Published Wednesday, 06 February, 2008 at 10:54 AM
Minister for Tourism, Regional Development and Industry
The Honourable Desley Boyle
Archerfield company use grant to turn packaging waste into major export
An Archerfield packaging and recycling firm has received a Queensland Government grant to develop a prototype machine that will help recycle polystyrene waste so it is not dumped as landfill.
Regional Development and Industry Minister Desley Boyle and Member for Yeerongpilly Simon Finn today announced that Global Interest Pty Ltd had received a $45,740 grant that would go towards developing a machine to crumble expanded polystyrene ready for recycling.
“Most people would recognise expanded polystyrene as the white foamy material packed around electrical goods and fragile items to prevent them being damaged,” Mr Finn said.
“Global Interest compresses the polystyrene waste into “logs” and exports it to China so it can be reused to make picture frames, CD cases, coat hangers, building materials and plant pots.”
The company recently undertook a 16-week recycling trial with the Queensland Government’s Environmental Protection Agency and Redland Shire Council to reduce the large amount of polystyrene ending up in the Redland’s Birkdale landfill.
“The trial involved eight local businesses, which were provided with special bins for customers to discard their expanded polystyrene,” Mr Finn said.
Global Interests director Leo Sines said: “What we’ve found is that there are literally truckloads of expanded polystyrene out there. The Good Guys store at Capalaba alone generated the equivalent of more than six truckloads of polystyrene waste a year,” Mr Sines said.
He said he was keen to stop polystyrene waste from becoming landfill – and it was often cheaper to recycle polystyrene than to dump it.
Global Interest will engage West End specialist engineering company Kelmac Enterprises Pty Ltd to design and develop a prototype machine, to be located at shops in the Redlands Shire, which would crumble and bag polystyrene ready for collection.
“The problem with transporting expanded polystyrene is that it’s bulky. If we can crumble it and bag it, we can reduce the volume by 50 per cent and therefore transport more product,” Mr Sines said.
“For example, instead of having a truck collect from eight stores, the same truck could collect from 16 stores, thereby increasing efficiency and reducing our collection costs.”
He said the company was gearing up for taking on the high volume of waste that was generated in Redland Shire alone.
“In the future, we hope to develop to the stage where we’ll be able to approach other councils and offer them a recycling service while at the same time increasing our capacity to recycle and manufacture more product,” he said.
Ends
Media contacts:
Minister Boyle: 3224 2007, Mr Finn: 38484410 or Mr Sines: 3277 9999
Regional Development and Industry Minister Desley Boyle and Member for Yeerongpilly Simon Finn today announced that Global Interest Pty Ltd had received a $45,740 grant that would go towards developing a machine to crumble expanded polystyrene ready for recycling.
“Most people would recognise expanded polystyrene as the white foamy material packed around electrical goods and fragile items to prevent them being damaged,” Mr Finn said.
“Global Interest compresses the polystyrene waste into “logs” and exports it to China so it can be reused to make picture frames, CD cases, coat hangers, building materials and plant pots.”
The company recently undertook a 16-week recycling trial with the Queensland Government’s Environmental Protection Agency and Redland Shire Council to reduce the large amount of polystyrene ending up in the Redland’s Birkdale landfill.
“The trial involved eight local businesses, which were provided with special bins for customers to discard their expanded polystyrene,” Mr Finn said.
Global Interests director Leo Sines said: “What we’ve found is that there are literally truckloads of expanded polystyrene out there. The Good Guys store at Capalaba alone generated the equivalent of more than six truckloads of polystyrene waste a year,” Mr Sines said.
He said he was keen to stop polystyrene waste from becoming landfill – and it was often cheaper to recycle polystyrene than to dump it.
Global Interest will engage West End specialist engineering company Kelmac Enterprises Pty Ltd to design and develop a prototype machine, to be located at shops in the Redlands Shire, which would crumble and bag polystyrene ready for collection.
“The problem with transporting expanded polystyrene is that it’s bulky. If we can crumble it and bag it, we can reduce the volume by 50 per cent and therefore transport more product,” Mr Sines said.
“For example, instead of having a truck collect from eight stores, the same truck could collect from 16 stores, thereby increasing efficiency and reducing our collection costs.”
He said the company was gearing up for taking on the high volume of waste that was generated in Redland Shire alone.
“In the future, we hope to develop to the stage where we’ll be able to approach other councils and offer them a recycling service while at the same time increasing our capacity to recycle and manufacture more product,” he said.
Ends
Media contacts:
Minister Boyle: 3224 2007, Mr Finn: 38484410 or Mr Sines: 3277 9999