In June 2003, Transpacific Industries, a Queensland-based waste management company that handles the sorting and segregation of materials, operating in conjunction with Queensland Alumina (QAL), opened a waste transfer facility at the QAL site. One of the main incentives for constructing the waste transfer facility was to prevent waste from going to landfill, a non-sustainable solution for the future. Most of QAL’s waste is now sorted at the facility for reusing, recycling or reselling.
Apart from old asbestos waste, which is handled by specialists, and red mud and fly ash, which are discharged to their respective dams, other waste is delivered to the facility where it is weighed on a weighbridge before being placed on a concrete pad for sorting by hand. After six months of operation, QAL reported the total elimination of waste going to QAL landfill. At this time, early 2004, the reported recycle rate was about 85% of wastes, which were mostly metal, cardboard and wood, and the facility was cost neutral. Most of the recovery costs are recouped from the reselling of scrap metal. By mid-2004 the recycle rates at the facility were reported to be over 90% with the facility now operating as cash positive.
| Industry Sector | Specific Industry |
| mining and minerals sector |
|
| waste handling sector |
|
Gladstone Industrial Area, Gladstone, Queensland, Australia
None.
| Economic |
|
| Environmental |
|
| Social |
|
None.
31 October 2005