A leading South Australian waste management authority has just received $8 million in grants from Federal and State government agencies to implement new techniques in preparing paper and cardboard for efficient recycling.
It is the latest in a continuing series of technological improvements which have propelled the Northern Adelaide Waste Management Authority (NAWMA) to a benchmark position in the recycling industry.
NAWMA have recent innovations that include the commissioning of Australia’s first power generation facility at its Renewable Energy Park combining solar capture and landfill gas to generate up to 11,000 MWh/yr. – enough to power 1,900 South Australian Homes.
The latest grant will enable NAWMA to introduce a paper polishing plant which will remove residual contamination from up to 26,000 tonnes of paper and cardboard collected from household recycling bins each year and make it more suitable for commercial recycling.
NAWMA is an independently managed facility established by the local government councils of the City of Salisbury, City of Playford and Town of Gawler, servicing more than 110,000 households and businesses.
Its best practice procedures include the ongoing adoption of new technologies which add substantially to its overall efficiency.
Its Waste Processing Facility will be assisted by the purchase of a purpose-equipped Komatsu WA150 wheel loader with a specially devised clamp to help bale up to 60,000 tonnes of household waste each year. The clamp-baling mechanism will increase both efficiency and productivity.
The new machine will bring the number of purpose-equipped Komatsu’s on NAWMA’s four sites to ten and makes Komatsu a significant operational partner to the Authority. NAWMA purchased its first Komatsu in 2009.
Komatsu’s supply to NAWMA, now also includes forklifts, achieving economy of scale and operation by bringing all mechanical operations under one umbrella.
Incremental improvements and a policy of adopting fit for purpose technology are essentials in the development of services for NAWMA’s constituent councils, the Authority’s Processing and Disposal Supervisor Jason Moorhouse said.
NAWMA had assigned a Komatsu HB215 hybrid excavator to its Renewable Energy Park site at Uleybury, south of Gawler because of its ability to minimise energy use and optimise its carbon footprint.
The hybrid excavator recovers energy from the use of its slew function and uses that stored power to supplement its internal combustion engine. NAWMA estimates fuel and emissions savings at 30 percent.
Mr. Moorhouse said NAWMA, and Komatsu had recently specified a long arm, high dump bucket WA200-8-wheel loader for its Waste Processing Facility to better comply with Work Health and Safety regulations.
The new machine enables waste and recycling material to be more efficiently loaded onto high sided walking floor trucks without the need for ramping to clear the height of the vehicles.
The WA200-8 utilised energy and emission efficient Tier 4 engine technology and spearheaded a replacement plan to progressively upgrade NAWMA’s fleet.
On-site and flexi-hour service has become an essential part of the machine supply proposition to all NAWMA’s Operations. Machines need to be serviced with minimal downtime at intervals between 250 and 500 hours depending on usage. Komatsu and NAWMA have worked in partnership and devised a plan for remote service to suit the Authority’s needs.