After the fire that occurred on Boxing Day 2022 at the Canberra recycling plant, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has had to transport more than 46,000 tons of recycling interstate every year. The new recycling plant in Hume is expected to be ready by 2028, and it has been designed, built, and will be operated by the French company Veolia. According to the government, the technology used will be much more advanced, with human sorters, heavy machinery, and smart technology.
Although there are many high expectations for the new recyclable materials center that will allow proper recycling in this region of Australia, the government continues to urge citizens to start the waste management process at home. As an incentive, the government has started inspecting around 600 containers weekly, with the aim of checking whether recycling is being carried out correctly. Depending on the result, households will receive green smiling faces or a red label. This aims to raise awareness and encourage people to recycle and take care of the environment.
New recycling plant
Waste management and recycling were disrupted in Hume after the fire at its recycling plant on Boxing Day 2022, which completely destroyed the material recovery facility. The fire originated from batteries inside a receipt compactor that overheated. For this reason, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has been forced to transport more than 46,000 tons of interstate recycling every year since then.
Recently, the demolition of the site has begun, and there is a budget of 26 million dollars for the construction of a new recyclables center, funded by the ACT and federal governments. It is expected to be ready by 2028 and will be designed, built, and operated over the next 20 years by the French company Veolia. Estimates indicate that up to 115,000 tons of recyclable materials will be processed each year, 50,000 tons more than the previous plant.
New technology
The government has announced that the technology for the new recycling plant in Canberra will be much more advanced. At the plant, materials pass through a system powered by conveyors and supervised from a central control room. The first stage will involve human sorters who will look for and remove items considered dangerous, such as batteries or chemicals. After this sorting, it will be the job of heavy machinery with intelligent technology to separate the materials.
This will be done using air blowers, which push paper and cardboard aside, and magnets, which attract steel cans, while other devices extract aluminum. The work is automated, although it is guaranteed that there will still be jobs for humans, especially to operate and supervise the processes. According to the spokesperson, “The current setup aims to achieve high levels of purity and resource recovery. AI technology is maturing and may be considered for future upgrades”.
Myths about recycling
It is a common belief that if we recycle a plastic bottle but forget to remove the cap, it will not be recycled. However, this is not true. “Removing the caps and rinsing bottles and containers before placing them in the recycling bin will help improve the quality of the sorted material.” The truth is that it is more important for the recycling process that the containers are clean and empty, much more so than whether they still have the cap or not.
All waste that goes into the yellow bin (bottles, jars, paper, cardboard, cans, and hard plastic containers) will still be accepted, while items like food waste or clothing cannot be accepted. Naturally, batteries will also not be accepted due to their previous role in the 2022 fire.
Random Inspection Program
With the aim of raising awareness in households, the ACT has launched a random inspection program through which around 600 containers are checked weekly to monitor whether recycling is being done properly. If so, households will receive a green smiling face, and if not, a red label. This initiative does not include fines or penalties; it only aims to supervise, monitor, and encourage citizens to make recycling a habit, thus promoting environmental care.