Australia's first mobile glass crusher will increase glass recycling rates by processing bottles and jars collected through kerbside recycling and drop off facilities, and reuse the recovered crushed glass (RCG) locally in civil construction.
The glass crusher will be managed by Wellington Council in New South Wales for a group of councils in the Netwaste Regional Waste Management Group.
The project is a joint initiative involving the Australian Food and Grocery Council’s Packaging Stewardship Forum (PSF), the Australian Packaging Covenant (APC) and five councils of the NetWaste Group; Wellington, Cabonne, Cowra, Mid-Western and Oberon councils.
Glass sand can be used for a wide range of civil construction purposes in place of natural sand, such as in asphalt and concrete pavements, kerb and guttering, pole footings, pipe bedding and in road base.
PSF General Manager, Jenny Pickles, says the decision by the councils to process and re-use collected glass in local civil construction provides significant opportunities to boost glass recycling rates.
Ms Pickles says establishing a market for the use of RCG as an alternative to virgin sand in civil construction is important for regional and remote communities that are challenged by distance and associated costs to get materials to end markets for recycling.
Kristy Cosier, NetWaste Projects Coordinator, says the member councils often work collaboratively, but sharing mobile infrastructure for this type of application is a new approach for the five participating councils.
Ms Cosier says the 28 member councils of NetWaste are watching the project with interest to learn from the experience of using RCG as a sand replacement product in local applications, and also to assess the model of sharing mobile infrastructure for waste services.
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