The City of Perth has become home to the most high-tech recycling facility in the southern hemisphere. Cleanaway’s brand new Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), has the capacity to process the city’s entire household recyclable waste.
Up to 250,000 tonnes of recyclable material, enough to fill almost 470 Olympic-size swimming pools could be handled by the new MRF, each year.
Cleanaway’s MRF is the most advanced commingled recovery system in the country, with state of the art optical sorting technology capable of separating recyclable materials including plastics, metals, paper and cardboard. This new plant will deliver some of the highest diversion rates in Australia – 97 percent, in comparison to average recovery rates of less than 85 percent.
Mr Reece Whitby, Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, joined Cleanaway CEO and Managing Director Vik Bansal to mark the official opening of the MRF in Perth’s north east.
“This multi-million-dollar facility is a major step forward in both infrastructure and technology and will take recycling in Western Australia to a whole new level of quality and purity. The Perth MRF is a significant investment for Cleanaway in line with our Footprint 2025 plan, and a demonstration of our firm commitment to creating a sustainable future for Australia,” Mr Bansal said.
Cleanaway General Manager for Western Australia, David Williamson, said the high-tech facility has an unmatched capability designed to address Perth’s recycling needs for the next decade and beyond.
“With the city’s population set to reach 3 million by 2020, Perth households and businesses will be producing more waste than ever before. Increasing the state’s capacity for resource recovery is a top priority for Cleanaway. Our new MRF will be the first facility capable of recycling household and business waste. We are opening the door to small and large scale commercial customers and making recycling easier in the workplace, giving businesses the ability to recycle in the same way as households,” Mr Williamson said.
Almost 20 years ago, Cleanaway introduced the first MRF to Western Australia. These older MRF’s have now been decommissioned and replaced by the new MRF in South Guildford.
“This significant investment by industry recognises the value of resources that are lost when recycling is not maximised,” Mr Whitby said.