Geocycle production supervisor Frank Zanetti at the Dandenong South plant where industrial waste is converted into fuel for the cement industry.
By Shaun Inguanzo
RECYCLING industrial waste is an environmental good deed but a challenging service to sell to Australian businesses, according to a Dandenong South company.
Geocycle is in the business of energy recovery, a method of turning industrial waste into fuel for the cement industry’s large kilns.
For the past 12 years Geocycle has made its business charging companies to deposit oils, paints, wash water, solvents and a host of other waste in its Dandenong South plant for processing into fuel.
Geocycle operations manager John Hewitson said the fuel was a substitute for the cement industry’s use of coal and gas – two non-renewable energy sources.
While it doesn’t reduce the carbon dioxide emissions when concrete is produced, it does prevent waste from being dumped in landfills and generating environmentally harmful gases.
But despite the initiative, Australia is lagging behind its overseas counterparts with only six per cent of energy used by the concrete industry coming from the fuel Geocycle produces.
“Europe is certainly leading the way globally in the beneficial use of waste, but that is because it has got a lot more people in a smaller area,” Mr Hewitson said. He said he was optimistic the figure would grow, but said Australia’s vast geographical landscape meant local landfill was still a cheaper option for many companies.
“Landfill in Australia is still cheaper,” Mr Hewitson said. “It’s the typical Australian problem – a small population and large travel distances.”
But the company is optimistic that more businesses will jump aboard the environmentally sensible bandwagon.
Mr Hewitson said within 10 years the company hoped to see 20 per cent of the concrete industry’s fuel sourced from the energy recovery process.
