WasteSorted Awards 2021 - Winners’ Stories

Downer has developed Australia’s first asphalt product, Reconophalt, containing high levels of recycled content derived from community and household waste which would otherwise go to landfill.

This local solution reduces the reliance on virgin materials, which are typically used in road construction.

Since May 2018, Downer has produced more than 100,000 tonnes of the asphalt product which has been used to pave roads across Australia. Along the way, waste – including nearly three million plastic bags – has been diverted from local landfills.

Instant Waste Management went above and beyond client requirements at the 170-hectare Catalina estate, where it developed an effective solution for the disposal of construction and demolition waste, transferring it to its Bayswater site for separation and recycling.

To date, 4,156 tonnes of construction and demolition waste has been processed, and 96 per cent of the waste recycled, with some of the recycled fill material and road base finding its way back onto the Catalina site for use on the estate’s car parks and hardstand areas. 

Downer has developed Australia’s first asphalt product, Reconophalt, containing high levels of recycled content derived from community and household waste which would otherwise go to landfill.

Downer’s Reconophalt is a scalable, national solution to the environmental and economic challenges of traditional asphalt.

Since May 2018, Downer has produced more than 100,000 tonnes of the asphalt product which has been used to pave roads across Australia.

North West Recycling is a small family business providing some of Western Australia’s most remote towns and communities with the opportunity to recycle and contribute to reducing waste to landfill.

Engaged to implement the WA Containers for Change scheme, North West Recycling has an over-the-counter recycling refund point in Karratha as well as mobile refund points servicing Wickham, Pannawonica and Onslow.

Since October 2020, North West Recycling has recycled and kept from landfill 4.8 million beverage containers – and is on target to recycle 15 million containers in their first year of operation. The business also employs 12 residents and has shared almost half a million dollars in revenue with the local community.

Over almost five decades, Keith Rickman has been a leader in the Western Australian waste sector.

A well-known and respected identity, Keith was instrumental to the success of the Balcatta Tip Shop, instituted a hugely successful charity clothing bin program, and as a forward thinker, has been pivotal to the success of sector-wide improvements over his long career.

Keith also worked with colleagues and Total Green Recycling to start e-waste recycling across Stirling, now one of the biggest e-waste collection partnerships in Australia. His passion and efforts have helped the City of Stirling achieve national status in many of its waste endeavours.

A diverse ‘Green Team’ of doctors, nurses, anaesthetic technicians and patient support staff at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital is leading the charge in the challenging space of hospital waste management – and inspiring others to do the same.

The team is focused on engaging staff to consider what waste is generated each day and how it can be better managed. Within the hospital community they are known as the ‘go to’ team when it comes to all things recycling.

In 2013, the perioperative team was the first in the state to introduce the recycling of surgical plastics, which has resulted in the introduction of recycling for many other waste streams for surgical, sterilisation services, post anaesthetic care and anaesthetic waste, such as batteries and single use instruments.

After more than a year of research and collaboration, the Town of Cambridge, Green Machine Labs, Poly Pipe Recycling and Aussie Pool Covers devised a system to collect cast-off pool covers, recycling them into useful products like builders’ film and wheel stops for use in car parks.

The town trialled its first Pool Cover drop-off day in November 2020 and more than two square kilometres of pool covers were presented – filling the back of a flatbed truck.

Believed to be the first of its kind in Australia, this program is a circular and innovative solution to a very real disposal problem for all communities.

In 2018, Manea Senior College formed a Sustainability Mentor Group. Working closely with the City of Bunbury, as well as teacher Michele Watson, students have reduced waste to landfill through the implementation of a three-bin system for general waste, recycling and a food organics and garden organics (FOGO) bin. The students have also reduced canteen packaging and replaced toilet paper and hand towels with 100 per cent recycled products.

In 2020, the College became the first school in WA to successfully implement the United Nations Association of Australia Global Citizenship and Sustainability Program as a stand-alone senior secondary unit. Through this program, students have experimented with making biodegradable plastic out of seaweed and created an educational waste management board game and video.

Youth Educating about Waste (YEW) is a peer-education project that encourages young people, aged 17 to 25, to reduce waste such as textiles, food and plastics.

A team of five young people developed a suite of resources following research about youth waste attitudes and the barriers the young experience. The research showed that young people wanted practical information and content which does not overwhelm them. They identified lifestyle and financial factors which may be barriers.

The YEW team have demonstrated outstanding commitment and contribution to better waste management.

Lucy Jarvis, Community News journalist, has been recognised for her extensive efforts to shine a light on waste and ensure it remains an important topic for debate and discussion.

During her time at Community News, Lucy has regularly reported on waste matters – from community waste activities, local government waste planning and illegal dumping to the Containers for Change container deposit scheme.

The Southern Metropolitan Regional Council started operation of the Regional Resource Recovery Centre (RRRC) in Canning Vale in 2001. Adopting new and existing technology, the RRRC is unique in Australia in that all processing facilities are located on one site. The processing facilities also incorporate an education centre and viewing platforms, allowing the public to see the recycling and composting processes in action.

Since its establishment, the RRRC has diverted almost 1.8 million tonnes of waste from landfill. Organic products, from waste composting and green waste grinding, have also provided valuable nutrients back to soils in the Perth metropolitan area and to broadacre farming areas further afield.

The City of Bunbury is one of the first local government authorities in WA to install public food organics and garden organics (FOGO) bins alongside barbeques in popular locations around the city.

The public FOGO bins are a natural next step for the city, which was the first local government authority in Western Australia to introduce a three-bin FOGO system back in 2019.

The public FOGO bins are aimed at reducing recycling bin contamination, increasing diversion of waste from landfill and supporting a regional circular economy.

DevelopmentWA’s OneOneFive Hamilton Hill project set ambitious targets for resource recovery, which guided the design of the urban renewal project, its collaborating partners, and its implementation.  

The project recovered more than 10,000 tonnes of material – a staggering 96 per cent of the project’s demolition waste. Of this, 86 per cent of material was reused on site, leading to further savings in truck movements and carbon emissions.

The OneOneFive Hamilton Hill project demonstrates best practice in demolition and recovery techniques in the construction and demolition sector.