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Winners of the 2024 Australian Resource Recovery Awards
The Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia (WMRR) has congratulated the winners of the inaugural 2024 Australian Resource Recovery Awards, announced in Adelaide on 16 October.
“The awards, which are part of the first ever Australian Resource Recovery Conference, recognise and honour those across industry striving to achieve our national 2030 resource recovery targets,” WMRR CEO Gayle Sloan said.
“Achieving the 80% resource recovery target requires significant local investment and a massive commitment to buying back what our essential industry manufactures. To do this, we need support across the entire value chain to ensure that our industry can compete on a level platform with virgin materials.
“We have a long way to go, but as peers we have celebrated those doing just that to make the future a reality. Our winners are playing their part in this challenge and inspiring others to drive positive change.”
The judges were impressed by the variety of nominees and the innovations being used to increase resource recovery.
The winners of the 2024 Australian Resource Recovery Awards are:
Resource Recovery Facility Award
Re.Cycle, for the Sunshine Coast Material Recovery Facility
Re.Cycle is a partnership between Re.Group and Sunshine Coast Council which runs an advanced material recovery facility. Opened in December 2023, it takes material from nine council areas and can process up to 250 tonnes of yellow bin commingled material a day across 10 material streams. Fitted with fire detection and suppression technology, it is achieving purity levels for plastic sorting of up to 98%.
Resource Recovery Innovation (or Project) Award
Port Pirie Regional Council, for its Weekly FOGO Transition
Port Pirie Regional Council, more than 200 km north of Adelaide, has only 17,000 residents. It has successfully transitioned to a weekly FOGO service seeing its kerbside diversion rate jump from an average of 46 to 67%, as well as a fall in landfill volumes by 38%. The introduction of FOGO has shown regional councils and lower socio-economic communities can achieve high-performing kerbside services that strongly contribute to cost-effective resource recovery — providing a potential pathway for other councils to follow.
Image credit: iStock.com/Lighthousebay
Spacious, sturdy and relocatable: steel site office ticks all the boxes
When looking for a tough yet movable office design, Australian sustainable steel manufacturer InfraBuild enlisted the services of Modulate Group — a business specialising in customisable modular building solutions.
InfraBuild operates 26 recycling centres in Australia, as well as in Poland and the US, with global scrap metal traders working in locations across the globe. Steel can be recycled, melted down and turned into new steel products, driving its material circularity. In Australia, InfraBuild uses high-quality scrap steel to make new steel products in its electric arc furnaces, helping to divert the scrap from landfill.
Modulate designed a spacious, light-filled, 225 m2 multipurpose office development to provide a durable and practical workspace for InfraBuild’s recycling staff. The relocatable, two-storey, container-based office complex was installed at InfraBuild’s 1 million m2 facility in Mayfield, Newcastle.
The National Project Operations Manager at InfraBuild Recycling, David Bowden, said the Mayfield building provided both good design and an expected lifespan of up to 25 years before it would need to be recycled.
“We believe the very tough but very comfortable relocatable steel building we refined and customised shows what can be achieved within the scope of well-designed container-based steel buildings,” he said.
Modulate’s designs are built to withstand heavy use with low maintenance. Its buildings, including stackable and double-width 4.5 m-wide types, can be engineered to meet the repeat-use needs of sectors such as mining, energy, infrastructure, construction, government projects, defence, and water and power utilities.
“When we were looking around for a better building to replace our old and less durable and less easily relocatable offices, we liked the idea of container-based buildings that could stand up to at least 20 years or more in service for a tough industry like ours,” Bowden said.
The entire structure incorporates eight 6 x 3.5 m shipping containers and two 12 x 2.4 m shipping containers customised to meet the design brief for a functional, robust and aesthetically pleasing two-storey office complex with a practical design that maximises space, comfort and convenience, with all insulation and services built in.
The spacious top floor houses a large boardroom and manager’s office, while the functional ground floor office space includes a foyer and seven offices, each approximately 3 x 3.5 m. There is a well-equipped kitchen and two bathrooms.
In addition to layout flexibility, key sustainability requirements included efficient water management and climate control systems and the ability for the entire structure to be able to be disassembled and relocated swiftly and safely as needs change in the future.
Durable roof structure, efficient water management, and climate control systems support a comfortable and practical working environment. “This new structure is far more versatile, comfortable and stronger than the old portable it replaces,” Bowden said.
“The strength is built into it, so it can comfortably accommodate hard-working crews with all their gear, without having to worry too much about damage. Even if the exterior of the building got a bump from site machinery, it is built to take the knocks without spilling insulation or fracturing services.
“Because we worked closely in partnership on the design and build, the end result is working very well for us in service,” he said.
Top image caption: InfraBuild’s 12 m-long and 9.5 m-wide two-storey office complex is made from eight 6 x 3.5 m shipping containers and two 12 x 2.4 m shipping containers customised to meet the design brief. All images courtesy of Modulate Group.