New contract with Macarthur Region Councils
6 December 2005
Last night, concurrent meetings of four local Councils - Campbelltown, Camden, Wollondilly and Wingecarribee - jointly awarded a 15 year waste and recycling contract to WSN Environmental Solutions.
Valued at over $150 million, the contract delivers to the region's residents a state-of-the-art waste processing system that offers important community benefits, including the return of valuable resources and the generation of 'green electricity'. In addition, most of the operation will be managed in an enclosed environment, reducing the potential for odours and the litter generally associated with traditional waste technologies.
Mayor of Campbelltown, Cr Russell Matheson, said he was pleased to be working closely with the other Macarthur Councils to provide the state of the art Macarthur Resource Recovery Park.
"This facility is the first of its kind in Australia, putting the Macarthur Region at the forefront of waste management," Cr Matheson said. "The four Councils are committed to reducing the amount of waste disposed of in landfill, and this new contract will see us achieve that using the ultra modern technology of WSN Environmental Solutions.
"We are very excited about the potential to improve on our already excellent record of recycling and waste management, and look forward to sharing the benefits of this new system with residents."
"WSN Environmental Solutions is delighted to have been given the opportunity to work with the Macarthur Region councils to provide the first large scale fully integrated waste management facility in Australia, The Macarthur Resource Recovery Park," said WSN Environmental Solutions CEO, Ken Kanofski.
The Park will process all the recyclables, organics and mixed solid waste from the four council areas. All waste brought to the Park will be treated on-site, and only recovered products such as recyclables and compost will leave the site.
The site includes a fully enclosed tunnel composting system to process 30,000 tonnes of organics each year, a materials recycling facility for sorting up to 30,000 tonnes of recyclables per year, a drop-off area for residents to use, a community visitor and education centre and a "Clean Up Waste" recovery facility.
The centrepiece of the Park is the Ecolibrium Mixed Waste Facility, using world leading Arrowbio technology from the Arrow Ecology Group in Israel. Arrowbio provides a fully integrated solution to the problem of recovering recyclable material and green energy resources from municipal solid waste. Its unique process generates significant volumes of green energy while simultaneously facilitating high rates of waste diversion from landfill.
The Ecolibrium Mixed Waste Facility that will be constructed at the Macarthur Resource Recovery Park is designed to process up to 90,000 tonnes of household waste each year and divert around 70 percent from landfill. At full capacity the Facility will recover enough green energy to power around 2,500 homes, 19,000 tonnes of recyclables, 10,000 tonnes of fertiliser, and 11,700 kilolitres of treated water.
The Macarthur contract follows other recent successes for the Arrow Ecology Group. They were recently awarded a new contract in Pachuca, Mexico and shortlisted as one of 5 out of some 50 competing technologies for the prestigious City of New York contract.
Arrow Ecology Group CEO, Yair Zadik, considers the Macarthur Resource Recovery Park as one of the most exciting concepts seen in municipal waste management internationally.
"The contract represents the culmination of two years intensive co-operation and technical exchange between the two companies supported by leading international consultants and engineers," Mr Zadik said.
The four Councils joined forces to build on their already excellent waste management record and work together on the South West Sydney Councils Resource Recovery Project (SWSCRRP). It is generally considered by many that the resulting waste management contract is one of the largest and most significant ever to be let by local government in Australia. Currently, landfill across the region comprises about 53,000 tonnes of domestic waste each year. Under the new contract, it is expected that over 70 percent of this material will, in future, be recycled.
The proposed facility will be located on the existing Jacks Gully site, Narellan which means there will be little disruption to current waste management services.
It should be fully operational by 2008, and will put the region at the forefront of resource recovery in Australia.
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