Shoalhaven's Groundbreaking New Recycling Project
Published on 09 November 2021
On Monday 1 November, Shoalhaven City Council Mayor Amanda Findley joined University of NSW Professor Veena, Federal Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley and Senator for New South Wales Jim Molan to visit the West Nowra Waste and Recycling Depot where a new ‘waste to product’ MICROfactorie will be built.
They met with staff from the Shoalhaven City Council to discuss progress of the Council's $1 million MICROfactorie being built with its partner, the University of NSW’s Sustainable Materials & Technology Centre (UNSW SMaRT Centre), with some grant funds provided by the National Recycling Modernisation Fund.
Council received grant funding of $500,000 from the Environment Trust to enter into a partnership with the UNSW SMaRT Centre to establish the new facility.
Shoalhaven City Council Waste Coordinator Peter Windley said that the new recycling facility will remanufacture 14 tonnes of plastics into filament for 3D printing and almost 450 tonnes of glass and mattresses per year into other forms of furnishings.
“Products like tiles, kitchen benches and tabletops will be available to be purchased and used in homes. The products are tested by the CSIRO and are a very good vi product. They will be available to not only people in the Shoalhaven but everyone in Australia”, Mr Windley said.
“The project is considered groundbreaking because it solves an issue with previously unrecyclable broken and dirty glass fragments. Whilst there are other glass processing facilities in Australia, this new facility uses a unique washing process", Mr Windley said.
“Once again the Shoalhaven is leading the way with using innovative and cutting-edge technology to solve our growing waste problem. We hope in the near future to accept plastics, glass and mattresses from other areas of Australia, which will help to reduce waste materials ending up in landfill”, Mr Windley said.
The UNSW SMaRT Centre is a leading national research centre that works in collaboration with industry to ensure new recycling science is translated into real-world environmental and economic benefits.
Council will commence the construction of the Green ceramics MICROfactorieTM in late 2021 and anticipates the new facility to be completed by late 2022.