By Mitchell Clarke
Cardinia Shire Council will enter into a short-term contract of up to two years with Polytrade Recycling for the processing of kerbside recycling.
Polytrade has agreed to receive and process a proportion of kerbside recyclables from council, after an initial contract with SKM Industries came to an abrupt halt, when they were unable to meet EPA requirements.
SKM were issued with notices from the EPA regarding environmental non-compliance in February following fire and health risks at their Laverton and Coolaroo sites.
During an 11-week shut down period, council was forced to send recyclable material to landfill, sparking environmental outrage and an increased financial burden.
Unable to clean up their act, SKM ceased accepting materials from all Victorian customers including 31 other councils from Friday 26 July and the company has since gone into liquidation.
As it stands, Cardinia Shire Council and City of Casey are able to share Polytrade’s limited capacity of 50 tonnes per day, with Cardinia being afforded 13 tonnes while Casey has 37 tonnes, a number derived from annual tonnages produced.
It’s believed Polytrade are set to upgrade their Hallam processing facility within four to six weeks to a full materials recovering facility, which would eventually enable them to receive the remaining recycling tonnes from both councils.
We’re told the current processing rate by Polytrade is higher than the contractual rate with SKM, but the additional cost is still a saving compared to the rate of sending material to landfill.
If the short term contract with Polytrade wasn’t acquired, recycling would continue going to landfill until additional facilities are opened in Victoria.
Council officers have been working alongside 61 other councils on a group procurement process to invite new players into the recycling processing market.
The recycling industry was thrown into turmoil in early 2018, largely due to changes to environmental policies in China, which saw restrictions of the imports of Australian recyclables.
