Landfill Diversion and Recycling

It was our challenge to encourage and encourage waste minimisation and recycling programs in line with Zero Waste SA’s strategic plan of reducing waste to landfill by 25% within 10 years.

2006 was a big year for us, it was the year that we fine tuned our environmental policy and it was the year that we rolled out the ‘Landfill Diversion Challenge Program’.  We had now become South Australia’s first Front lift waste company to divert waste from Landfill by the RTF (resource to fuel) method.  What began as 100% of our waste to Landfill in 2005 has now in 2010 reduced to just 67%. That’s a reduction of 33% to Landfill in 5 years.  We have also increased cardboard and steel collection by seven fold.

With the start of our new product ‘Mixed Recyclables collection’ to the market place our goal for the subsequent 5 years is to reduce our C & I to landfill by another 17%. This means that If we want to achieve these targets we will need to extract far more resources from our waste stream. 

Signal Waste and Recycling will invest over 2 million dollars in equipment and a new recycling facility over the next 5 years to reach this goal. 

With the announcement of the increase of the EPA Waste to Landfill Levy to $35 a tonne in July 2011 now is the time to look at all your internal waste and recycling streams and how best to lower these.  Here are a few tips on recycling methods to help cut these upcoming costs.

Recycling Tips

Is your service supplier proactive on recycling or are they only involved in sending additional tonnage to their privately owned landfills?

Are you sorting your product on site?  The labour content in the recycling industry is by far the main cost to our business.  By extracting metals, cardboard, paper, plastics, timber, green waste, food waste, bottles and cans, bricks and concrete into their own receiving storage containers you will be saving on outsourced labour costs and any long term increase in the EPA waste to landfill levy.

Get a ‘mixed recyclable’ service where your product is taken offsite and sorted.  Although it is an increase in price due to outsourced labour you can still avoid the EPA waste to landfill levy.

Investigate ‘Free services’.  Some of your product has value.  Will a recycler remove or even pay to take away your product?  Some recycling centres have free drop off facilities for food, mobile phones, cardboard, paper and plastics and pallets.  You can even call your local charity. 

Most importantly get some certified advice.

We would like to Give thanks to all of our recycling partners who have made this all achievable – Zero waste SA, Sita-Resource Co, Visy, Amcor, Ferris Enterprises, Olympic Polymers, Magill Recycling and Advanced Plastic recyclers.

Environmental Policy

At Signal Waste & recycling it is our responsibility to encourage and promote to our customers and clientele in every way to become proactive and involved in waste minimisation and recycling programs.  It is our duty as an organisation to further advertise to the community as a whole the THREE R’s – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.  Therefore we are committed to regularly improving our environmental performance by undertaking activities such as: Seeking ways to minimise waste to landfill. Checking out sustainable markets for recyclable material so as to maximise recycling initiatives. Regular assessment of new processes.

Signal has had 5 great Years of Success under the leadership of Micheal Bolderoff and Allen Bolderoff and we look forward to 2015.