-one wants,” says Mr Bambridge.