Have you ever bought a plasma screen or fridge and asked: "Gee, what do I do with the white polystyrene foam it came packed in and where does it end up?"
That's easy. You put it in the general waste bin, not the recycle bin, and typically it is sent straight to landfill. Known as expandable polystyrene (EPS), its lightweight, flaky and bulky texture causes havoc at the recycling plants and in landfill it takes up a lot of valuable space.
EPS needs special machines to reprocess it and there are only a handful of depots around metro Australia and none in the regions able to do this. Depots require EPS to be dropped off at their centre where typically they compress it and sell it overseas - using more energy and emissions. For EPS depot locations go to www.repsa.org.au (**Statistic from REPSA: In 2006/2007 approximately 33,000 tonnes of EPS was manufactured in Australia of this: about 29% packaging, 67% Building and Construction, 4% Other Applications. This does not include EPS imported from overseas. During the same period over 800 tonnes of EPS was collected and recycled at EPS collection centres across Australia).
This situation is now changing in Australia, thanks to funding from the National Packaging Covenant, a unique initiative between industry and governments to stop packaging waste from ending up in landfill.
The Mildura Regional Waste Management Group recently applied to the Covenant for funding to buy a machine called an 'agglomerator' this is the first known machine of its kind in Australia and first located in a regional area. The agglomerator shreds and flakes the EPS into a recyclate which is then sold to Ausplaztik, who use it to build playgrounds, park benches and a variety of other products.
For Erin Fisher, Executive Officer, Mildura Regional Waste Management Group, the impact of the EPS project is enormous.
"Once up and running, the agglomerator machine can divert 140 tonnes of EPS over a four year period from landfill, plus it will become mobile so can travel to other towns and interstate to reprocess EPS," Ms Fisher said.
"When you think of all the plasma screens, fridges, computers, stereos which people buy and are protected with EPS, the impact of this project is enormous and it has the potential to change the landscape of EPS disposal in Australia."
Recently, this Covenant project was nominated for a zero waste category award of Tidy Towns, run by Keep Australia Beautiful, and topped the pops as one of eight finalists in the zero waste category - winning a top position above 30 similar applications. Winners will be announced on October 4 in Moe.
Covenant CEO Ed Cordner said it was great the project was recognised and it was a win for the environment.
"In Australia, we have limited access to recycling plants that can properly reprocess EPS. It has been somewhat of a menace in landfill, yet changes in technology mean this previously un-recovered material can now be recycled," Mr Cordner said.
Mr Cordner said the Covenant's aim was to increase Australia's packaging recycling rate to 65% by 2010. The Covenant currently funds more than 50 diverse projects across Australia worth a combined total of $47 million which investigate better ways to stop packaging ending up in landfill.
For interviews and to find out more about more go to: www.packagingcovenant.org.au or phone (03) 9861 2322 or 0412 043 215.
Erin Fisher, (03) 5018 8470 or 0408 214 007 Erin.fisher@mildura.vic.gov.au
