Daryl Slusher

Offloading green bin organics at Coffs Harbour resource recovery facility

Daryl Slusher

Kitty litter made from recycled paper in Coffs Harbour

The focus of my exchange visit yesterday was Coffs Harbour Council’s resource recovery operation, operated under contract with the Council by Handybin Waste Services, and Biomass Solutions.  This tour was particularly relevant for Austin because the City of Austin’s Resource Recovery Department is developing a zero waste garbage plan and one area under exploration is collection of food waste from the curbside for composting with Austin’s treated sewage sludge -- which has long been composted. This would be in partnership with Austin Water, the City’s public water utility where I serve as an assistant director.

Austin faces significant hurdles in commencing such an operation, including the heat -- 90 days over 100 degree days this year for example. Another is that Austin’s sludge facility is not currently equipped to handle food waste. Austin currently picks up garbage, recycling (glass, paper and plastics in one container), and yard waste once per week at curbside.

Coffs has a three bin curbside pickup system. The yellow bin is recycling - plastics, metals, paper, and glass. The green bin is organic waste, yard clippings and food waste. The red bin is for anything else -- rubbish as it is called in Australia, garbage in the United States. Materials in the yellow bin are sorted at a Handybin’s private facility on Coffs Council property. Broken glass, that was previously landfilled is ground into sand and aggregate that can be used in drainage, pipe embedment, concreting and road making. Around half of the paper becomes kitty litter and the rest is exported for reuse. The organic waste is mixed with sludge trucked in from Coffs Council’s wastewater plants and the mix is then processed into Class A compost. Contents of the red bins are sorted to eliminate reject materials before being processed to recover recyclables, an organic fraction that can be composted, and residual materials that are landfilled.  Around half of the red bin materials end up as Grade B compost. Eventually Coffs is able to reclaim 80% of its domestic waste stream. Since the plant went into operation in 2007, the state government in New South Wales passed regulations tightening the level of constituents allowed in Class B compost. This has temporarily resulted in more waste going into the adjacent landfill while the plant is upgraded. The upgrade is scheduled for completion by year’s end and then Coffs will once again be recovering 80% of its solid waste.

This visit was one of many valuable aspects of my trip here to Australia. Coffs officials report traveling extensively in respect to the contracts that were let and negotiated. Coff’s officials learned about similar plants through trips to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland where such plants have been operating the longest. There were also trips throughout Australia and to the United States. Coffs Council officials believe these trips were a worthwhile investment in obtaining knowledge about a project that will serve their community for decades.