Out in Geelong and beyond, Green Care Mulching relies on the dependability and efficiency of Develon loaders to handle most of the heavy lifting work for its various projects.
As its motto goes, Green Care Mulching works to give new life to green waste.
An expert in the field when it comes to green waste processing, land clearance, recycling of construction timber, mulching and tree removal, the company works for a diverse clientele that includes local government, waste management centres, contractors, developers and private work.
Based in Geelong, Green Care services not only its home state of Victoria, but also recycles timber in the Northern Territory and carries out grinding work across the Tasman. The company manages The Mulch Centre, which serves as its recycling arm, accepting clean green waste and timber from the public and offering quality mulch and compost products.
Green Care chief executive officer Russell Norton said its origins traced back to 1988, when he began his career as an arborist. By 2008, he expanded his grinding operations into green waste processing, and in 2009, his company became a standalone entity in recycling, specialising in vegetation and timber grinding, screening and carting.
“Over the years, Green Care Mulching has played a significant role in environmental initiatives, such as processing green organics for the City of Greater Geelong’s Garden Organics Processing Facility in Anakie, which began operations in 2019,” Russell said.
“We have also been involved in large-scale clean-up efforts, including processing debris from the 2021 cyclone in the Yarra and Macedon Ranges, where our grinders processed over 300,000 cubic metres of mulch.
“Green waste processing is economical and environmentally friendly, with our aim being to save as much waste from landfill as possible.”
With such a workload, it’s essential for Green Care to have a modern fleet of grinders and mulchers to ensure flexibility and efficiency in operations, allowing them to handle projects of varying sizes, portability and requirements.
“We have 10 grinders that can shred vegetation, timber, tyres, mattresses, concrete and municipal solid wastes,” Russell said.
“As well, we have 12 semis and walking floor trailers, and over 30 skip bins that are all 30 cubic metre capacity.”
And playing a not-unimportant part all along Green Care’s journey to success have been a number of Develon loaders, all sourced from Clark Equipment in Dandenong South.
“They are indispensable for moving the material in our operations,” Russell said. “We have six loaders currently, and likely more in the future.
The company uses a Develon DL250-7 wheel loader which offers exceptional lift heights and generous bucket capacities to help spread green waste; four DL320-7M’s with 8cm3 buckets to load out trucks, screeners and grinders; and one DL420-7 with massive 13 cm3 bucket for the heavy lifting.
“We had the buckets for the 420s custom-made for us by Kerfab, to handle woodchips and mulches,” Russell said.
Even as we spoke, Russell was receiving delivery of that fourth DL320-7M for the business.
“This loader will have an eight metre-high lift bucket fitted to it to move material around the yard,” he said.
“It’s the perfect size for that bucket and loading semis, grinders and screeners.
“The Develons are modern and well-built machines which are efficient and are fantastic value for money.
“The loaders continue to perform without any issues whatsoever. This allows the company to work productively with no downtime.
“Mark Denny from Clark Equipment is excellent to work with.
“And when it comes to repairs, maintenance, parts, communication and the like, the backup and support are great.
“There’s no doubt that I will keep on buying Develons from him in the future.”
Mark said he first dealt with Green Care in mid-2021, when Russell wanted loaders that performed the tasks he needed for his projects better than the brand he was using at the time.
“Russell had seen some of the Develon (and previously Doosan) loaders in the region and approached me to start discussions about what I could provide as an alternative that would enhance his businesses capabilities,” he said.
Green Care’s first loader was the DL250, then the DL420, followed up the string of DL320s over subsequent years.
“Russell equips all his loaders with high capacity/high dump Kerfab buckets designed specifically to handle the products for which Russell’s business specialises in,” he said.
“Since Russell and I started dealing with each other, the relationship has been tremendous in that we have a mutual respect for each other’s knowledge, and therefore together we are able to work out the best solutions for moving forward with product instalments within Green Care Mulching.
“Russell has the understanding that I am here to enhance his business and calls on me as required.”
