Media release – Veolia, 1 December 2022
A multi-million dollar investment by Veolia in collaboration with Dulverton Waste Management and the City of Launceston Council is set to overhaul recycling in Northern Tasmania
Veolia has submitted a planning proposal for a state-of-the-art Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) at the existing Spreyton MRF site. The $24 million facility will incorporate the latest sorting technology with manual quality control, ensuring the highest quality end materials for recycling.
Of particular note is the inclusion of the sorting technology that will ensure efficient separation and recovery through automated technology that can detect separate plastics and plastics based on fibre quality.
The facility will also include glass beneficiation processing, removing bottle tops and labels made from different materials, like metal or plastic. This process will increase the quality of recycled glass to maximise reuse into new products.
Once completed, the MRF will cater for around 200,000 residents across multiple local councils. With capacity to process 20,000 tonnes of recyclables annually – an almost three-fold increase on existing capacity – the new facility will capably serve the needs of the northern half of the state well into the future.
Craig Barker, Veolia’s chief operating officer for resource recovery, said a single facility for the north of the state would maximise materials recovery, allowing councils to share in the environmental improvements.
“The synergies of combining recycling tonnages in the north of the state will create collection and technology efficiencies at a significant cost saving to the community,” he said. “It’s a win for recycling and residents alike, demonstrating the value of councils taking a progressive joint approach.”
Veronica Schilling, CEO at Dulverton Waste Management, praised the announcement as a testament of the power of collaboration between Dulverton, City of Launceston Council, Veolia and the other regional councils.
“This project is the result of northern Tasmanian councils working together for the community and shows the great outcomes that can result,” she said.
Veolia has established itself as a leading Tasmanian environmental service provider, operating in the state for over 30 years. The new MRF will increase the established operations in the north of the state and further Veolia’s efforts in optimised resource management.
Construction is anticipated to commence in May 2023 with an estimated completion date of 1 July 2024.
Media release – City of Launceston, 1 December 2022
Ratepayers to benefit from Veolia announcement
The environment and the City of Launceston’s financial bottom line will be the big winners following the announcement of Veolia’s new $24 million materials recovery facility.
The announcement follows a decision by Veolia to move away from building its proposed recovery facility in Churchill Park Drive in Invermay, which drew considerable opposition from nearby residents.
Launceston Mayor Danny Gibson commended City of Launceston employees who worked with Veolia to find a suitable alternate location at Spreyton that was both cost effective for the company as well as Launceston ratepayers, while also addressing the concerns of those affected Invermay residents.
“While recognising that this facility will no longer be built in our municipality, the Spreyton proposal will deliver a number of significant positive outcomes for Launceston ratepayers across the board,” Mayor Gibson said.
“Having a facility that is able to process half of Tasmania’s recyclable material is a huge positive in terms of environmental outcomes due to sheer volume of material the new plant will be able to handle on a daily basis,” Mayor Gibson said.
“It will also result in significant savings to the City of Launceston – somewhere in the vicinity of $1 million a year – which is certainly welcome news at a time when waste recovery costs for councils all over Australia have increased significantly.”
Mayor Gibson said Council will hold discussions with the Churchill Park landowner in due course around the future use of the site.
“I have no doubt that Veolia will maintain a strong presence in northern Tasmania and I look forward to ongoing job opportunities that will flow across the entire region from the construction of this multi-million-dollar facility.”
Mayor Gibson said he was confident the Spreyton plant decision would have other positive flow-on effects for northern Tasmanians, with the company indicating that there was likely to be future jobs growth directly into the Launceston market.
“We know that given this business model that transport jobs, for example, are likely to be on the increase with up to four jobs created in the region,” Mayor Gibson said.
“Other significant opportunities could come in the form of the circular economy as the company aggregates more product and improves its processing and sorting – and these are all good outcomes for our region.”
