Waste + Water Management Australia V43.6 April 2017

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WASTE + WATER MANAGEMENT AUSTRALIA APRIL 2017

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Customer Service Centre Central Region (NSW) Unit 2, 9 Enterprise Place, Wetherill Park, NSW 2164 Australia Phone +61 2 8787 9600 Fax +61 2 8787 9696

Customer Service Centre Southern Region (VIC/TAS) Unit 6, 80-84 Fairbank Road, Clayton South, Vic. 3169 Australia Phone +61 3 8558 3600 Fax +61 3 8558 3640

Customer Service Centre Northern Region (QLD) 50 Buchanan Road, Banyo, QLD 4014 Australia Phone +61 7 3363 6400 Fax +61 7 3363 6499

Customer Service Centre Western Region (WA,SA,NT) 76 Grey Street, Bassendean, WA 6054 Australia Phone +61 8 9370 7900 Fax +61 8 9370 7998

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contents Published by:

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Editor's Column

ABN 85 007 693 138 PO Box 510, Broadford Victoria 3658 Australia Phone: 1300 EPCGROUP (1300 372 476) Int’l: +61 3 5784 3438 Fax: +61 3 5784 2210 www.epcgroup.com

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Industry News

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Waste Expo

Publisher and Managing Editor Anthony T Schmidt Phone: 1300 EPCGROUP (1300 372 476) Mobile: 0414 788 900 Email: ats@epcgroup.com

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Cover Feature: MASTEC Green Bins

Editorial and Publishing Consultants Pty Ltd

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Copyright ©2017 - EPC Media Group

CIRCULATION 7020 Registered by Australia Post Publication No. 100001890

ISSN 1838-7098

APRIL 2017 Volume 43 Number 6

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16 Litter Control 18

Recycling Technology

20 Special Report: MRA Waste Data

23

22 Renewable Energy 24 Eco Focus 28 Non Destructive Drilling 30 Focus on Water 36 Product Focus: Aussie Pumps

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38 ACA Corrosion Feature 42 Project Report: ITS Pipetech VicRoads

44 Technology Feature

38

About the Cover (L-R): Mr Michael Trushell, Director, ACT NOWaste, Transport Canberra and City Services; Ms Meegan Fitzharris MLA, ACT Minister for Transport and City Services; Mr Chris Steel MLA, Member for Murrumbidgee; and Canberra resident Ms Marlese Van Lille, celebrate the delivery of first green bin for ACT's pilot residential kerbside green waste collection service.

Turn to Page 12 for the full story.

EDITORS COLUMN

There has to be a better way...

Dear Readers, Following the recent ravages of Cyclone Debbie - and the subsequent major tropical rainfall event that devastated cities, towns and regions along the east coast of Australia - one could almost be forgiven for wondering if we are stuck in a 'Groundhog Day' style loop where we are condemned to a life of watching the same events and consequences play out time and again.

Indeed, many areas of the country seem to barely have the opportunity to recover and rebuild from one major weather event, before they face the next devastating occurrence.

This is particularly true when it comes to flooding.

It's no small irony that the driest inhabited continent on earth should suffer so badly during major rainfall events. And that while great swathes of the country are submerged under floodwaters, much of our great continent remains arid and, in many aspects, massively underutilised and unproductive.

Alarmingly, despite the fact that even in my relatively short lifetime, these major flooding events have occurred more times than I could possibly remember, we still seem to suffer the same extreme consequences. And the toll is horrendous not only in financial terms (with costs often measured in hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars) but also in emotional and social terms.

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Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

From massive crop losses, through to total devastation of homes, businesses and in some instances, entire towns or large CBD areas, as is the case with any major disaster, the true toll of a major flood is almost impossible to calculate.

And it's also not a question of insurance.

Even in the event where insurance is affordable, or for that matter even available, as anyone who has suffered a major property loss will know, there are many things that money simply cannot buy - including peace of mind.

Interestingly, while there are already a number of additional flood mitigation projects underway in the wake of the recent devastation - including plans to increase some levy wall heights, and to purchase new temporary flood barrier systems - it occurred to me that these projects tend to focus on a relatively small area (and yes, I understand that that is precisely the point of localised flood mitigation plans, but please stay with me, I promise there's a point to this).

My point is: rather than focussing on flood mitigation as a localised issue, is it not time that we thought about stormwater management on a much large scale - for instance, a state-wide or even national scale?

Now before you are led to wonder if I have taken leave of my senses, I offer these salient points in support of my comments: • Much of our great nation is sorely lacking in water for much of the year and as a result, is massively under-utilised and under-productive;

• At the same time, large areas are inundated by floodwaters with alarming regularity; • Climate science provides clear evidence that extreme weather events will continue to occur with increasing regularity; • Governments spend hundreds of millions of dollars repairing and rebuilding infrastructure after each of these major flood events; • Access to water is perhaps the single most important factor increasing the habitability and productivity of any area; • Our country continues to grow, but one of our biggest struggles is the concentration of growth along the eastern seaboard.

With that in mind, I believe that the time has come for us to seriously consider a plan to capture and/or redirect and harness this stormwater to help 'open up' Australia's interior. And, yes, I know that this is an idea that has been floated in various guises for more than a century, mostly to be dismissed as either being too expensive, or for that matter, a pointless exercise for a country with a small population such as ours.

In answer to that, I offer this: a) Our population, and the planet's population is growing at an extremely rapid rate. It's not only about having somewhere to live - everyone has to eat.

This would be a 'Nation Building' project in every sense of the word, providing an opportunity to create a massive agricultural economy. b) Growth ONLY EVER comes from investment. This WILL cost many tens of billions of dollars. However, in a country with an annual welfare bill of more than $150 billion, the tens of thousands of jobs that this project would create (both during construction and ongoing), together with massive longterm economic benefits that a plan like this can deliver for generations to come, makes it an excellent investment.

I firmly believe that the time has come to take a 'big picture' approach, and that this is a discussion that we need to have.

Anthony T Schmidt Managing Editor

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Industry leaders unite behind the circular economy For the first time, waste and recycling leaders have met to discuss industry planning and infrastructure needs nationwide.

Max Spedding, CEO of the NWRIC

On April 11, the inaugural meeting of the National Waste and Recycling Industry Council (‘the Council’) was held in Melbourne. The meeting brought together companies representing the majority of the waste management and recycling industry from across Australia.

Attending the meeting were senior representatives from Alex Fraser Group, Cleanaway, J. J. Richards and Sons, Solo Resource Recovery, Sims Metals Management, Suez, Toxfree, Remondis, ResourceCo and Veolia. Also attending were delegates from State ‘Affiliates’, representing industry bodies in Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and the Northern Territory.

“The purpose of this Council is to create a single voice for the industry at a national level,” said Phil Richards, Chair of the Council.

“At the first Council meeting, we debated a number of key policy challenges, which we believe are holding back the development of improved waste and

recycling services for all Australians.”

This first Council meeting resolved a shared commitment to move Australia towards a circular economy, where industry is encouraged to invest in new technology, improved infrastructure and new employee skills.

The Council also discussed the need for national harmonisation in relation to the laws and regulations governing the industry.

“The current variation in the rules and regulations governing waste management between jurisdictions creates a cost to business with no environmental, social or economic dividend,” said Max Spedding, CEO of the Council.

“Finally, the Council discussed the need for improved infrastructure planning, to encourage private investment and innovation in the circular economy.”

At future meetings, members and delegates will be working to further refine Council policy positions. The next Council meeting is scheduled for June 13 in Sydney.

Consideration of new nominations for National Radioactive Waste Facility A 90-day public consultation process is being undertaken to discuss the merits of sites volunteered by two land owners in South Australia for Australia’s National Radioactive Waste Management Facility.

Over the period, communities near the properties ‘Napandee’ and ‘Lyndhurst’ at Kimba on SA’s Eyre Peninsula will discuss if they are suitable to host the facility.

“A majority of neighbours, the council and others, have already told us they support these nominations being taken forward for consultation,” Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Matt Canavan, said.

“There is sufficient community support to begin this consultation. The next step is to assess if that support is broad enough to move to a site-specific assessment.”

The two new nominations relate to different parcels of land than those that were previously assessed, but not progressed, in the Kimba region last year.

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Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

The new nominations were made under fresh guidelines, which ask for an indication of support levels from neighbours and council, alongside any application.

In line with feedback from the community, the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science has also increased the ways people can provide feedback during the consultation phase.

In addition to the community making submissions, Kimba Council will engage the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to conduct a community vote.

Subject to ratification by council, the vote and registration process will be advertised in coming weeks, and the vote timeframe will be co-ordinated with the 90-day public consultation period.

“If broad community support is demonstrated for either or both sites, the Australian Government may move to a second detailed technical and community assessment,” Minister Canavan said.

Department representatives have established an office in Kimba and are available two days a week to meet with the community and help answer questions.

Experts from Geoscience Australia and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) will also be available to discuss the proposal during the consultation period.

Meanwhile, the second-phase assessment of a site at Barndioota, which includes site-specific technical studies and detailed consultation, is ongoing.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Innovyz Waste and Recycling program attracts top Australian universities Waste and Recycling Commercialisation Program to launch sustainable ideas into global markets Innovyz Institute along with Green Industries SA, has announced ten successful technologies and ideas selected for Innovyz’s new Waste and Recycling Commercialisation Program, including two from South Australian universities.

After an intensive selection process, which included exploring valuable research and inventions within many universities, industry associations, small businesses along with back-yard inventors, the technologies and ideas chosen were those that offered highly innovative and sustainable solutions to some of Australia’s most challenging and costly waste management problems, and demonstrated the potential to be commercially successful, both in Australia and overseas.

Among the successful technologies chosen included a new way to produce hydrogen with less energy, a new process to use graphene to separate oil and water, and a process to separate foil from aluminium laminated PE – something that has, until now, eluded recyclers.

In what could be considered a stunning breakthrough in Australia’s waste commercialisation industry, seven of the ten successful applicants were from Australian universities.

Innovyz Institute Chairman, Mr Philip Vafiadis said, “Our Waste and Recycling Program will go a long way towards ensuring important ideas turn into great companies, and through these companies, become commercial realities that deliver considerable tangible benefits to the world.”

“The level of engagement that we have received from Australian universities has also been impressive. This is partly a result of our strong focus on creating meaningful relationships with universities, as well as the impact of recent Federal Government policy.

This has opened up amazing opportunities for Australian invention and research to be the seeds of important new companies,” Vafiadis said.

Selection committee member, Mr Kevin McGuinness, Chair, Board of Green Industries 6

Waste + Water Management Australia | December 2016

SA, an Innovyz Institute program partner, added, “The quality of the ideas and research in Australia’s waste and recycling area is fantastic and shows Australia’s growing global competitiveness. Our partnership with Innovyz Institute is critical to ensuring ideas are translated into products and services that can be exported and ultimately, make the world a better and cleaner place.”

The ten successful applicants cover a diverse range of ideas, combined with a balanced mix of applicants from both industry and research institutes. The selected innovations and ideas include: • A method that reduces the cost of hydrogen production by reducing the energy used.

• A software application used by brand owners and packaging designers to assess the recyclability of packaging at the design stage. Businesses can firstly determine ways to make packaging more efficient and recyclable, and then classify the recyclability of each component to select the correct on-pack recycling instructions.

• A unique pre-setting pressure technique along with the use of geo-polymers to massively increase the quality of recycled concrete.

• A 3-D robust graphene composite in several different forms able to separate oil from water.

• A new technology that continuously monitors the surface temperature of plant canopies (leaves) to improve water use efficiencies in orchards, vineyards and farms.

The Innovyz Selection Committee

• A new and very cost efficient process for recycling certain PVC products and aluminium laminated PE, such as plastic foil medical trays.

• A promising new technology currently under commercial development that will significantly reduce the amount of urban storm water pollution reaching environmentally sensitive downstream ecosystems.

• A new process that injects carbon dioxide into recycled aggregate to improve its quality and that of recycled concrete.

• A portable filtration system that collects fine particles, plaster, and sediment from waste water preventing them from entering the water system.

• A new method to remove BOD and nitrogen from wastewater, that uses dramatically less energy.

The Innovyz Institute program will commence in April 2017 and conclude in nine months, with intent to launch the ten successful companies into world markets.

Green Industries SA, a South Australian government statutory authority, is a funding partner for the Innovyz Waste and Recycling Commercialisation Program. Green Industries SA helps develop the green economy, promoting the more efficient use of resources, and the conservation and recovery of scarce resources.

For further information, please visit: www.greenindustries.sa.gov.au or www.innovyz.com

INDUSTRY NEWS

Downer signs sales purchase agreement with ITS PipeTech Downer has entered into a sales purchase agreement with ITS PipeTech.

ITS PipeTech provides pipeline rehabilitation solutions to the water and wastewater industry, local government and industrial markets, and has more than 130 employees across Australia.

“We are very pleased to sign the agreement (SPA) with ITS PipeTech who are an excellent strategic fit for our utilities business,” said Trevor Cohen, Downer’s Executive Director, Utilities.

“ITS PipeTech complements and substantially grows and broadens our existing pipelines capability into an innovative endto-end national pipelines business in the pressure and non-pressure markets.”

“The ITS PipeTech brand and structures will remain and will transition into Downer’s Infrastructure Services Utilities business.”

Queensland set to ban single use plastic shopping bags The Queensland Government has received overwhelming support for a ban on single use plastic shopping bags since the release of a discussion paper last November.

More than 23,000 Queenslanders responded to the discussion paper by the deadline of 27 February and Queensland Environment Minister, Steven Miles, said the response showed they were passionate about the issue of plastic bags in the environment.

“Around 900 million single-use lightweight plastic bags are used in Queensland each year and up to 16 million bags are littered – many ending up on our beaches, in our parks and waterways.

“Plastic bags are the most conspicuous plastic litter item and take thousands of years to fully break down.

“Research has shown that plastic pollution in coastal waterways has serious impacts on marine wildlife, such as sea turtles and sea birds, which can ingest or become entangled in the bags.”

Dr Miles said a plastic bag ban was a critical step in the government’s long-term plastic pollution reduction plan.

“The ban will coincide with the introduction of the Container Refund Scheme in 2018 to reduce the impact of drink container litter on our natural environment.

“Lightweight plastic shopping bag bans are already in place and working well in other parts of the country.

“We also want to take the next step in working with retailers nationally to develop voluntary initiatives to reduce the use of the thicker department store-style plastic bags.”

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Register online via the ACA website Events tab at www.corrosion.com.au Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

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INDUSTRY NEWS

New Managing Director for Gippsland Water A business woman who lives in Victoria’s Gippsland region has been appointed the new Managing Director of Gippsland Water.

Sarah Cumming has served on the Gippsland Water board for the past five years, and most recently worked as the General Manager of Corporate Services at Latrobe City.

Her appointment to the Gippsland Water post follows a national search and an exhaustive interview process. Ms Cumming will succeed David Mawer whose term will expire in June – Mr Mawer did not apply for reappointment.

Ms Cumming has held a range of senior management positions at the Australian Securities & Investment Commission and was previously a litigation lawyer with a leading law firm.

She has a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Law, a Master of Business Administration and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

State Minister for Water, Lisa Neville, said Ms Cumming’s appointment reflected Water for Victoria, which identified the need to promote gender equity within the water sector and the government’s commitment that no less than 50 per cent of all future board appointments be women.

“It’s wonderful to welcome Ms Cumming to Gippsland Water; she will bring a range of experience in governance and leadership.

“The appointment of a local person is a vote of confidence in the talent available in the Gippsland area and a clear sign of the organisation’s commitment to local jobs.”

Trial aims to reduce illegal dumping A 12-month trial to track the movement of vehicles suspected of illegal dumping has been launched by the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority following an investigation in 2016.

Under the conditions of the trial, GPS trackers have been fitted to vehicles suspected of illegally dumping construction and demolition waste, including asbestos.

The authority (EPA) can track the vehicles’ movements and be aware if they travel near known illegal dumping hotspots.

The trackers were fitted to the vehicles with the owners’ knowledge – it is illegal for the trackers to be tampered with or removed.

Environment Minister, Gabrielle Upton, said the government was serious about cracking down on illegal dumpers.

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Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

“The trial results show the trackers fitted to vehicles have deterred illegal activity,” Ms Upton said.

“It won’t just deter those being watched, but others who think they can get away with dumping on our communities and environment.”

The trial will assist in reducing the volume of litter in New South Wales by 40 per cent by 2020.

Once the trial is complete, the EPA will consider using tracking devices to monitor other vehicles accused of unlawfully transporting or dumping waste.

In 2014, the government introduced laws, including the power to install trackers onto vehicles, and the ability to seize vehicles used in dumping offences.

Developing waste to energy technologies The development of waste to energy technologies, including anaerobic digestion and thermal treatment of waste, will be underpinned by a new $2 million fund launched by the Victorian Government.

The Waste to Energy Infrastructure Fund will boost sustainable energy production using organic and other materials, and divert more waste from landfill.

Expressions of interest for funding closed on 3 April 2017 – a full application and detailed business case assessment process will follow for eligible project ideas.

As a major food producing and processing state, Victoria’s commercial and industrial sector produced more than 300,000 tonnes of food waste in 2014-15, but only 22 per cent of that was recycled.

Diverting commercial and industrial food waste from landfill means methane produced during decomposition is not released into the atmosphere where it is a major greenhouse gas.

Methane released to the atmosphere is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide which traps heat and contributes to climate change.

The Waste to Energy Infrastructure Fund is designed for the waste management sector, councils, water authorities and businesses with proposals for new or upgraded projects that can be commissioned by 31 December 2019.

Victorian Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate, Change Lily D’Ambrosio, said waste to energy projects offered opportunities by creating jobs, helping to reduce business costs, generating sustainable energy and reducing pressure on landfill.

“This program supports investment in renewable energy technologies that will help Victoria become a low carbon economy and reach our target of zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

“A variety of industrial and organic waste products can be used in waste to energy projects, however, thanks to our agricultural base and food-culture, Victorian farms, food processors and commercial operations are well-placed to benefit from turning waste to energy.”

INDUSTRY NEWS

Green Bond certification for environmentally responsible projects Queensland is on its way to boosting investment in environmentally responsible projects through Green Bonds issued by the Queensland Treasury Corporation.

The Corporation (QTC) plans to issue certified and independently verified green bonds to domestic and international investors for use on projects funded entirely or in part by the Queensland Government.

“The QTC Green Bonds will assist the government’s commitment to the environment and action on climate change to benefit future generations,” Treasurer, Curtis Pitt, said “It means Queensland will be joining an ever-growing worldwide movement in supporting the issuing of green bonds.”

Mr Pitt said that pre-issuance certification was provided by the Board of the Londonbased Climate Bonds Initiative, an international certification agency that oversaw the Climate Bonds Standard.

The list of potentially eligible projects could include:

• renewable energy; • energy efficiency processes and products; • low-carbon transport – electrified rail infrastructure and cycleways; • drought resilience and flood defence; • water and wastewater treatment plants and distribution infrastructure; • preservation of the Great Barrier Reef and other natural ecosystems • low-carbon building; and • other projects covered by new or revised climate bond sector-specific standards.

Philip Noble, QTC Chief Executive, said green bonds could be allocated to existing, new or ongoing eligible projects that had environmental benefits for Queensland.

“Eligible projects are those funded, entirely or in part, by the State of Queensland, supporting the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy.”

Mr Noble said as part of the pre-issuance certification process, QTC submitted an application to the Board of the Climate Bonds

Initiative detailing Queensland Government initiatives that could potentially support green bonds.

To receive the Climate Bond Certified stamp of approval, QTC was required to seek assurance from an approved third party verifier which provided an independent opinion that a potential issuance met the Climate Bond Standard.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Review of Product Stewardship Act

New committee to assess future of open-cut mines AA 12-month trial to track the movement of vehicles suspected of illegal dumping has been launched by the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority following an investigation in 2016.

Under the conditions of the trial, GPS trackers have been fitted to vehicles suspected of illegally dumping construction and demolition waste, including asbestos.

The authority (EPA) can track the vehicles’ movements and be aware if they travel near known illegal dumping hotspots.

The trackers were fitted to the vehicles with the owners’ knowledge – it is illegal for the trackers to be tampered with or removed.

Environment Minister, Gabrielle Upton, said the government was serious about cracking down on illegal dumpers.

“The trial results show the trackers fitted to vehicles have deterred illegal activity,” Ms Upton said.

“It won’t just deter those being watched, but others who think they can get away with dumping on our communities and environment.”

The trial will assist in reducing the volume of litter in New South Wales by 40 per cent by 2020.

Once the trial is complete, the EPA will consider using tracking devices to monitor other vehicles accused of unlawfully transporting or dumping waste.

In 2014, the government introduced laws, including the power to install trackers onto vehicles, and the ability to seize vehicles used in dumping offences.

A review is being undertaken of the Product Stewardship Act 2011, which helps to reduce the environmental and health impacts of products.

The Act does this by encouraging industries to improve the design and manufacture of their products, and to collect valuable or harmful materials for reuse, or responsible disposal.

The review – commissioned by the Australian Government – is the first assessment of the Act since it commenced in 2011.

The Department of Environment and Energy will seek input from industry, governments and the public to ensure the Act continues to be effective, and is delivering the best outcomes for business and the environment.

The Act currently supports the successful National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme (NCTRS) which has recycled approximately 184,500 tonnes of electronic waste since 2012.

The review will provide an important opportunity to continue to update and improve the NTCRS, which was updated following an operational review in 2014-15, including the possibility to include other electronic products.

The Act also provides accreditation for industry-led voluntary arrangements such as MobileMuster, which is the only industry-led mobile phone recycling program in the world.

It has collected and recycled more than 10 million handsets since 1998.

The Act establishes the Minister’s Product List, which is updated annually and informs the community and industry of the products being considered for possible accreditation or regulation under the Act. Products under consideration for this financial year, include batteries, photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, used oil bottles and plastic microbeads.

The review will examine the adequacy of services provided by industry to remote and regional communities, and the way in which exports of working computers for reuse in other countries is accounted for and reported under the scheme.

The review is scheduled to conclude in the first half of 2018.

Grants available under waste education programs A $300,000 grants package to support the delivery of targeted waste education programs has been launched by the Victorian Government.

Sustainability Victoria will manage the three funding programs which are open to local government, schools, education providers and community groups.

The programs focus on the strategic objectives of the Victorian Waste Education Strategy and eligible Victorians are encouraged to apply for one of the following grant categories: • Improving Resource Recovery program: supporting waste education through behaviour change projects; • Love Food Hate Waste Local Engagement Support program: raising awareness of food waste; and • Litter and Illegal Dumping program: tackling statewide litter issues.

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Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

In 2016, the government launched the strategy to lead targeted waste education to improve the community’s understanding of waste, littering, illegal dumping and recycling.

Victorian Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio, said locally-targeted education programs would enhance the community’s understanding of the importance of waste as a utility.

“By increasing community awareness of better waste management, we can reduce contamination levels, littering and illegal dumping, and recover more resources.

“Better collaborations between industry, local government, and waste delivery agencies will help us meet our goals of generating less waste across Victoria,” the Minister added.

Waste Evolution at Waste Expo Australia 2017 CALL FOR PAPERS

A call for submissions has today been circulated to the industry for Waste Evolution at Waste Expo Australia 2017.

Waste Evolution is a free opportunity to showcase concept, prototype or newto-market technologies, products and innovations within Waste Expo Australia.

Waste Evolution is an exciting display platform for the industry to see these new technologies come to life.

Submissions across all areas of Waste Management and Resource Recovery are welcome including: • Waste to energy • Collection • Sorting • Robotics • Drones • New technologies

For more information and to lodge an expression of interest submission please visit: www.wasteexpoaustralia.com.au

ABOUT WASTE EXPO AUSTRALIA Waste Expo Australia is the must-attend businessto-business exhibition for waste, recycling and sustainability in Australia.

Waste Expo Australia brings together Australian and international solution providers in the waste management, recycling, resource recovery and sustainability sectors; showcasing the latest technology, products, services and turnkey solutions.

Waste Expo Australia presents an opportunity to engage with professionals from sectors such as government, corporate, facilities including sporting, hospitality and entertainment venues, transport and healthcare, for whom waste management, recycling and sustainable solutions are increasingly vital.

Taking place at the Melbourne Exhibition &

Convention Centre on 11-12 October 2017, Waste Expo Australia is co-located with All-Energy Australia to form Australia’s most significant showcase for the renewable energy generation and supply, energy storage, energy efficiency, waste management, recycling and resource recovery industries.

Visit www.wasteexpoaustralia.com.au for more information.

ABOUT REED EXHIBITIONS Reed Exhibitions is the world’s leading events organiser, with over 500 events in 30 countries. In 2015 Reed brought together over seven million event participants from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today Reed events are held throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa and organised by 40 fully staffed offices. Reed Exhibitions serves 43 industry sectors with trade and consumer events. It is part of the RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries. www.reedexpo.com

COVER FEATURE

CANBERRA

get its first green waste bins

ACT Minister for Transport and City Services, Meegan Fitzharris launching Canberra's new pilot green waste collection service.

12

Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

COVER FEATURE

“The new bins will help divert some 5,000 tonnes of garden waste currently going to landfill each year.”

I

n keeping with its commitment to minimising the amount of residential waste being sent to landfill, the ACT Government is set to commence a pilot kerbside green waste collection service for residents in several Canberra suburbs. The first green waste bins were delivered during March to residents across the suburbs of Weston Creek and Kambah as part of the green waste bin pilot program announced by ACT Minister for Transport and City Services, Meegan Fitzharris.

“A number of residents who have registered in the suburbs of Weston Creek and Kambah have received their green bins today, and over the next few weeks a further 5,000 bins will be delivered,” Minister Fitzharris said.

“The bins will be delivered over several weeks. Once the initial delivery of bins are down the first collections will start in the second half of April 2017."

“These 240 litre green waste bins are for all household garden vegetation waste. Access to a garden waste bin will save families both time and money, while also having environmental benefits," the Minister said.

“The new bins will help divert some of the 5,000 tonnes of garden waste currently going to landfill each year. Waste collected from green bins will be processed, recycled and made available through commercial providers."

In launching the new pilot program, the Minister said that the suburbs of Weston Creek and Kambah were chosen to give the ACT Government a good sample size of residents in an established region of Canberra.

"They are mature suburbs with established gardens and are broadly representative of the housing profile of the Territory," she said.

“This pilot will help us to understand the intricacies of kerbside green waste collection on a larger scale. It will tell us how many waste trucks will be required for a city-wide rollout, the impact that a city-wide rollout may have on existing waste facilities, the frequency of pickups and the need for infrastructure to cater for a broader rollout."

“We’re making sure we get it right by conducting a phased roll-out; similar to the recycling bin roll-out,” the Minister added.

Importantly, the program has generated a lot of interest with residents, with the ACT Government receiving over 5,000 registrations from local residents in the pilot area when the pilot was first announced. Not surprisingly, interest in the pilot program has continued to increase as the new bins are being delivered, with an additional 1,500 household registering for a green waste bin since the deliveries commenced.

"There is a lot of excitement in the community as people are starting to receive their new bins and it is great to see the green waste bins on our streets,” Minister Fitzharris said.

The new service is being provided on an fortnightly basis, alternating with the residents' existing kerbside recyclables collection.

NEW VENTED GREEN WASTE BIN DESIGN As well as being a first for Canberra, the new green waste pilot program is the first to utilise MASTEC's new Australian-made vented 240-litre green waste bin design.

Specifically developed for green waste services, the MASTEC® GREENKEEPER 4V MGB (wheelie bin) incorporates 4 specially designed vents that allow air to flow into the bin even while the lid is closed, while at the same time, preventing flies, bugs and vermin from getting into the bin. The vents are permanently fitted into the bins as part of the bin manufacturing process, thereby ensuring that they don't become loose or get dislodged.

With two the vents located on each side of the bin (approximately 4cm under the top lip of the bin body) the MASTEC® GREENKEEPER 4V has been designed to allow for optimum airflow into the bin in all ambient temperature conditions. This can play a significant role in preventing the bin's contents from becoming anaerobic prior to collection.

The bins feature a lime green lid for easy identification, and have a large, easy-to-understand 'quick reference' guide sticker fitted to the inside of the lid to assist residents with using the green waste service.

INSET: The MASTEC® GREENKEEPER 4V bin incorporates four specially designed vents (two on each side) that allow air to flow into the bin even while the lid is closed, while at the same time, preventing flies, bugs and vermin from getting into the bin.

Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

13

COVER FEATURE

HIGH-TECH A&D SYSTEM STREAMLINES BIN DELIVERIES As well as being awarded the contract to manufacture and supply the bins for the new green waste pilot program, MASTEC Australia were also awarded the bin Assembly & Delivery (A&D) contract.

Needless to say, their extensive experience with A&D contracts across Australia proved invaluable when it came to the Canberra green waste pilot program.

MASTEC Australia Pty Ltd Managing Director, Michael Brixton, explained: "While this initial bin delivery is only a relatively small roll-out, one of the most challenging aspects of the Canberra pilot program is that it is a 'rolling' opt-in service where people are able to call in and opt-in to the program even after the bin deliveries have commenced."

"From an A&D perspective, this means that the total amount of bins to be delivered is always increasing - and in the case of the Canberra contract, it was increasing at an average rate of over 120 households per day. This not only results in a number of routing and scheduling challenges, if done incorrectly, it can result in significant issues including bin losses," he said.

"With that in mind, our systems have been specifically designed to provide constant updated 'real-time' data as to which households have ordered bins, which bins have been delivered, and which deliveries are yet to be completed," he added.

Representing the culmination of over five years of research and development work, the purpose-designed system provides accurate, real-time information as to the status of every delivery contract.

As part of the bin manufacturing process, each MASTEC bin is ‘Hot Stamped’ with a unique serial number and fitted with a matching barcode sticker. At the time of delivery to the individual households, the bins are fitted with a second barcode sticker which is generated by the software system as part of the delivery route sheet preparation process. This second barcode reflects delivery address and property ID number, as well as the type and size of the bin.

With all of the relevant data now ‘physically attached’ to the bins by means of two barcode stickers, all that remains is for the delivery crews to scan the barcodes with the lightweight hand-held scanner/transmitter. The scanned data is automatically transmitted (together with date/time stamp info) via the GSM digital network to the MASTEC’s central database as a ‘combined’ record containing all of the relevant data for the bin including bin type, size, location and property ID. This is a quick and simple process that generally takes no longer than 10 seconds per bin to complete.

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Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

Importantly, in any instances where there may be a discrepancy in the GIS data (no house at location, incorrect address, etc.) the operator is able to enter an exception code that provides a clear explanation as to why a bin could not be delivered to the address. As well as providing an extremely quick and easy way of collecting all relevant data for each bin, the fact that the data is scanned rather than written manually, also eliminates problems or issues relating to incorrect information being written down and/or illegible run sheets - further improving data integrity. Furthermore, as a ‘live’ data transmission system, it also provides an accurate ‘real time’ picture of how the bin roll-out process is progressing at any given time.

HIGHLY ACCURATE DATA As well as helping to provide a fast, efficient and streamlined Assembly & Distribution service, MASTEC’s high-tech bin delivery system delivers a highly accurate dataset which can be used to verify GIS rate / property data.

Utilising state-of-the-art hand-held scanning units, together with a specially developed proprietary software package, the system provides an extremely accurate and easy to use method of registering and tracking bin serial numbers and, if installed, RFID tag numbers to individual properties.

For further information on the full range of MASTEC products and services please visit www.mastec.com.au or phone 1300 MASTEC (1300 627 832)

PICTURED BELOW (from left): The bins are fitted with a second 'location address' barcode sticker at the time of delivery; The barcodes are scanned with the lightweight hand-held scanner and transmitted in real time to the central database; The bins are delivered with a booklet detailing the new green waste service and correct use of the bin.

See the video of the Reverse Smart AEB in action: www.reversesmart.com.au/how-does-it-work

The state-of-the-art Reverse Smart AEB system has been speciďŹ cally designed to reduce the incidents of large vehicles or mobile plant impacting workers or objects while reversing.

1

By providing an additional level of protection, including an engineering control that can stop the vehicle by automatically applying the brakes, the Reverse Smart system can signiďŹ cantly reduce the risk of impacts, injuries and workplace fatalities.

2

Step 1 : Object detected while reversing. Step 2 : Vehicle continues to reverse towards object. Step 3 : Reverse Smart AEB system automatically applies the brakes and stops the vehicle.

For further information, or to arrange a demonstration, please visit:

www.a1reversingsystems.com.au or contact Davin Hamnett Ph: 0419 177 199

or A1 Reversing Systems Pty Ltd Ph: 03 9765 9444

3

LITTER CONTROL

Addressing the true cost of cigarette butt litter Despite the dramatic reduction in the number of people smoking in Australia that has occurred over the past 10 years, cigarette butts remain as one of the most significant litter problems across Australia.

In fact, cigarette related litter consistently represents the single most dominant source (by items counted) of litter during national litter surveys and Clean Up days - and the costs associated with cleaning up cigarette butt litter are truly staggering.

Research from a range of sources estimates that each year, some 7 billion of the almost 24 billion filtered cigarettes sold in Australia will end up as cigarette butt litter - an environmental disaster by any measure.

What's more, it's clearly evident that simply banning smoking near buildings and other public areas has not managed to stem the tide of cigarette butt litter. Indeed, in many areas, these expanded restrictions seem to have done little more than move the cigarette butt litter from the footpaths and building ledges into the surrounding garden beds and drains.

Needless to say, collecting cigarette butts from garden beds and drains is not only a difficult and time-consuming task, it is also one that costs public and private sector organisations a significant amount of money and resources - both of which could no doubt be better utilised.

Providing ashbins for cigarette butts in areas where smoking is permitted can, and does, play a critical role in reducing the amount of cigarette butt litter. However, they are only effective if they are clean, functional and emptied regularly.

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Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

With that in mind, Australian company Butt-Out Smoke Zone has focused on providing a two-pronged solution for cigarette butt litter, namely: • the supply of high quality, permanent and temporary ashbins that can be installed in public areas and/or designated smoking areas; and • the provision regular collection services to empty, clean and maintain the ashbins and remove the collected cigarette butt litter.

This fully-integrated approach to cigarette butt litter not only helps to significantly reduce the amount of butts being thrown on the ground or disposed of in nearby garden beds or drains, it also eliminates the need for councils and other building/ facility owners and managers to allocate valuable staff resources to empty, clean and maintain the ashbins.

Butt-Out Smoke Zone was the first major Australian company - and is still the biggest specialist company - to remove cigarette butt litter. They provide ashbins and other equipment, together with cleaning and collection services to clients large and small across the country, including councils, government departments and commercial businesses (shopping centres/ retail precincts, building owner/managers and the majority of the nation's fast food chains). In fact, each week an estimated 3 million butts are disposed of in ButtOut Smoke Zone ashbins - preventing a staggering amount of litter from ending up on the ground and in our waterways.

The company's range of purpose-designed, attractive and vandal resistant outdoor ashbins, together with its affordable regular cleaning, collection and servicing options, provide a convenient solution to what remains a significant litter issue across Australia, while also helping to reduce the cost cigarette butt litter.

For further information on the full range of Butt-Out Smoke Zones products and services, please contact Butt-Out Smoke Zone Pty Ltd, Phone: 1800 358 258 or visit: www.buttoutaustralia.com.au

A CONVENIENT SOLUTION TO AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH While in a perfect world, for many people, no one would smoke the truth of the matter is: many people still do smoke.

What's more, most people, now have to smoke the majority of their cigarettes outside and more often than not, that leads to one thing: cigarette butt litter!

Butt-Out Smoke Zone has been leading the way in Australia's fight against cigarette butt litter since 1994.

From purpose designed, vandal-resistant outdoor ashbins and smoker's shelters, through to a range of affordable and effective regular cleaning, collection and servicing options, Butt-Out Smoke Zone can provide you with an extremely convenient solution to the 'inconvenience' of cigarette butt litter.

T: 1800 358 258

E: sales@buttoutaustralia.com.au

www.buttoutaustralia.com.au

RECYCLING TECHNOLOGY

No escape STEINERT develops a non-ferrous metal separator for very fine materials Fine-grain sorting materials have no chance of escaping when Galloo, one of Europe’s biggest recyclers and a pioneer in metal recycling, teams up with the Cologne-based sorting and separation specialist STEINERT. The two sector heavyweights have developed a new non-ferrous metals separator for fine materials. Known as the STEINERT EddyC FINES, the new system’s splitter can be set with millimetre precision, enabling non-ferrous metals such as aluminium, copper and zinc to be separated more effectively than ever before. Additionally, the machine was designed so a conveyor belt change can be carried out in 10 minutes, without heavily lifting equipment or excessive downtime.

In 2013, Galloo wanted to expand and began to conduct studies into more efficient ways of extracting non-ferrous metals from fine-grain material. Galloo contacted the engineers at STEINERT, asking them to develop a flexible machine concept for three different input materials: automobile shredder residue (ASR), incineration bottom ash and electronic scrap.

The challenge with this task is that the input is extremely fine material, with grain sizes of 0.5 -10 mm. The goal was to enable

Machines at the Galloo plant are arranged in a cascade so that they can be integrated into a combined facility.

18

Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

the three different materials to be to run through the system flexibly without any drop in the separation rate. Engineers wanted to further optimize the separation of non-ferrous metals out of the fine-grain fraction and, at the same time, simplify the machine’s operation and maintenance.

STEINERT adapted the output to the machine’s requirements and developed a splitter that can handle the three different types of fine-grain material. Fine gearbox adjustments can be made to the splitter to enable it to get to within a few millimetres of the material, separating even the tiniest particles. The machines now run at Galloo in two shifts for a total of about 16 hours per day.

“We are now buying input material from Germany, Denmark and the UK, because the system runs so reliably,” said Galloo R&D Officer Luc Waignein.

Fines. The EddyC Fines has a frame structure which allows the belt to be replaced in 10 minutes.

“Changing the belt of an eddy current separator often takes a company half a day, with up to three employees and heavy lifting equipment needed to perform this task,” explains STEINERT Technical Director Dr. Nico Schmalbein.

With the STEINERT EddyC FINES, two employees can carry out a belt change with nothing more elaborate than a spanner. The easy handling is a big benefit for Galloo.

“We now need fewer personnel for belt changes and there is less downtime,” says Waignein.

10-Minute belt change reduces downtime After the successful installation Galloo, STEINERT’s development and design team began to work on additional features especially for the fine-grain sector, leading to the creation of the new STEINERT EddyC

A belt change can be completed in 10 minutes.

RECYCLING TECHNOLOGY

The STEINERT EddyC FINES non-ferrous metal separator for very fine materials.

Luc Waignein, Head of R&D at Galloo and Karl Hoffmann, key account manager at STEINERT.

Galloo is also building a new facility that will recover non-ferrous metals from grate ash. The ash contains up to six percent iron and up to three percent nonferrous metals. However, the particles are very small, measuring only 0.5 - 4 millimetres.

As a result of the previous good experience, Galloo is also using the new STEINERT EddyC FINES in the new facility.

A flexibly adjustable splitter The new system’s splitter plate has to be precisely adjusted in order to separate the metals from the fine incineration bottom ash material.

“A gearbox now enables users to set the splitter plate with millimetre precision along three different axes and adjust it even more accurately to the parabolic trajectories of a wide variety of materials," Dr. Nico Schmalbein said.

"In addition, a corresponding upgrade enables the program-controlled system to focus on predefined points of the parabolic trajectory. In combination with a continuously adjustable eccentric magnetic pole drum, this system can achieve optimal separation results,” he added.

These enhancements are certainly paying off for Galloo.

“The new system will enable us to sort so many tons of incineration bottom ash each year that even small improvements in the separation rate will have a noticeable financial impact,” explains Waignein. "We mainly recycle aluminium, copper, zinc and brass, as well as a few precious metals such as gold and silver. In addition to the separated metals, the remaining metal-free mineral mixture is also valuable," he said.

Benchmark performance The pole drum’s eccentric pole system is still without parallel on the market. The nonferrous metals separator has a rapidly rotating magnetic pole system that induces eddy currents in the non-ferrous metals transported

on the conveyor belt. This system rotates at 4,000 rpm over a working width of two metres.

The resulting opposing magnetic field creates repulsion effects, which enables the non-ferrous product to be ejected from the stream of material. The splitter plate in the parabolic trajectory separates the non-ferrous product from the remaining stream of material.

“We made sure the splitter plate was adjustable so that the system can react to a variety of input materials. Before we did this, we analysed the flight properties of various materials and used this information to work on the settings,” says Jochen Schäfer, a design engineer at STEINERT. “The splitter can be adjusted to specific trajectories in order to accommodate a variety of separation tasks.”

“There is nothing comparable on the market for conveyor belt widths of two metres,” says Karl Hoffmann, Key Account Manager at STEINERT. The extremely high pole change frequency activates even tiny particles measuring less than a millimetre so that they can be separated.

Partners are well prepared for the future Waignein is delighted with the cooperation with STEINERT. “Ten years ago, you could only obtain standardized devices on the market. It was impossible for us to adapt them to our specific needs. That’s why we are extremely happy that we and STEINERT have been able to jointly develop a system that precisely meets our requirements,” he said.

Galloo has been cooperating with STEINERT since 1985, when the recycler bought its first non-ferrous metals separator.

“We have always been impressed by the products’ quality. The machines just keep on running - some of them for 15 years now - and they require little maintenance,” says Waignein.

“Although there are machines on the market that might seem to be economical, they

don’t benefit us if they only run reliably for a year and then cause expensive downtimes.”

Today, most of Galloo’s non-ferrous metals separators and magnets come from STEINERT. Galloo is a special customer for STEINERT as well, because the recycler has provided the engineers at the development and design department with valuable feedback for the past 31 years.

“That’s why we decided to draw on Galloo’s practical experience when we updated the splitter in 2016. The large amounts of finegrain material prompted us to solve this problem and create a very profitable solution for our customer,” says Hoffmann. The result is a system that sorts fine-grain materials even more reliably and economically than before. That’s why Hoffmann is certain that “our continuous cooperation with customers such as Galloo and our ongoing research and development activities make us a reliable and competent partner for creating separation and sorting solutions," he concluded.

At a Glance

STEINERT EddyC FINES > Application: Separation of non-ferrous metals (aluminium, copper, brass, etc.) for particles measuring 0.5–10 mm in: > Incineration bottom ash (waste incineration ash) > Automobile shredder residue (ASR) > Electronic waste > PET flakes > Dross > Splitter adjustable with millimetre precision > Belts can be easily changed in approximately 10 minutes > Magnet: permanent (neodymium iron boron NdFeB N52), high-frequency rotating magnet system > A neodymium magnet system that rotates at high frequency (special eccentric magnet system) creates a strong magnetic eddy current field. The eddy current field is used to deflect and sort nonferrous metals out of the stream of materials. > Magnet rotor speed: 2,610–4,000 rpm > Working width: 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 mm > Belt speed: 1–2.5 m/s

SPECIAL REPORT

The State of the Waste data By: Mike Ritchie, Director, MRA Consulting

The Australian State of the Environment (SoE) 2016 Overview was tabled in Parliament on 7 March 2017. The previous SoE was in 2011.

The SoE concludes that: Despite an overall increase in waste generation, Australia’s total disposal tonnage decreased from about 21.5 megatonnes to about 19.5 megatonnes (about 9.5 per cent) between 2006–07 and 2010–11. During this period, the resource recovery rate in Australia increased from 51 per cent to 60 per cent. The quantity of material recycled increased significantly from 21.4 megatonnes to 27.3 megatonnes per year, or by about 27 per cent.

Australian State of the Environment 2016, p.90

This is a good outcome. In the space of four years, tonnes of waste recycled have leapt up. All of which means that, in the face of increasing waste generation, the total tonnes of waste to landfill have dropped.

What is disconcerting, however, is the data used. The SoE 2016, released during March, is drawing its waste conclusions from data that is now more than six years old. From the National Waste Report 2013 which, despite its name, is built on data from 2010/11.

Now six years is a long time in this world.

Six years ago, Julia Gillard was our Prime Minister, Fukushima melted down, Steve Jobs died and Kate married William. Instagram didn’t exist. It’s a lifetime ago.

Consider the waste data from the National Waste Report 2013 (see Figure 1).

I’ve hunted down the latest data reported for each state. Five of Australia’s eight States and Territories are working with data

State

Year

Recycled

% diversion

2010/11

200,000

730,000

78%

NSW

2010/11

5,940,000

11,180,000

65%

NT

2010/11

280,000

20,000

7%

Qld

2010/11

3,580,000

3,960,000

53%

SA

2010/11

880,000

2,940,000

77%

Tas

2010/11

410,000

240,000

37%

Vic

2010/11

4,560,000

7,700,000

63%

WA

2010/11

3,660,000

2,260,000

38%

19,510,000

29,030,000

60%

Figure 1: National Waste Report 2013 Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

Landfilled

ACT

Total

20

that is two or more years old (see Figure 2.).

In this age of “Big Data”, we should be able to expect a State and National Waste Account within six months of the end of each financial year.

We should have the systems in place to enable almost real-time monitoring of just what is happening, letting our policy makers, generators, collectors and processes all respond to real feedback. To improve as they see the system at work.

We should also push benchmarking hard, especially for local government. NSW does it well. It reports on waste data for each council, extensively analysing each.

Councils know who the leaders are, who to talk to for tips. This should be standard

SPECIAL REPORT

State

Year

Landfilled

Recycled

% diversion

Years old

Source

ACT

2010/11

200,000

730,000

78%

5

National Waste Report 2013

NSW

2012/13

6,300,000

10,500,000

63%

3

State of the Environment 2015

NT

2010/11

280,000

20,000

7%

5

National Waste Report 2013

2014/15

4,765,854

44%

1

State of Waste and Recycling in Queensland Report 2014-15

2013/14

914,000

80%

2

Zero Waste SA – SA 2013-14 Recycling Activity Report

2010/11

410,000

37%

5

National Waste Report 2013

2014/15

4,125,479

67%

1

Victorian Recycling Industry Annual Report 2014-15

2014/15

3,613,310

42%

1

Recycling Activity in Western Australian 2014-15

Qld SA Tas Vic WA Total

3,673,189 3,588,000 240,000 8,409,714 2,621,540 29,782,443

20,608,643

59%

Figure 2 across the board. Let peer pressure drive improvements.

It’s time Australia got serious on its waste accounts. It’s simply not good enough to release a State of the Environment Report 2016 that is relying upon data that is ancient history.

As always, I welcome your feedback on this, or any other topic on ‘The Tipping Point’.

Please visit: blog.mraconsulting.com.au

ABOUT MRA CONSULTING MRA Consulting is Australia’s best small consultancy in recycling, waste and carbon (Inside Waste 2013, 14, 15 and 16). MRA provides services to large and small business and all levels of government. The MRA team includes engineers, planners, economists, lawyers and scientists.

MRA is a national leader in carbon reporting, compliance, planning, approvals and project development and develops strategies for technology providers, Councils and businesses. It delivers tailored commercial advice including economic modelling, market studies and market entry and provides comprehensive education and consultation services.

MRA also operates a comprehensive audit and waste assessment program.

MRA is based at Drummoyne in the inner west of Sydney and has offices in Melbourne and Perth.

Mike Ritchie is the Director of MRA. E:mike@mraconsulting.com.au, T: 0408 663 942

NDD WASTE SOLUTIONS Our solutions provide you with greater sustainability and ensure: - Reduced disposal costs.

- Decreased transportation requirements.

- Complete control of waste streams.

- Maximum material outputs for recycle or reuse.

In Partnership With

cdenviro.com

Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

21

RENEWABLE ENERGY

GRID SCALE BATTERY PROJECTS IN VICTORIA & SA South Australia and Victoria are pushing ahead with major projects involving grid scale batteries.

In South Australia, a two-week Expression of Interest period closed at the end of March for building a grid-scale battery with a capacity of approximately 100 megewatts.

The project will be the first financed by South Australia’s newly-created $150 million Renewable Technology Fund.

In Victoria, a tender will be issued during April for the construction of a grid scale battery storage facility in the north west or south west of the state.

Expressions of interest for the project were sought from utility-scale battery storage businesses by 1 March – they were to be lodged with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.

Under the terms of the SA project, the battery must be operational in time for the coming summer – the private sector will own, operate and maintain it.

The grid-connected battery will help store renewable energy from the wind and the sun, and provide South Australians with the storage capacity they need at times of peak demand.

“We said our plan to take charge of South Australia’s energy future starts now, and we mean it.

“Building Australia’s largest grid-scale battery will help build our reputation for hightech industries,” SA Premier, Jay Weatherill, said:.

Victoria’s Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio, said

her state’s 20-megawatt battery would be constructed in the north west or south west of the state, where the energy market operator had identified opportunities to improve grid reliability.

Minister D’Ambrosio said storage played a vital role in better integrating renewable energy generation – it would ensure reliability of supply and keep power prices in check, especially in peak demand periods.

“We are in the midst of a major global transformation and we’re making sure Victoria is equipped with the next generation of energy technologies that will support a resilient energy system.

“The battery will help to modernise Victoria’s electricity grid, enhance energy security and deliver affordable energy.”

PIPELINE OF SOLAR PROJECTS FOR NEW SOUTH WALES Twelve renewable solar power projects, including what could be the largest in the southern hemisphere, are in the New South Wales Government’s planning pipeline.

If approved, the proposed solar farms will generate: • more than 1000 megawatts of solar capacity, which is enough clean energy supply to power 365,000 homes across NSW; and • jobs in regional NSW at Gilgandra, Hillston, Narrabri, Armidale, Coleambally, Gulgong, Walgett, Jemalong, Balranald, Nyngan and Hay. Minister for Planning and Housing, Anthony Roberts, said New South Wales was continuing to lead with solar research and innovation, in order to reach the national renewable energy target of 23.5 per cent by 2020.

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Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

“The 1000 megawatts is on top of the 660 megawatts that will be generated by 11 other solar farms that the government has already given the green light since 2011,” Mr Roberts said.

Three large-scale solar plants in regional NSW are currently operating, at Nyngan, Moree and Broken Hill.

The Nyngan solar farm is the biggest operating plant in the southern hemisphere, generating 106 megawatts for 32,000 homes.

It has also created 250 construction jobs and provided $330 million in investment.

The proposed Sunraysia solar farm at Balranald, in the Riverina, is expected to produce double the solar energy of Nyngan.

Solar projects across NSW include: • Three operational o Nyngan Solar Farm;

o Moree Solar Farm; and o Broken Hill Solar Farm.

• Eight approved since 2011 o Bogan River Solar Farm in Nyngan; o Capital Solar Farm in Bungendore; o Manildra Solar Farm; o Riverina Solar Farm in Yoogali; o Griffith Solar Farm in Yoogali; o White Rock Solar Farm in Matheson; o Parkes Solar Farm; and o Goonumbla Solar Farm in Parkes.

• Twelve Solar farms proposed by the government in 2017: o Sunraysia Solar Farm (Balranald Council); o Gilgandra Solar Farm (Gilgandra Council); o Narrabri Solar Farm (Narrabri Council); o Metz Solar Farm (Armidale Dumaresq Council); o Hillston Solar Farm (Carrathool Council); o Limondale Solar Farm (Balranald Council); o Nevertire Solar Farm (Warren Council); o Walgett Solar Farm (Walgett Council); o Hay Solar Farm (Hay Council); o Coleambally Solar Farm (Murrumbidgee Council); o Jemalong Solar Farm (Forbes Shire Council); and o Beryl Solar Farm (Mid-Western Regional Council).

RENEWABLE ENERGY

FIRST VIRTUAL POWER PLANT GOES LIVE IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA QUEENSLAND SOLAR PROJECT WITH POTENTIAL FOR PUMPED HYDRO More than $50 million in Federal funding will be invested in a large-scale solar development with the potential for pumped hydro storage.

The solar development planned for Genex Power’s Kidston Renewable Energy Hub, 270 kilometres north west of Townsville will attract $54 million from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).

Developing storage technology for renewables is important for stabilising the grid as electricity can still be used when the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing.

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency has provided $4 million for a study into the next

phase, a 250-megawatt pumped hydro-storage project.

Co-locating a large-scale solar farm with a large-scale pumped hydro storage project would be an Australian first.

The CEFC and ARENA have agreed at the Australian Government’s request to work on a priority new funding round for large-scale storage and other flexible capacity projects, including pumped hydro.

The government has already spent or committed more than $220 million in funding for a suite of energy storage projects across Australia.

IMPROVED FEED-IN TARIFF RATES FOR VICTORIA’S SOLAR HOUSEHOLDS

Victorian solar households will soon receive what the State Government calls “fair compensation” for the power they provide to the power grid.

About 130,000 households are set to receive a minimum feed-in tariff rate of 11.3 cents per kilowatt hour compared to the current five cents for selling excess electricity back into the grid.

Solar customers on the current minimum feed-in tariff rate will move onto the new tariff rate as set by Victoria’s independent regulator, the Essential Services Commission (ESC), from the beginning of July.

Included in the new tariff is a payment for the environmental and social value of energy provided to the grid.

The new arrangement follows recent changes by the government to the current feed-in tariff legislation, to better reflect the true value of the electricity supplied to the grid.

The revised minimum feed-in tariff rate flows from the government’s support for the major findings of the Essential Services Commission’s Final Report into the Energy Value of Distribution Generation.

That report was tabled in Parliament in September last year.

Australia’s largest operating virtual power plant is live with the first tranche of solar battery storage installations “switching on” in mid-March to power local homes and businesses across Adelaide.

The first-of-its-kind project means home owners and small businesses can use more of the energy generated from their own rooftop solar systems, to lower power bills, reduce emissions and provide stability to South Australia’s grid.

AGL Energy Limited’s Virtual Power Plant project will operate as a five-megawatt solar power plant by installing batteries that “talk” to each other through a cloud-based platform to form a connected system.

“Rather than sourcing electricity from large power stations outside cities, the cloud-based system allows AGL to operate the system virtually, harnessing power from the sun, captured and stored from residential rooftops,” said Australia’s Environment and Energy Minister, Josh Frydenberg.

“The virtual power plant will support the grid in times of instability and allow AGL to discharge electricity to homes in periods of peak demand.”

The government, through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), provided $5 million towards the $20 million project, which will connect 1,000 residential and business premises.

“Maintaining energy security in South Australia is crucial. The government is focused on energy storage and ensuring sufficient baseload power in the system.

“Recent energy outages in South Australia have shown we must do everything we can to ensure the transition to a lower emissions future does not compromise the reliability, affordability or safety of our energy system.”

Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

23

ECO FOCUS

MUCH WORK STILL NEEDED – STATE OF ENVIRONMENT REPORT The fifth edition of Australia’s State of the Environment Report shows significant gains have been made in improving the environment, but there is still work to do.

The report – tabled by the Australian Government on 7 March – was compiled by leading scientists across the built environment, biodiversity, land and marine fields.

It took two years to bring together and provides the most comprehensive assessment of Australia’s environment since 2011.

The reporting system, which was first established as an initiative under the Howard Government, examines recent trends, management and the outlook for the environment across Australia.

“Consistent with 2011, the report shows that our marine environment and habitat, natural and cultural heritage areas, the Antarctic environment and the air quality of our cities are in generally good condition,” said Environment and Energy Minister, Josh Frydenberg.

“Since the last report, ozone levels have improved while sustainable diversion limits and water efficiency are having a positive impact on water bird and fish stocks, as well as natural vegetation in the Murray Darling Basin.”

Minister Frydenberg said the report showed communities, landholders and individuals were playing an increasingly vital role in managing and protecting the environment.

More than 17 per cent of land was now being managed to protect species, up from 13 per cent in 2011.

Mr Frydenberg said, however, Australia’s unique biodiversity remained under pressure.

“That is why we’ve complemented our protected and managed lands with a Threatened Species Strategy and appointed the first Threatened Species Commissioner, with an action plan focused on 20 birds, 20 mammals and 30 plants by 2020.”

The Minister said the report also confirmed the challenges associated with coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef and the need to continue the implementation of the Reef 2050 Plan.

24

Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

The plan involves on-ground action to improve water quality and the management of crown of thorns starfish over the next 30 years.

“Arguably the most significant development since the 2011 report is Australia’s commitment under the Paris Agreement to reduce our emissions by 26-28 per cent on 2005 levels,” Minister Frydenberg said.

“This target is comparable with other advanced economies and will halve our per capita emissions making it one of the strongest targets in the G20.”

Published on a new interactive digital platform for the first time, the report enables decision-makers, researchers and the public to explore and discover its findings in a variety of ways.

The report can be located via: www.environment.gov.au/science/soe Since the release of the report, the government has made public for consultation, a discussion paper as part of the 2017 review of climate change policies.

The paper follows the government’s commitment to review its climate change policies when it set Australia’s target to reduce emissions by 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030.

Submissions in response to the discussion must be lodged by 5 May 2017.

PERMANENT BAN ON ‘FRACKING’ IN VICTORIA Onshore unconventional gas exploration and development, including “fracking”, has been banned under legislation that passed the Victorian Parliament on 7 March.

The Resources Legislation Amendment (Fracking Ban) Bill 2016 passed through the Upper House without amendment.

The Bill: • permanently bans all onshore unconventional gas exploration and development, including hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) and coal seam gas; and • extends the moratorium on conventional onshore gas exploration and development to 30 June 2020.

The extension to the moratorium will allow the Victorian Government to carry out a comprehensive program of geoscientific research – to look more closely at the state’s prospectivity and the potential risks, benefits and impacts of onshore conventional gas and development.

That work will be overseen by Victoria’s lead scientist in consultation with an expert panel made up of farmers, industry, local government and community members.

Victoria’s Minister for Resources, Wade Noonan, and Minister for Agriculture, Jaala Pulford, said farmers and regional communities had been calling for a ban on unconventional gas for years, while also expressing serious concern about the potential impacts of onshore conventional gas exploration and development.

They said the permanent legislative ban would protect the “clean, green” reputation of Victoria’s agriculture sector, which employs more than 190,000 people.

“This is a historic day for our state. This is a win for people power and regional communities across Victoria who have campaigned for years to see this ban in place,” Minister Noonan said.

“We will now use the moratorium on conventional gas exploration to better understand its potential risks and benefit,s and we’ll listen to the experts.”

“Fracking has been resoundingly rejected in our regional communities,” said Minister Pulford.

“We’re putting our farmers first and protecting their world-class produce and our environment.”

ECO FOCUS

CLIMATE INSTITUTE BEING WOUND UP Australia’s Climate Institute is closing.

The Board of The Climate Institute (TCI) announced during March that it would cease to operate on 30 June 2017.

The Board said the decision was made because TCI was unable to establish the viable level of funding that would enable it to continue in a meaningful, sustainable form.

“With the expiry of its original founding bequest, and despite ongoing support from a range of philanthropic and business entities, the Board has been unable to secure sufficient funding to continue the level and quality of work that is representative of TCI’s strong reputation,” said Board Chair, Mark Wootton.

“The Climate Institute has been a provider of pioneering research and a leading advocate for credible, practical climate policy throughout a tumultuous period in Australian public, investor and business decision-making.

“TCI is often described as a trusted broker and critical friend, and we are proud of the way it has built understanding and consensus among a wide variety of stakeholders on such a complex, challenging and important issue.

“We are disappointed that some in government prefer to treat what should be a risk management issue as a proxy for political and ideological battles.

“They are increasingly isolated as the costs of inaction mount and the opportunities and benefits of action become ever clearer,” said Mr Wootton.

When established in 2005 for an intended five-year life, TCI was the only non-government organisation focussed solely on climate change. It has now been joined by many other organisations with a significant focus on climate change.

Mr Wootton said regulators and investors were beginning to seriously

integrate climate risk and opportunity management. He said the historic Paris agreement provided a framework for international accountability and action.

There had also been a recent surge in affordability and scale of clean energy alternatives.

“While challenges still abound, the landscape is much stronger than it was 12 years ago when TCI was first established.

“The Board is proud of the achievements of The Climate Institute and its staff in making an enduring contribution towards its 2050 vision of a resilient Australia prospering in a zero-carbon global economy, participating fully and fairly in international climate change solutions.”

TCI will see a core body of projects to fruition by 30 June and the Board will work with other organisations to ensure key aspects of its work continue through 2017 and beyond.

CEFC SUPPORTS NEW CLIMATE BOND The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has backed a new climate bond and attracted strong investor participation, signalling growing investor appetite for clean energy assets.

The new climate bond has been issued by FlexiGroup with an underlying asset base of residential rooftop solar.

The CEFC made a cornerstone commitment of $20 million to the $50 million tranche, which was certified by the global Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI).

The $50 million climate Class A2-G Note was priced at a yield 0.03 per cent lower than the similar Class A2 Note, which was identical except for the lack of CBI certification, again indicating strong investor demand for clean energy investment opportunities.

CEFC Debt Markets lead, Richard Lovell, said: “FlexiGroup achieved tighter pricing on this climate bond, which shows investors were prepared to pay a ‘green premium’.

“This is a strong market signal which will assist in accelerating the development of a more varied and flexible green bond market in Australia.

“The success of this issuance provides a clear indication of the merits of this green asset class and should help nudge capital

markets further towards investment in clean energy,” said Mr Lovell.

“The CEFC’s participation is consistent with its role in helping to transform clean energy investment markets. It also demonstrates how companies can unlock extra sources of funding by seeking market support for the securitisation of their green assets.”

The bond is backed by consumer receivables originated through FlexiGroup’s wholly-owned subsidiary Certegy Ezi-Pay Pty Ltd, which has financed more than 120,000 solar PV rooftop installations.

The CEFC invests with co-financiers to develop new sources of capital for the clean energy sector, including equity funds, aggregation facilities and other financial solutions.

Securitised bonds such as climate bonds have the potential to channel capital into a wide range of clean energy solutions, including large and small-scale solar, wind and bioenergy, as well as energy efficiency measures in property, vehicles, infrastructure and manufacturing.

This is only the second climate-certified issue of a bond backed by securitised assets in Australia. In April 2016, FlexiGroup issued a $50 million tranche, which also included

a $20 million cornerstone investment by the CEFC. The April 2016 bond was also priced with a yield below the corresponding non-certified tranche.

The Climate Bonds Initiative estimates that the world-wide issuance of green bonds rose to $US81 billion in 2016, from $US1.2 billion five years earlier, with 2016 alone accounting for 45 per cent of the green bonds issued in the past decade.

Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

25

ECO FOCUS

THE IMPACT OF EXTREME WEATHER ON ENERGY SECURITY A taskforce has been established by the New South Wales Government to look at ways to manage extreme weather impacts on energy security.

The Energy Security Taskforce will perform three main tasks: • assess the risks to, and resilience of, the NSW electricity system from extreme weather events; • evaluate how well the state manages electricity system security events, such as prevention, preparedness, response and recovery; and • recommend actions to address any vulnerabilities and opportunities for improvements to current practices.

Professor Mary O’Kane, the state’s Chief Scientist & Engineer, has been appointed to the role of Chair of the taskforce.

"Recent events across Australia have highlighted it is critical that households and industry have a resilient electricity system," Professor O'Kane said.

The taskforce will engage with all relevant stakeholders and the broader community in developing its final report. A draft report will be completed in the first half of 2017.

This work will complement the Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market, led by Australia’s Chief Scientist, Alan Finkel

26

Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

DELIVERING ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF MDB PLAN An expert panel was due to report during March to the New South Wales Minister for Regional Water, Niall Blair, and the Victorian Minister for Water, Lisa Neville, on the offsets mechanism in the Murray Darling Basin Plan.

The review by the panel will allow the Ministers to make sure the Plan delivers real environmental benefits without shortchanging Basin communities.

The panel was established to provide advice on the technical foundations of the Basin Plan’s Sustainable Diversion Limit (SDL) adjustment mechanism.

The mechanism allows for the 2,750 gigalitre recovery target in the Basin Plan to be offset by 650 gigalitres through projects that deliver equivalent environmental outcomes with less water. The SDL is the maximum amount of water that can be taken for consumptive use.

Ministers Blair and Neville said there was currently a lack of transparency around the assumptions at the heart of the adjustment mechanism.

“We want to ensure these assumptions are realistic and take account of all requirements under the Basin Plan so that a triple bottom line outcome is achieved.

“The NSW and Victorian Governments understand the importance of water to the prosperity of our regional communities and remain committed to meeting their obligations under the Basin Plan.”

The Ministers said both governments supported investment in efficient water infrastructure, rather than buying water, and works and measures that achieved environmental outcomes with less water.

Mr Blair said the issue was above politics.

“Communities north and south of the Murray River are facing the same challenges. That’s why I am standing with my Victorian colleague to make sure we get the SDL adjustment right.

“I have been very clear that the Basin Plan can be implemented, but not at all costs.

“Models alone do not deliver outcomes and they don’t make the difficult decisions for us – at the end of the day we need a pragmatic, real-world decision and of course this is informed by models.

Ms Neville said the two states were putting borders aside and working together to get the best result for the community.

“We support the recovery of water through infrastructure investments to reduce leakage and evaporation in our irrigation systems, but we don’t support further water buybacks.

“Striking the right balance between implementing the Basin Plan, supporting local communities and protecting the environment is central to our approach.”

NON DESTRUCTIVE DRILLING

Overcoming the issues of Non Destructive Digging Government investments in infrastructure are sure to see more Non Destructive Digging taking place however, contractors no longer need to tolerate the long standing problems that it involves.

With the government's commitment of $50 billion to current and future investments in infrastructure, now more than ever is the time to be involved in Non Destructive Digging (NDD). Projects are outlined, and in some cases underway, across all of Australia but particularly in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Examples include a $98.4 million investment in to Sydney’s Rail Future, $500 million in to Monash Freeway and $518.4 million in to Moreton Bay Rail Link with the final $100 million to be invested this year. These largescale investments, among many others in Australia, aim to spike economic growth, increase productivity, and create new jobs.

The Non Destructive Digging method in building tunnels, roads and other infrastructure carries less risk to underground utilities than drilling. It is not only a safer methodology but also less timeconsuming. However, the process brings with it some problems.

The logistics of transporting drilling muds and other NDD waste are difficult. The majority of the investments in infrastructure are taking place in cities where the demand for improved transport and roads is highest.

However, the waste depots for drilling muds are often outside of the city and therefore require long journeys. Evidently, both the transport and the manual labour involved

incurs costs for the contractor.

Transport costs, although significant, do not account for the worst problem.

High and rising landfill costs are crippling those involved in NDD. In South Australia, contractors are charged $57 per tonne for disposal of their waste, in Victoria this figure is $60.52 per tonne, meanwhile New South Wales charges a levy of $133.10 per tonne of waste. Landfill costs are likely to rise further in the future, which means that the cost for contractors is only set to increase.

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NON DESTRUCTIVE DRILLING

as sand, aggregate and recycled water among others. This goes much further than dewatering and instead adds value to the products for resell. Therefore, contractors not only save money on landfill but also make a profit through the selling of the outputs.

CDEnviro provides waste solutions for the problems within Non Destructive Digging across four regions- UK and Ireland, Central Europe, Australia and North America. It has solutions that can treat both drilling muds and contaminated soils, making both NDD and building on brownfields less expensive and more viable.

Contractors and public citizens alike welcome the government’s investment in infrastructure and it is evident than Non Destructive Drilling has been, and will continue to, play a vital role in the improvement of our infrastructure. Armed with solutions to long-standing problems in NDD, the process can be more profitable, less time consuming and overall much simpler.

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Hydro excavation waste

Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

29

FOCUS ON WATER

Major water mains upgrade for Adelaide About 28 kilometres of new water mains are being installed throughout metropolitan Adelaide to reduce potential disruption to SA Water customers. The work is part of an $80 million, four-year investment to replace 274 kilometres of water mains around South Australia. It is expected to be completed by mid-year.

The majority of the work is being undertaken in the capital’s inner northern suburbs where 10 kilometres of mains are being installed. Mains will be upgraded in areas such as Prospect, Broadview, Oakden and Windsor Gardens as part of this year’s $5.8 million investment in the region.

In the south western suburbs, more than five-and-a-half kilometres of new water mains will be installed in areas such as Seacombe Gardens, Brooklyn Park, Glenelg East and South Brighton as part of a $4.2 million investment.

More than four-and-a-half kilometres of new mains will be installed in eastern suburbs in areas such as Paradise, Campbelltown, Athelstone and Rostrevor as part of the $2.2 million investment.

In Adelaide’s west, more than three kilometres of new mains will be installed in Torrensville, Mansfield Park, Richmond and Athol Park as part of this year’s $2 million investment.

Upgrades in the south eastern suburbs will involve more than two-and-a-half kilometres of new mains in Belair, Toorak Gardens, Mitcham and College Park as part of this year’s $1.3 million investment.

Around one kilometre of new water mains will be installed in the northern suburbs in Para Hills, Salisbury Heights and Elizabeth as part of a $700,000 investment.

And over one kilometre of new mains will be installed in the north eastern suburbs in Holden Hill, Tea Tree Gully and Modbury North as part of this year’s $700,000 investment.

SA Water’s annual water main replacement program aims to reduce the likelihood of interruptions from leaks and bursts by focusing on mains that are most likely to cause disruption to customers.

SA Minister for Water and the River Murray, Ian Hunter, said the SA Government was committed to improving the water 30

Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

network because it understood faults in the network could cause disruption to customers.

“We can’t always prevent leaks and bursts from happening, but we can ensure we’re proactively managing our network to reduce them and we will be increasing our investment on upgrading water mains over the coming years.

SA Water Chief Executive, Roch Cheroux, said customers were entitled to a reliable water service.

“It’s important we work hard to minimise the impact of water main bursts on customers and the community, and upgrading our water network helps us achieve this.

“We want to keep up with the expectations of our customers and ensure all South Australians can access the water they need to prosper and serve the community.”

In addition, around 48,000 metres of water mains will be upgraded throughout regional South Australia by the end of June," he said.

As part of this year’s regional program, focus areas include Whyalla, Moonta Bay, Crystal Brook and Victor Harbor.

Through separate investments, SA Water is also trialling several smart technologies – such as water main pressure modulation at Kadina on the Yorke Peninsula and pipe spray lining at Berri in the Riverland – to create efficiencies in how assets are managed.

Water flows from Victoria’s desalination plant The first water from Victoria’s Desalination Plant at Wonthaggi – about 130 kilometres south east of Melbourne – has started flowing into the Cardinia Reservoir helping to deliver water security for the state.

Victorian Minister for Water, Lisa Neville, said the delivery marked a significant milestone in guaranteeing a secure and resilient water grid – a grid that supports lives and livelihoods, and combats the threat of reduced rainfall from climate change.

Minister Neville said the benefits would reach well beyond Melbourne, bringing greater water security for communities across regional Victoria.

Based on a similar initiative in South Australia, Victoria will introduce a minimum annual water order from the Desalination Plant to be reviewed in three years, guaranteeing continued water security, better plant management and more steady prices for customers.

Minister Neville said: “We’ve learnt the lessons from the millennium drought and this secures our water supplies at a time when our reserves are decreasing.

“The minimum water order will help with the operation of the plant while not impacting on water bills.

“The plant was not built to be turned on just when our water supply reached critical levels; instead its aim is to make sure that our supply doesn’t fall to those levels in the first place.”

Minister Neville said water customers would not face additional charges on their water bills for this year’s 50 gigalitre water order or the subsequent three minimum water orders.

This would save customers $12 for this year’s order on an annual average water bill.

It would be done via efficiencies found within the water contract.

FOCUS ON WATER

Work has commenced on a $30 million irrigation project at Circular Head in Tasmania’s far north west to deliver greater water security to irrigators in the region and support agricultural productivity, investment and growth.

The Duck Irrigation Scheme will deliver 5,200 megalitres of high security irrigation water to the Circular Head Region, providing irrigators with reliable access to water to support dairy production, as well as production of crops like potatoes, onions and carrots.

Key commodities in the region are milk ($269 million), cattle and calves ($114 million) and potatoes ($79 million), which together contributed 80 per cent of the total value of agricultural production in the region in 2014-15.

Tasmania’s Minister for Primary Industries and Water, Jeremy Rockliff, said the new scheme would help support economic growth and jobs.

“This important infrastructure project will involve construction of a six gigalitre dam at Mill Creek, two new pump stations and pipeline to distribute water to farmers in the lrishtown, Mella, Forrest and Smithton districts,” Minister Rockliff said.

“Expanding the state-wide irrigation network is a key part of the Tasmanian Government’s Sustainable AgriFood Plan and our vision to grow the value of our agricultural industry 10-fold to $10 billion by 2050. ``We know that water security improves farmer’s bottom-lines and gives confidence to invest on-farm and chase new markets, and this is essential as tariffs into Asia ease and new markets are established.”

Local irrigators and the Tasmanian Government, are co-investing over $14 million in the Duck Irrigation Scheme, and the Australian Government is contributing $15.8 million.”

In addition, the Australian Government has committed $1.78 million towards a $2.5 million project with Tasmanian Irrigation to fast-track a feasibility study into potential new areas for developing irrigation schemes in Tasmania.

Graphic courtesy of Geoscience Australia

Security water supply for dairy and crops in Tasmania’s north west

Safeguarding future of Great Artesian Basin Residents, industry and producers have provided feedback to the Queensland Government on its draft water plan for the Great Artesian Basin (GAB) and other regional aquifers.

Information sessions were held in major centres and interested stakeholders had until 17 April to provide their responses to the document.

“The draft plan aims to safeguard the water supply for current and future users, and protect groundwater flows to springs and watercourses,” Minister for State Development, Natural Resources and Mines, Anthony Lynham, said.

“The feedback obtained through the sessions and via public submissions is vital in forming this plan, which will provide the framework for the sustainable management of Queensland’s Great Artesian Basin and other regional aquifers.”

The draft Great Artesian Basin and Other Regional Aquifers Water Plan will replace the Water Resource (Great Artesian Basin) Plan 2006 (GAB WRP) which will expire on 1 September 2017.

Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

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FOCUS ON WATER

Water supply network at risk from climate change Infrastructure such as Queensland’s water supply network is one of the sectors most at risk from climate change, according to feedback on the State Government’s Queensland Climate Adaptation Directions Statement.

Queensland Environment Minister, Steven Miles, said the government had invited all Queenslanders to provide feedback on the statement.

“Survey responses suggest that the economic sectors with which the Queensland Government should prioritise for building adaptation partnerships are agriculture, biodiversity and ecosystems, business and industry, and built environment and infrastructure,” Dr Miles said.

“Respondents also said they felt infrastructure and assets most at risk from climate change included our natural assets like the Great Barrier Reef and national parks and reserves; and infrastructure such as our water supply network, energy distribution network, buildings, transport networks and food production.

“Most responses, some 72 per cent, indicated that extreme weather events presented the greatest risk, but rising

temperatures, longer warm spells, altered rainfall patterns and rising sea levels were all identified by more than 35 per cent of respondents.”

Dr Miles said more than 270 Queenslanders had their say on how the state could meet the challenge of climate change head-on.

“The Queensland Climate Adaptation Directions Statement outlines the concepts underlying the development of the Queensland Climate Adaptation Strategy,” Dr Miles said.

“When we asked Queenslanders for their thoughts we received 129 submissions via an online survey, more than 40 formal written submissions, and 102 written responses provided during the regional consultation program.”

Dr Miles said the Queensland Government’s climate change agenda emphasised adaptation to climate change impacts and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

He said the government was investing $3 million to develop the Queensland Climate Adaptation Strategy, which was expected to be released later in 2017. The strategy would complement the government’s climate change mitigation initiatives.

New water plan for Greater Sydney to keep down prices Businesses and households in Greater Sydney will continue to benefit from low water bills, following the release of the 2017 Metropolitan Water Plan.

The plan will ensure there is enough water to meet the current and future needs of the people and the environment of the region.

There are four main outcomes of the plan: • a water supply that is secure and affordable; • a water supply system that is resilient to stresses and shocks; • more liveable and resilient urban communities; and • rivers downstream from dams that are healthy.

Under the plan’s provisions, an average of $20 million a year will be saved by using existing water supplies and delaying the need 32

Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

for investment in major infrastructure, such as new dams.

The plan will introduce environmental flows for the Hawkesbury-Nepean River from Warragamba Dam. This will improve the health of the river for native species, and improve fishing, swimming, and boating in Western Sydney.

Another feature is the new WaterSmart Cities program, which ensures water in the urban environment is managed in a way that keeps communities green and healthy.

New South Wales Minister for Energy and Utilities, Don Harwin, said the plan showed the current supply could deliver enough drinking water for at least the next 10 years.

“Our water supply will remain affordable, safe and reliable,” Mr Harwin said.

“I am proud to say, that under our government, the people of Greater Sydney are experiencing the first ever water bill reduction.

A typical Sydney Water customer is now saving nearly $100 a year on their water bill,” he added.

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FOCUS ON WATER

Round four funding for SA irrigators under 3IP program Round Four of the $240 million South Australian River Murray Sustainability Irrigation Improvement Program (3IP) is open for Expressions of Interest, with almost $40 million available for irrigators.

SA irrigators holding an SA River Murray water licence may be eligible for 3IP funding to help make significant efficiency and business improvements to their irrigation enterprise.

Regional information sessions have been held at locations throughout the River Murray region to provide a detailed explanation of the guidelines.

The $265 million South Australian River Murray Sustainability Program (SARMS) is funded by the Australian Government and is being delivered by Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA).

The competitive grants program was created in collaboration with industry as part of the Murray Darling Basin Plan negotiations.

The 3IP is supporting the growth of strong and sustainable irrigation communities and helping secure the future health of the South Australian River Murray region by recovering 40 gigalitres (GL) of water access entitlements from participating irrigators.

Agriculture, Food and Fisheries Minister, Leon Bignell, said SA’s Riverland irrigators had become some of the most efficient in the country thanks to SARMS. “I’ve visited recipients of these grants and they’ve told me this program has been an incredible boost, and it has allowed them to do things they could never have done before,” said Mr Bignell.

“Some producers have installed high-tech hydroponic and irrigation systems – delivering huge water savings – and repositioning their businesses to target export markets with higher value crops such as blueberries and pistachios.

“We’re part of a growing world market and it is great to see people in the Riverland getting on board, using this money wisely, creating more jobs and making sure that an economy that suffered so badly during the drought is thriving now and into the future,” the Minister said.

Global mining sector publishes new water reporting guide The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), whose members include 23 of the world’s leading mining companies, have published a new guide to consistent water reporting.

Water management is an increasing global challenge – it’s estimated that by 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population could be living in water-stressed areas.

The water reporting guide includes a new minimum disclosure standard for external water reporting that will be adopted by ICMM member companies as part of their commitment to the water stewardship position statement the council announced last January.

Under the new position statement, ICMM members commit to publicly disclose their approach to water stewardship and report in a consistent and comparable basis using standardised metrics from November 2018.

As with most industries, there is a lack of consistency in the way companies report on their water use. ICMM’s water reporting guide will enable miners to disclose water 34

Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

data in a consistent way that will allow easier comparison of performance.

This new policy will support greater transparency as the industry moves to a catchment-based approach to water management.

ICMM believes that by publicly reporting how much water the industry uses, mining companies can support more sustainable and equitable management of global water resources. The new guidance is also a vital tool in tracking how the mining industry is helping to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG6 on clean water and sanitation.

Hayley Zipp, ICMM’s Water Stewardship Manager said: “Water scarcity is a growing global challenge that requires action on every front and ICMM is committed to playing its part."

“We hope that the wider mining industry will also adopt our new minimum disclosure standard. The industry has been improving its water management for many years and we believe that greater transparency

on water use will further enhance its performance."

“Our members’ commitment to consistent and effective disclosure of their water use is critical to supporting the information needs of governments, local communities and all parties involved in sustainable water resource management,” Hayley Zipp added.

SEWERAGE

New water strategy for Victoria Water for Victoria is a plan developed by the State Government to provide direction for the water sector – a sector that will be modern and efficient, innovative, customer focussed, and supports jobs.

Minister for Water, Lisa Neville, said the guidelines of the plan would allow the sector to further plan for population growth, climate change and a stronger future.

Minister Neville said Water for Victoria would require water corporations to be leaders in combating climate change and find ways to reach zero net emissions, with metropolitan water authorities to achieve this goal by 2030.

The sector would also adopt renewable energy use targets of at least 25 per cent by 2020.

While most of the state’s water resources were already at their sustainable limits, Ms Neville said climate change would further reduce rainfall and runoff, as well as increase the frequency and duration of extreme events, such as drought, flood and bushfire.

She said new climate change guidelines had been developed to provide water corporations with a set of climate projections and critical, up-to-date data to assess the impact of climate change on water supplies.

As well as combating climate change, the water planning framework also requires the development of Urban Water Strategies by water corporations – to set out strategies for securing water supplies over a 50-year timeframe.

The strategies are to include the following principles and actions: • maximise the shared benefits for all water users, without compromising the needs of the environment, agriculture, towns and businesses; • identify actions for climate change adaptation, with the aim of achieving net zero emissions in the sector; • adopt renewable energy use targets; • encourage the sustainable use of all water resources – including rainwater, stormwater and recycled water; • enhance the liveability of our cities and towns; and • ensure the water needs of environmental assets are transparently considered.

“As we deal with issues around climate change and population growth, we need to make sure our water management is planning for and prepared to meet these challenges now and for future generations,” Ms Neville said.

“We want our water corporations and the whole sector to help Victoria adapt to climate change to ensure we can continue to support jobs, liveable communities and a healthy environment,” the Minister added.

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Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

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Dredging Solutions pontoon in action, clearing ponds without the need to take the sewage plant offline.

PRODUCT FOCUS

Tsurumi Cuts Through Clogs Keeping settling ponds in optimum condition without taking the sewage plant offline represents real cost savings. Dredging Solutions from Sydney NSW are now able to offer this option due to an innovative application of a Tsurumi submersible cutter pump.

While dredging ponds for Sydney Water, the company were faced with pump chokes caused by accumulated rags. Normal submersible pumps cannot cope when oversized, fibrous materials get flushed into the system. Dredging Solutions turned to Aussie Pumps for a suitable cutter pump to solve the ragging problem.

Tsurumi, the world’s leader in submersible pump development, has produced a range of cutter pumps, called the C Series, designed to handle such contaminated waste. The C series cutter pumps chop waste material,

Tsurumi C series cutter pump solves the ragging issue when cleaning sewage pits for Dredging Solutions.

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Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

including rags, thus allowing free passage through the pump without clogging.

“Tsurumi’s breakthrough cutter impeller chops through sewage, rawhide, plastic, rags and other materials in seconds,” said Aussie Pumps Product Manager Neil Bennett. “We’ve seen various unmentionables handled by these extraordinary pumps so they were an obvious choice for Dredging Solutions ragging issue,” he said.

The C Series incorporates a large open channel impeller with a cutter mechanism. A sintered tungsten carbide alloy tip is brazed on the impeller vane. As the impeller rotates the vane slices against the serrated edge of the suction cover, chopping fibrous matter into small fragments that won’t clog.

The 3 phase, heavy duty pumps range from 50mm bore to 100mm. The largest pump

in the range has an enormous capacity of 2,750 litres per minute, and a max head of 26 metres.

“There is a terrific video on YouTube that shows the pumps’ cutting ability. It’s amazing to watch what these unique cutters will do.

You’ll never believe it until you see it,” said Bennett. “The demo even shows the pump swallowing nylon rope,” he said.

Like all Tsurumi submersible pumps, the C Series include features that extend the life and enhance reliability of the pump. Significant design details make a big difference. They include an antiwicking cable entry that prevents water from entering the motor if the power lead is damaged or the end of the cable is accidentally submerged.

A double silicon carbide seal is standard on all models. Both seal surfaces are submerged in an oil chamber, away from the pumped liquid. This ensures lubrication and protects ingress of foreign materials.

The oil bath features a patented ‘Oil Lifter’ that increases mech seal longevity. The lifter ensures both the upper and lower seals are lubricated and cooled, even if the oil level in the chamber is low.

“We have created a bit of a buzz within Sydney Water with how well the new system is dealing with the rags on site. They have a lot of the ponds to dredge at one time or another, that are heavily ragged up and we now have a solution to deal with it,” said Cameron Lorimer from Dredging Solutions.

“The cutter pump coupled with our dredge system will allow the cleaning of the ponds while they remain online. This is critical to the ongoing operation of the plant,” he said.

Further information on the complete range of Tsurumi cutter pumps is available on the Australian Pump website (www.aussiepumps.com.au) and from Dredging Solutions, Castle Hill.

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ACA CORROSION FEATURE LEFT: Freshly recoated distribution pipeline within a bridge superstructure.

Advanced pipeline protection

M

onitoring the impact of corrosion on subsea pipelines and offshore structures is a critical aspect of ensuring pipeline integrity. A key way of minimising corrosion is to employ the most appropriate technologies and prevention techniques.

Owners of high-value infrastructure assets such as pipelines and production platforms must understand the cost implications of ignoring the effects of corrosion. There are many advantages of planning for corrosion control and mitigation, including extending the life of the asset while reducing maintenance time and costs.

Pipeline infrastructure is also aging and with the price of oil remaining low, corrosion prevention has to be as cost effective as practical. Companies servicing the oil and gas industry are being challenged to find better ways to maintain the integrity of subsea structures. Some of the factors that need to be considered include how long the system has to remain in operation and would a shorter life extension be acceptable if the asset owner is willing to repeat the process more frequently.

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Two leading companies that are developing and implementing a range of innovative technologies and processes that support pipeline operations are Deepwater Australasia (DWA) and Corrosion Control Engineering (CCE).

According to David Flanery, Business Development Manager at DWA, the method of corrosion protection selected for offshore infrastructure depends on the construction material used. Pipelines are often epoxy or concrete encased whereas a platform usually has large amounts of exposed steel. Subsea assets often require protective systems that include special coatings with a long design life in conjunction with cathodic protection systems.

John Grapiglia, CCE's Western Australian Manager, added another change that has occurred is that the “design life” of a pipeline is now expected to be significantly longer duration.

“Historically, pipelines were designed for 20 to 25 years, following which time they underwent a 'life extension',” he said.

“These days the design life is set at 50 years for some projects.”

DWA has pioneered many new methods for offshore cathodic protection life extension over the years and has

learned many lessons. The ACA works with companies such as DWA and CCE, along with academia, to research all aspects of corrosion in order to provide an extensive knowledge base that supports best practice in corrosion management, thus ensuring all impacts of corrosion are responsibly managed, the environment is protected, public safety enhanced and economies improved.

Around the world, there are thousands of kilometres of pipelines—on and offshore—connecting drilling rigs and production platforms to wellheads and other facilities. This infrastructure represents billions of dollars of investment by companies over many years. Corrosive fluids flow inside the pipelines and on the outside they are exposed to a range of harsh physical, climatic and chemical effects that can cause corrosion and degradation.

Deep ocean, coastal and onshore environments present very different operating conditions for infrastructure. In tropical regions, surface water might be as warm as 20°C and at one atmosphere of pressure, compared to the deep ocean where the temperature at depths of thousands of metres drops to around 2°C and the pressure increases to more than 1700 psi. (At sea level, the atmospheric pressure is approximately 14 psi.)

Oil from deep wells can be as hot as 176°C. As the hot oil comes up from the well it travels through the much colder pipeline and the fluid in the pipe can quickly cool down. At approximately 21°C, the water and gas mixtures in the pipe can form gas hydrates or paraffins.

If the build-up of paraffins is too great, it can ultimately block the pipeline.

Such blockages can be extremely costly to clear and, if a pipeline ruptures, can cause catastrophic damage to equipment and the environment. In order to prevent catastrophic failures, there is ongoing research in to new insulation materials and their application procedures. “Unfortunately, some of these new materials have not been in use for very long and thus their long term performance is unpredictable,” Grapiglia stated.

Maintenance and corrosion prevention come together to ensure Subsea Flow Assurance. These are the processes that ensure subsea pipelines and equipment

maintain oil flow. “Appropriate insulating materials must be applied to infrastructure in order to maintain or at least slow down the heat loss from the fluids being transported,” Flanery said. Manufacturers of surface coatings have worked to develop suitable materials to handle the extreme conditions of deep water activities.

One corrosion control method used on pipelines is cathodic protection (CP). This is a technique used to control the corrosion of a metal surface by making it the cathode of an electrochemical cell. A simple method of protection connects the metal to be protected to a more easily corroded "sacrificial metal" to act as the anode. The sacrificial metal then corrodes instead of the protected metal.

“An offshore production field is a very complex system,” Flanery said. “Ideally, all the different components and their separate corrosion protection needs should be carefully planned at the design stage.” For example, oil and gas flows from the reservoir, through the subsea tree and, typically, to a manifold or pipeline end termination (PLET) via a jumper pipe. Fluids pass along the pipelines to a production platform for processing before being sent to a tanker or onshore facility for further processing. (A jumper is a short flexible or rigid length of pipe that is used to connect a flowline to other components.)

“You cannot just look at a pipeline in isolation,” Flanery added.

“It is always part of a much larger system.” It is important to ensure there are no design gaps between the corrosion protection systems of two adjacent assets, such as a flowline and a manifold.

Both Flanery and Grapiglia commented that segments of a production system are often designed in isolation, with little or no consideration being given to how they might be integrated.

Different contracts cover supply and installation with operation often covered by yet another contract.

The consequence of this disjointed and ad hoc design and installation is that after just a few years of operation, 'new' fields are showing signs of early failure of some of the CP systems protecting the equipment. “A lot of companies think that the protection system is fairly straight forward and they can save money by undertaking basic text book designs,” Grapiglia said.

“It is better to invest a little extra at the start and avoid massive costs later to replace the whole protection system.”

One area that has been neglected in the past is the interface between onshore and offshore pipelines. Traditionally the offshore pipelines are designed to one standard and the onshore to a different one. The “shore crossing” has been a 'no man’s land'. Research is currently under way in Australia to assess the best way to deal with this section, as well as develop best practices which can be used for future projects.

Another aspect that makes the interface difficult is that the crossing is often through an environmentally sensitive area. For example, on Australia's North West coast, the shore crossing for one offshore field is on Barrow Island, where there are strictly enforced quarantine restrictions. The requirement to strip down all equipment and vehicles for cleaning prior to them being shipped to the island increases the cost and time taken to service the pipelines there. Additionally once the shore crossing is completed, the installation is to have minimal environmental impact.

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Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

39

ACA CORROSION FEATURE A pipeline section: insulated, painted and ready to be positioned.

This Australian research has generated considerable interest overseas as it has never been properly addressed previously. Major international certification organisations such as Det Norske Veritas (DNV) have looked at adopting the findings of this Australian research to address the current gap in industry.

The most common CP system for subsea pipelines use sacrificial bracelet anodes that are clamped onto the pipeline approximately every 10 joints, or 120 metres. The anode is bonded to the pipeline via small wires, or bonding straps, fastened to studs welded directly to the pipeline.

Flanery stated that the latest CP systems used to replace those on ageing structures are orders of magnitude improvements on earlier systems.

“On an ageing North Sea production platform, there were originally 900 sacrificial anodes for the CP system,” he stated. “We had to extend the life of the platform so designed a replacement system that used only eight impressed current anode sleds that were positioned on the sea bed around the platform.”

According to Flanery, this design avoided the logistical problems of transporting more than 600 tonnes of replacement anodes by boat to the structure out into the ocean.

How CP systems are powered is a vital consideration for offshore structures.

There is little spare space on a production platform so any equipment added to an existing structure must have a minimal footprint. Flanery stated that for the North Sea project, the power and control systems were contained inside one standard shipping container.

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Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

“There have been a number of advances that allow significant improvement in the monitoring and control of CP systems particularly when it comes to onshore pipelines,” Grapiglia said. Technology recently introduced into Australia now allows owners and operators of pipelines to easily upgrade old protection systems to allow for control as well as ongoing monitoring without having to replace the entire controllers.

Flanery concurred, stating “Cost saving is one of the biggest drivers of innovation, especially in the large-scale, challenging projects.”

To ensure that there is no danger of a pipeline rupturing, most countries require regular inspections of any company operating both onshore and offshore fields and they must be able to certify compliance.

One method of monitoring a pipeline's CP system in the case of offshore pipelines is called Electrode Field Gradient (EFG) measurement where a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) or diver swims along the entire length of a pipeline to record the field gradient of the pipeline’s CP system. Field gradient can be used as an indication of cathodic protection activity. The field gradient strength is a function of the distance between the reference electrode array and the pipeline. However, all pipeline surveys must include periodic “stabs” long its length to recalibrate the EFG readings.

One of the latest methods for surveying pipelines is to install CP test stations at a regular, calculated interval, similar to those for onshore buried pipelines.

Monitoring of the test stations requires

minimal survey equipment aboard a survey vessel. An ROV or diver is required to take contact readings at these test stations using a special probe.

Next, a nearby anode can be located and stabbed. During both contact measurements the voltage gradient is recorded.

Unfortunately, in practice, these surveys are sometimes not conducted correctly leading to inaccurate information that is used to assess the performance of the system. One reason for this is that some companies use staff that have not been adequately trained in CP or they use inspectors that have undertaken very basic training to carry out the assessments. There is an opportunity to improve the knowledge of inspection personnel which is being addressed by the ACA. From these readings, the survey crew can use pipeline CP attenuation modelling to determine the next appropriate survey site and report on what actions may need to be taken immediately or planned to maintain optimal operations.

Companies such as DWA and CCE have a range of corrosion control and monitoring equipment and services that can be quickly deployed to site and/or easily added to a pipeline to enhance the effectiveness of the monitoring program.

The ACA will be running a NACE Pipeline Integrity Management course in Perth from 19 – 23 June and Melbourne from 26 – 30 June. In addition, it will be running a Pipeline Technical Event in conjunction with the Australian Pipelines and Gas Association (APGA) in Melbourne on 29 June.

ABOUT THE AUSTRALASIAN CORROSION ASSOCIATION The Australasian Corrosion Association Incorporated (ACA) is a not-for-profit, membership association, that disseminates information on corrosion and its prevention through the provision of training courses, seminars, conferences, publications and other activities.

The vision of the ACA is that corrosion is managed sustainably and cost effectively to ensure the health and safety of the community and protection of the environment.

For further information, please visit: www.corrosion.com.au

Wastewater & Stormwater

Pipe Bursting

Potable Water

Rail

WORKING TOGETHER, ACHIEVING TOGETHER

Road

Pipe Relining

www.itspipetech.com.au

PROJECT REPORT

Structural lining to increase Asset Life – Vic Roads, Mornington Peninsula Situated to the South East of Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsula is best known as a popular tourist region often frequented by residents of the Victoria Capitol for its famous beaches and calm waters that are sheltered between Port Philip and Western Port. The peninsula is accessed via the M11 or Mornington Peninsula Freeway which features several sections of Motorway and standard trunk route between Frankston and Rosebud.

One section, between Moorooduc highway and the Nepean Highway, close to the town of Mount Martha, transverses 2 natural water courses over the Devilbend and Tuerong Creeks.

These water courses drain the Moorooduc Estate and Devilbend Reservoir encompassing approximately 6000 hectares, an important wine region for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vintages as well as a significant Natural Feature Reserve such that maintaining a serviceable drainage corridor is essential to the ecosystem and sustainability of this sensitive area.

Both of the creeks flow beneath the Freeway and were culverted using corrugated steel plate units in 1993. Devilbend Creek was constructed as a triple cell array at 3,000mm id and 137m long with Tuerong Creek as a 1,800mm id triple cell at 120m long. Both culvert sets had substantial cover in excess of 4m to the road surface above.

Over the years both culvert sets had suffered from erosion with damage to the inverts, loss of plate thickness and some circular deformation to the side walls and obvert with visible rusting and serious wear in both.

Vic-Roads had identified the need for a structural rehabilitation to both culvert sets and offered the project as a design and construct tender to industry towards the end of 2015 with the main stipulations that the solution must not affect the passage of traffic above, must be fully structural and independent of the existing structures and must have a design life of at least 100 years with design conformance to current Australian Standards.

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Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

Existing Cells prior to rehabilitation works.

ITS PipeTech submitted a proposal to use a bespoke Tunneline® cast insitu reinforced concrete lining for both culvert sets using design criteria to AS5100 and AS3725 to comply with the scope and proposed final lining diameters of 2,700mm and 1,500mm which conformed with the overall hydraulic requirements together with a flow management proposal to undertake the works without having to restrict existing flows as the construction progressed.

Vic-Roads awarded the works to ITS in February 2016 and construction work commenced in late May Design was based on ITS PipeTech’s engineered technology - Tunneline®, using a high strength pump mix concrete that was specifically developed with Vic-Roads for this project with concrete being pumped into a bespoke Tunneline® formwork system designed to AS3610 compliance encompassing a bespoke HY steel reinforcement cage to cater for the load distribution that was scoped as SM1600 with a B2 exposure classification for durability.

The principle of Tunneline® is to create an independent structural element inside the existing host structure that is able to take the full active and passive loading without any recognition of existing strength in the existing structure. Design assumes a fully deteriorated host condition and requires no additional treatment of the surrounding soils regardless of voiding or loss of material.

2.7m Formwork at Devilbend Creek.

Designing to AS5100 and AS3725 produces a rigid structure rather than a flexible lining such that assumptions based against AS2566 part 1 are not required and a design life in excess of 100 years can be assured.

The hydraulic efficiency of the final linings achieved a slight improvement against the existing CSP due to the improved friction coefficient that is achieved with Tunneline as there are no joints in the lining and precise control of invert levels and gradient can be achieved through the adjustable formwork system.

A significant factor in the project development was the management of existing flows and the preservation of the environment, neither of which could be affected by the works at any stage and this had to be balanced with the construction program as works progressed across the 3 separate cells on each of the crossings with flows being diverted to whichever cell that was not being actively worked on at the time.

Tunneline® is a one pass system requiring no pre-treatment, advanced grouting or post lining treatment. The project commenced in May and lining works were completed by the end of July despite the onset of the winter rains which resulted in some severe flooding to both culvert sets.

The highlights of the project can be summarised as: • Providing a 100-year design life; • Full Compliance with Australian Codes and Standards; • No disruption to the operation of the Freeway; • Flood immunity was not compromised; • No lane restrictions or closures; • No speed restrictions, and • No LTI’s or accidents.

Completed Lining.

Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

43

TECHNOLOGY FEATURE

Streamlining Digitised Waste Business Processes

with Self-Service Web Portals, Apps, Maps and APIs

by Terry Daley, Senior Marketing Consultant for AMCS Wastedge.com

S

elf-Service Web-Portals, Apps, Maps and APIs (the digitisation of data-flows and workflows) are fundamentally changing and streamlining business processes across all sectors of waste industry service providers, from Residential services and Commercial waste collectors and Recyclers to regional brokers and service introduction or waste ecology agencies.

Proliferation of Portals and Mobile Apps For the resident or commercial customer, online internet self-service facilities and apps put the “end-user” back in the driver seat to simplify and extend communications beyond normal business office hours and provide alternate customer contact channels (by web portal, app or email) for faster digital feedback.

Software applications on Smart phones (mobile “Apps”) are allowing residential customers to digitally report problems with attached photos or submit requests at the user’s GPS location. Similarly, council field inspector staff are using mobile apps and maps to capture and quantify spilled or dumped rubbish sites data back to operations management who can dispatch related clean-up jobs 44

Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

out to in-field teams who also use mobile apps sharing the same data.

Commercial customers are also looking for local Waste Collection booking portals or smart phone apps that they can raise ad-hoc quotes or service requests electronically, just like they use now to book a Taxi or Uber transport service.

Electronic Data Interchange APIs (Application Program Interfaces) are different database synchronisation connections for electronic data interchange (EDI) facilitating the sharing of digital information moving between different collaborative, connected software packages (such as CRM or Ratepayer databases and Operational Job Allocation systems) that may be used by multiple departments inside the Council or between the Council and Contractor.

Service request data can then be echoed out to field inspector staff or the collection vehicle driver’s mobile data terminals or smart phone apps.

When it is actioned by mobile field staff the job status and related response data including before/after clean-up photos can be sent back through the same digital data channels and APIs to update the

Contractor and Council systems as well as to the original requestor.

Early adopters of these digital data capture and sharing facilities are finding their traditional paper and phone based calls and request handling systems’ processing steps can be reduced by over 50% with most of the data entry effort moved to out the customer.

Sharing data digitally between council departments and contractors also saves considerable admin effort by eliminating double handling and clerical effort where the respective systems can talk to each other via APIs.

Commercial Intra-company Communications Digitisation Larger commercial waste companies with multiple offices and branches can also use APIs for internal multi-department message handling. For instance, if a customer or prospect calls your service desk with a request for new service that request needs to flow through several departments and staff from Sales (Reps) to provide quotes and possible site and safety inspections, and bin delivery staff to get the bin out there, then Operations management or Route Scheduling department to assign the service to the

TECHNOLOGY FEATURE

optimum route and eventually to the collection vehicle driver to empty the bin.

Many companies are looking for their waste systems to digitise and manage these requests from logging through to task allocation, triggering other task spinoffs and sequence of activities across their various staff departments so that staff along the chain of events don’t drop the ball or miss the message.

Having a central integrated shared notes system linked to specific customer services and actions can help the left hand of your company know what the right hand is doing. This gives isolated department staff a better view of what’s coming down the pipeline, or what downstream impact delays in the process can cause.

It’s also important in amongst this gaggle of activities to have some alert system triggered by KPIs so that when request or action event statuses don’t get confirmed within expected company performance timeframes that there is some integrated ability to escalate attention of managers in the hierarchy so that problems or

blockages in the workflow can be resolved early.

So while digitisation is saving massive amounts of admin work in reduced paperwork and manual handling duplication of efforts, it’s also introducing more capabilities to digitise the many verbal messages and unstructured emails that can clog internal networks.

Commercial Inter-company Communications Digitisation In many regions, small and medium waste service companies tend to collaborate with similar sized different line-ofbusiness vertical niche operators so as a group they can offer a wider range of services to their customers. For instance, a waste company specialising in Frontlift or Rearlift operations may sub-contract out other service requests for bulk C&D skips or hooklift / compactor services to a friendly non-competing regional associate company. This helps to offer their customers a one stop shop for waste services and can extend to a wide range of specialist niche services such as Liquid or Hazardous waste, Medical

Waste, Security Destruction Services, Hygiene Services etc.

In turn, this helps the small and medium companies compete with the top-end multi-nationals or multi state, multi-region operators. In the USA this has seen the growth over the last 10 years of consortium style companies like Alliance and Waste Connections that have become giants themselves to compete at the top end of the market.

As rapid growth cloud start-ups like Rubicon emerge in the US to offer an Uber style collector collaboration system, we expect to see many small waste companies looking to their own collaborative networks (and systems) to compete.

Collaborative Sub-contractor Opportunities As fringe dwellers in the Australian geographic population (and related rubbish production) we are spread around long distance coastal beach-sides and across wide empty spaces. This means that scattered local region smaller waste companies should have a strong local operations efficiency - profitability advantage, yet waste contractor associations or organisations and Brokers have yet to fully realise the opportunity they have, to offer collaborative

“Having a central integrated shared notes system linked to specific customer services and actions can help the left hand of your company know what the right hand is doing.”

Waste + Water Management Australia | April 2017

45

TECHNOLOGY FEATURE

systems that can facilitate inter-company sub-contractor data exchange.

As a major software supplier to a wide range of waste operations, as more of our customers get control of their digitised data, we’re seeing an increasing demand for facilitating inter-company Export Translation and Load (ETL) of subcontracted customer’s services and jobs between collaborating contractor companies and a growth in early-adopter waste facilities management firms who see the advantage in being able to coordinate a nationwide wide regional range of waste services.

This means the supporting systems need to be built or extended to store double the data – to be able to know what alternate customer account code the subbie uses for that customer in their system, or to know what different subbie system codes are used to relate to the same bin-types, waste types and service types. (For example an FL3M OCC for a Frontlift 3 Cubic Metre in one company for Old Corrugated Cardboard might be called an F3CM CARD in another).

Circular Economy and Waste Ecology data share As recyclable materials change from being a waste to being a commodity under circular economy concepts, we’re also seeing some emerging materials auction or bidding systems as environmental concerns fire up the waste to energy consumable materials appetite.

It’s disappointing to see the Bin Trim system seeming to fall out of focus for helping small waste producer companies who normally wouldn’t be bothered with investigating potential waste consumers, should they be able to simply segregate their waste streams.

Yet with more legislation likely banning more materials from landfill, there’s also going to be more pressure from the EPA wanting to share any-and-all digital data relating to wastes and recyclables movements, to the extent of offering to subsidise considerable amounts of the cost of new weighbridge systems as choke-points to capture more accurate waste movement data.

Digitising Residential Services Communications and Collection Schedule Inquiry Apps For residents, as the younger generation moves up into the housing market, techsavvy tenants and householders expect to have at least some form of digital communication services with the council.

Most major residential contractors offer one-way information apps that show residents details on disposal facilities within the council region and at best, show collection days per waste stream for any given street address, enabling prior-day “Put-the-bin-out” pop-up smart phone alerts and reminders. But these are mostly only one-way data display apps, that fail to offer extended two way digital communications.

Residential Service Requests & Complaints Portals Typical residential service requests that can be handled by web-portals (integrated within the Council Website pages) has expanded over the last few years to include the following: * New property - request for bin deliveries * Bin size change requests (where options allowed) * Damaged Bin Repair/Replacement requests * Opt-in requests for optional Greenwaste bins * Service Cancellation notifications * Bulky Waste Collection bookings * Dumped Rubbish Notifications * Driver Spilled Waste complaints * Dead animal removal requests * Noise complaints * Day of Service Inquiries Field Service staff and council inspectors can be connected to the resulting job lists for their designated area via mobile phone apps, that take the digital data (via APIs) from connected Ratepayer CRM software or resident self-service requests, and complaints that require further action or investigation. This then enables field staff to provide feedback from their smart phone apps, with photo attachments, back to operations management, who in turn can then echo that data into a clean-up-job that gets beamed out to the nearest mobile garbage clean-up team. This facilitates agile work allocation, speeding up response time and minimising more complaints about the same dumped rubbish.

Portals for Bulky Waste At-Call Services Now that the council mergers activity seems to have settled down, we’re finding a high degree of interest in Commercial Contractors offering ad-hoc booking systems that can be integrated right into the Council website pages.

These booking systems work just like a simple hotel reservation system in that they can be set to limit the number of collections to the available trucks capacity per day. In our experience, Councils can have a wide variety of options when it comes to keeping control of the number of bookings coming in and 46

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TECHNOLOGY FEATURE

the way they prefer to restrict bookings to specific dates: • Same day as Day of Service for that address • Day after Day of Service (allows for any clean-ups by same vehicles) • Nominated Day of Week per suburb • Map area per week (groups vehicles – less travel) • Street section roster twice per year • Separate or combined streams for o Bulky Hardwaste

o Whitegoods o E-waste o Mattresses o Greenwaste o Problem Waste (paints, chemicals, etc)

Saving Business Process Steps These are typical manual process steps that can be saved / digitised or removed in the bulky waste bookings and collection processing area:

• Manual mail out of info regarding what’s allowed and what’s not • Validation that only 2 (or more) Free services allowed per type of property • Automated reminders re-placement prior to weekend before scheduled service • Confirmation between Contractor and Council of initial request and completed service • (Saves double handling of same data and double data entry for bookings and confirmations) • Ability for Contractor and Council to share completed jobs list with before/ after photos • Share data with council customer service staff for any subsequent enquiries • Contractor mobile apps save linking separate camera based images as proof of service • APIs to council resident address database shares relevant database for bookings

TECHNOLOGY FEATURE

Digitised Mapping Services Once customer and route records have been geocoded so the addresses have been digitally referenced to locations on the map, this opens up a whole new world of mapping opportunities to see pictorially where your business is spreading to on the map, and then apply innovative on-demand optimising methods and technology to improve fleet efficiency and profitability.

Today’s modern mapping and transport scheduling systems have evolved to offer new focus on route and customer profitability to reduce revenue leakage while improving productivity and agility.

Digital Engagement of Customers Make it easier for customers to find and deal with your business through these new channels: • new social and digital media channels, • web to lead opportunities • smart mobile apps • self-service booking portals • self-service data-share / contact portals

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“Today’s modern mapping and transport scheduling systems have evolved to offer new focus on route and customer profitability to reduce revenue leakage while improving productivity and agility.”

This can show customers how innovative and interested your company can be in attracting and retaining their business.

Digitisation and streamlining of your data streams will facilitate Business Intelligence analysis reporting to improve

end to end business visibility. Continually look for improvement opportunities to change and update the way data flows through your business to reduce effort and cost across your business and out to your customers and sub-contractors.

And so it begins...