Recycling of Timber Used in the Plastics Packaging Industry

1
Recycling of Timber Used in the Plastics
Packaging Industry

• Presenter Robert Dvorak
• EcoRecycle Victorias
• Timberlinks Network Business Breakfast
• 26th of March, 2003

2
Types of Timber Waste

• Broken and damaged wooden pallets.
• Timber packaging such as top frames and to some
  extent masonite boards
• Solid wooden platforms plywood boards from
  imported machinery.
• Wooden boxes
• Other wooden pieces

3
Used Timber Packaging
4
Cost Analysis of Timber Recycling

• Analysis of 2002 annual disposal costs discovered
  to be approximately
• 70,000 (at one site only)
• Hidden costs due to loss of resources.
• Approximate Cost of disposal of all timber to the
  landfill was approximated to be
• 8,000
• However..
• Recycling of all the timber was NOT FREE
• ? Total Removal Fees Labour Costs added up
  to 2,000.
• Careful planning, advice and key contacts from
  Ecorecycle Vic has saved ACI 6,000.

5
How was it achieved ?

• Focus at management level on the environmental
  responsibility a business has to the wider
  community.
• Awareness of EcoRecycle Vic direction, knowledge
  and experience
• (i) Government focus on reducing waste to
  landfill (e.g. higher landfill fees)(ii) Help
  from EcoRecycle for ACI to link-up with
  recycling business provide advice on how to
  best recycle other materials.

6
How was it achieved who benefited?

• A strategy was put in place on the most cost
  effective and environmentally beneficial way to
  clean-up scrap at ACI and ensure that long term
  waste generation is minimised and eliminated.
• Staff morale had increased and other ACI
  personnel became interested in what was being
  done.
• Other ACI sites have now approached the Executive
  Team to fully develop a strategy for all sites.

7
What has been achieved overall ?

• Site has been cleaned up with minimal amount
  going to landfill.
• Land area free of scrap has increased by over
  2,000m2.
• 2 full skips of steel removed free of charge.

8
What has been achieved overall ?

• Council, safety, fire risks minimised or
  eliminated.
• 5 Semi-trailers worth of timber removed for
  recycling
• (75 cost saving by recycling it vs. landfill
  option).
• Management focus on a company wide recycling
  strategy and waste generation.

9
Conclusions

• Company management need to develop fully
  support a recycling strategy best tailored to
  their business.
• Important to find the right recycling partners.
• Loss of material resources to waste and landfill
  is a good indicator of manufacturing
  inefficiency.
• Important to value the benefits of recycling by
  (i) Financial Analysis (ii) Safety
  Analysis (iii) Environmental Social Analysis
• All of the above are equally important.

10
Acknowledgements

• EcoRecycle Victoria
• (Kevin Mooney/David Rako)
• Waste Converters Recycling
• (Ward Petherbridge)
• ACI
• (Andrew Ebert, Executive Team,
• Factory Personnel)