Armidale Recycling Services by Focus

E TUR FEA S U FOC AL I C PE A S

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Any of you who have ever met Mark Low (the Cardboard King, as he prefers to be called) will already know about his passion for his community and his family. For others, you will soon appreciate what he, his wife, Natalie, and their team have contributed towards waste management in our community at Armidale Recycling Services – with the help from Council and many local businesses.

“ Nat is a local

d Armidale girl, an en be her family have for around the area .” ns four generatio

ow long have you lived in Armidale? I was born and bred in Tigers country, Uralla. My parents are Frank and Joan Low, and I have an older sister, Ann-Maree. We grew up on Bridge Street across from the BP Service Station. I moved to Armidale after my engagement to my wife, Natalie. Nat is a local Armidale girl, and her family have been around the area for four generations. Her parents are Barry and Pauline Miller, and she has an older brother, John and younger sister, Nikki who also live in Armidale with their families. Nat and I have been blessed with having two teenage boys. Blake is 14 and Trent is 12, and they both attend O’Connor Catholic College. Blake is a keen

Manly supporter like his mum, and Trent supports the Tigers like his Dad. This makes interesting nights when the two teams play each other! How long have you been in this industry? I have been in the Waste industry since 1996 and the Recycling industry for the past 8 years. Nat and I are the owner/operators of Armidale Recycling Services Pty Ltd (ARS). ARS is contracted by the Armidale Dumaresq Council and Guyra Shire Council to collect kerbside recyclables from residents in the Armidale and Guyra district. The recyclable material collected is then taken to the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), where recycling centre staff sort everything by hand into different categories. ARS Pty Ltd also collects recycling from local business houses. continued over

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A R M I DA L E R E C YC L I N G S E RV I C E S

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Tell us about the local recycling process? Armidale and Guyra residents are provided by Council with 55 litre black crates for the disposal of recyclable household material. They are picked up on a weekly basis. One crate, with a lid, is for the recycling of all types of cardboard and paper. The second is for all other recyclable material, including plastic bottles and containers, empty steel cans, aluminium cans, aerosols, glass bottles and jars and milk and juice cartons. Residents can also purchase extra black crates from the Armidale Dumaresq Council as ARS, under the current contract, will collect an unlimited number of black crates from each household. ARS has witnessed an increase in recyclable

materials since the introduction of the unlimited crate system. Once collected from the kerbside, the recyclables are transported to the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) on Long Swamp Road. Paper and cardboard is processed and then baled into one tonne blocks and are stored ready for transport to th the paper mills. All other recyclables such as gl glass, plastic bottles, aluminium ca cans and tin cans are placed in a ch chain driven hopper. The hopper has a variable speed which drops the recyclables on a sorting belt. The belt is approximately 20 m long. There are different stations located along the belt where all the different types of recyclables are sorted by hand. The milk bottles (HDPE) are sorted and baled and stored ready for transport to Melbourne, where they are reprocessed into new milk bottles or HDPE products. PET/clear bottles are sorted and baled and are sent to Sydney to be reprocessed into new PET products. The aluminium cans are sorted and baled and are sent to Newcastle to be recycled into aluminium products. The tin cans are separated and sorted and

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Guyra ided residents are prov litre by Council with 55 e black crates for th able disposal of recycl ial. ” household mater

“ Armidale and baled ready for transport to Brisbane, where they reprocessed into new tin cans. Plastic bags and plastic film are sent to Sydney to be recycled. All other plastics are called mixed plastics and are baled together and shipped overseas to be reprocessed. The glass is separated into two colours, one being an amber mix (brown and green) and the other flint (white). The glass is then broken with a glass breaker into pieces approximately the size of a 50c piece. It is then stored and transported to Brisbane to be recycled into new glass. Can you give residents tips for recycling? • Buy extra crates from Council

• Don’t dispose of recyclables with your regular waste • Rinse and clean jars, plastic bottles etc. • The cardboard and paper crate to have a lid to keep paper dry and clean • Take the lids off bottles and jars • Never put hazardous waste in your recycling crate How does recycling benefit the community? Under the new contract which commenced in 2012, residents are able to put out an unlimited amount of crates. This gives residents more capacity per week to recycle, therefore reducing the amount of waste going

fillll. to landfi Another benefit of the crate system is that the recyclables are very low in contamination, because they are not commingled. Therefore, the quality of the recyclables are of a very high standard, which makes sorting and processing easier and in turn, we are able to sell the product to many major Recycling Companies. ARS is currently operating at a 4% residual to landfill with the crate system. ARS would like to thank the residents of

Armidale and Guyra for their dedication towards recycling. Residents are doing a great job in sorting and cleaning their household recyclables ready for kerbside collection. The crate system does require more man power to manually collect the kerbside crates and hand sort the recyclables. This creates employment in the local community. ARS also works closely with many local businesses in the community. continued over

Growing Businesses just like Armidale Recycling Services

WHK Principal Col Ranck has been working closely with Mark and Natalie Low assisting them to move their business to the NEXT LEVEL. To see outstanding results in your business contact WHK and speak to a Business Advisory specialist. 90 Rusden Street, Armidale, NSW T 02 6776 5100

Col Ranck

WHK Principal

better advice for a better life

www.whk.com.au

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A RMIDA L E RE C YC L ING C E N T RE

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Tell us about your team? My wife, Nat, and I are the owner/operators of Armidale Recycling Services. I manage the day to day operations at the Armidale and Guyra MRFs. I organise and oversee the staffing and kerbside runs and arrange the transport and sale of the product. I co-ordinate with my Leading Hands, Mona and Nathan, on a daily basis, to prioritise duties for the day, as the workload differs from day to day. Nat runs the office and takes care of all the paper work and administration duties. It is great to have Nat working at the Centre, as there wouldn’t be a day that goes by that

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I need her opinion or advice on something; plus, she is not bad on the eyes! It is a nice change from looking at cardboard and plastic. Nat is also a busy mum to our two boys. ARS currently employ 17 local staff between the Armidale and Guyra MRFs. They range from truck drivers, forklift drivers and recycling sorters and processors. They are a very hardworking team and have a vast knowledge in the recycling business. TEAM ARMIDALE Teremoana Marsters – Mona is my Leading Hand, and he is an integral part of the smooth running of the MRF. He oversees the

day to day operations of the MRF and works closely with myself. He has a good working relationship with the staff and is able to get the best out of people. Peter Beresford – Pete is a kerbside truck driver and has worked for us for 7 years. He has a great knowledge of the pickup routes and is well known in the community. Patrick Ferris – Pat is in charge of our Commercial cardboard pickups. He comes from a well-known local family and is a very professional employee. Timmy Stace – Timmy is a kerbside truck driver and knows Armidale like the back of his hand and is a very reliable and polite

employee. Shawn Keene – Shawn is a kerbside truck driver and collects recycling in Armidale and Guyra. Shawn is a generous employee and participates in many local fundraising events for support to local families. Joshua Keene – Josh is Shawn’s brother and is a kerbside truck driver. He undertakes any duties asked of him and nothing is ever too hard. The Keene family is a local well-known family. Brett Monley – Brett is a kerbside driver and is in charge of our Preventative Maintenance Program on all our machinery and equipment. Brett brings a spark to our team. He cooks a

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“ ARS currently

aff employ 17 local st idale rm A between the .” and Guyra MRFs

weekly BBQ for the staff and spoils us with his famous gourmet sausages. Grant Irving – Grant is a recycling sorter and has been employed with us for the past year after completing a 12 week scheme with CRS Australia. Grant is a reliable employee and always available when needed. Robert Swilks – Robbie is a recycling sorter and is a long term employee of ARS. He has a great knowledge of the Armidale area and the recycling operation. Trevor Davis – Trevor was a full time em-

he MRF as ployee at the a recycling sorter until he started a family. He has returned to us on a part-time basis and is an asset to ARS. Justin Farrell – Justin is a recycling sorter and is our youngest employee. He has shown a great deal of maturity over the last 12 months. He bales a lot of the product ready for transportation. Jeremy McElroy – Pedro is a recycling sorter and works on the belt sorting recyclables and also baling of the recyclables. He is a very efficient worker and maintains and cleans the

standard MRF to a high standard. Ben Tracy – Ben is a recycling sorter and is a very friendly and easygoing employee. He completes any tasks asked of him and nothing is ever a hassle. He comes from a local family. TEAM GUYRA Nathan Reeves – Nathan is our Leading Hand at the Guyra Waste Facility and is also a kerbside driver in Guyra. He is in charge of the day to day operations of the Guyra Waste Facility, and anything Nathan undertakes is done to a high standard. He is a well-known and well liked member of the community. Barrie Campbell – Barrie is a recycling sorter

Facility He keeps the at the Guyra Waste Facility. grounds and the MRF clean and tidy. He is respected member of the Guyra community. David Pixton – David is a recycling sorter who also sorts our scrap metal at the Guyra MRF. David has an extensive knowledge of scrap metal and does a great job. Glen Vanderwolf – Glen is our hook lift truck driver. He transports the Guyra recyclables and waste to Armidale and Tingha. Glen is very reliable and has an extensive knowledge of heavy vehicles. He treats the equipment as if it was his own. continued over

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F r o m t h e Council. S E RV I C

You work closely with local businesses. businesses they and d how do they help Who are they, your business? As Armidale is located in a regional area, the recyclables collected have to be transported to metropolitan processing plants in major cities around Australia. Therefore, transport is a major requirement for our business. We contract 3 local businesses to transport our product. They are T & T Transport, Hillier’s Transport and Tibbs’ of Guyra. Tom Faint of T & T Transport transports our cardboard to VISY Recycling in Sydney on a weekly basis. Tom is a local owner/operator who provides us with a great reliable service. He is a great bloke to deal with, and nothing is ever a drama. Brian Hillier of Hilliers Transport transports our plastics to Impact Recycling in Sydney, our aluminium and tin cans to Brisbane and cardboard to AMCOR Recycling in Sydney. Brian and Chris Hillier operate a large transport business which is capable of moving our product efficiently all over Australia. Brian and Chris are always accommodating and provide a great professional service. Scott Tibbs of Guyra transports our glass to Asia Pacific, located in Brisbane, on a regular basis. He also provides ARS with an excavation service to maintain the Guyra Waste Transfer Station. Scott provides us with a very reliable and friendly service.

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ES ARS owns a small fleet of vehicles that carry out a high volume of work on a daily basis. This requires major preventative maintenance to be carried out on the vehicles. Westend Truck Services provides ARS with a quality mechanical service. Westend Trucks is owned and operated by Wayne and Kara Holmes. Wayne and his staff are available day and night to keep our vehicles on the road. We have a great working relationship with them and are grateful for all his hard work and high standards. ARS requires preventative maintenance on all its processing equipment located at the MRF. Greg Johnson of Johnson’s mobile welding carries out the maintenance and repairs to our equipment on-site. We are fortunate to have this service, as it is imperative that our equipment is operational. Greg is a master of repairing things that look like they are unrepairable. Greg makes himself available and is a quality tradesman. ARS also has a very close working relationship with a network of professional businesses, to ensure the smooth running of the business. Col Ranck, of WHK, provides us with specialist advice in Accounting, Business and Financial issues. Col is very professional and provides us with an high level of service and advice. Col is only a phone call away and is happy to discuss any matter, big or small. We look forward to his regu-

lar visits, and it is great that he shares our vision for the company. Jason Wright, from the National Bank, is our Business Banking Manager. Jason provides us with the comfort that we will be supported now and with our future endeavours. Jason always makes himself available and delivers a professional and outstanding service. Peter Pardy, of APJ Law, is our Solicitor. He works closely with us on all our legal matters and requirements. He provides personal, professional and exceptional service. We would like to thank the above businesses for their service and look forward to continuing our working relationship. What are your plans for the future? We are currently implementing a training program that gives staff the opportunity to obtain their Certificate III in Waste Management. The staff will obtain a greater understanding of the industry, OHS procedures, processing and the impact recycling has on the environment. We look forward to continuing to work closely with the Armidale Dumaresq Council and the Guyra Shire Council to promote recycling and reduce waste to landfill. We are committed to providing the residents of Armidale and Guyra a professional and sustainable service. Caring for the environment is everyone’s responsibility. Recycling can make a difference. Thanks for your time.

fter taking on board feedback from the community, Armidale Dumaresq Council (ADC) Waste Services identified a need for residents to be provided with more capacity for their recyclables. Since the commencement of the new waste collection contracts in 2012, residents are able to present as many crates at the kerb as their circumstances dictate, encouraging greater diversion of waste from landfill. Since the change to unlimited crates, ADC has noticed a significant increase (8%) in recyclables sorted at the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), which is a credit to Armidale residents. Often we are asked why Council elected to continue with a crate based system for recyclables, when most other Councils have moved to a single yellow lid comingled 240 litre wheelie bin. Our justification is based on combating contamination and reducing the impact this has on finding a market for the recovered products. Being located midway between Sydney and Brisbane, Armidale is disadvantaged by the distance to markets for recyclables compared to the metropolitan areas. Therefore, we must compete by providing high quality recycled materials that attract a higher price to offset the cost of transport. Many MRFs that receive recyclables from comingled bins are, unlike our crate based system, experiencing contamination issues. These mainly relate to paper and cardboard becoming spoilt by small pieces of broken glass (glass fines). This downgrades its value. Glass fines also spoil PET and other recycled plastic streams. Armidale residents can rest assured that the recyclables they personally separate by using the crates provided attract the best price possible. This keeps collection costs down. ADC values the exceptional service levels Armidale Recycling Services (ARS) provides to the community for the collection and sorting of recyclables. We look forward to continuing to work with them to find new markets and opportunities to divert even more waste from our landfill.