The simple fact is – we all create waste. Ipswich is a hub of innovative businesses that not only deal with our waste, but are using it as a resource to feed the renewable sector, create new products or save money and the environment.
Whether you are a resident putting out your bin on garbage day, a business wanting to dispose of organic or liquid waste, or an organisation wanting to curb excess electricity usage, we all need solutions to make our lives cleaner and greener. Here are three Ipswich businesses making waves both locally and on the global stage.
Remondis, Swanbank
- Creating electricity from landfill gas.
- Technology that was highly innovative when launched has progressed to a fine art at this world-class facility.
- General Manager QLD – operations and business development Bret Collins
When landfill waste degrades, it creates gas. Mr Collins said Remondis’ Swanbank facility captured that gas and used it generate up to 1.5MW per hour.
“That’s enough for up to 2000 homes per year. We’ve been generating that for some time and it’s building,” he said.
Mr Collins said as well as having a carbon footprint significantly lower than competitors, Remondis was also able to sell electricity as Largescale Generation Certificates (LGCs) into the grid.
Remondis is the fifth largest waste company in the world, and its Swanbank facility is in its 20th year of operation.
Remondis is investigating the viability of further renewable technologies at Swanbank, such as an array of solar panels on capped and completed landfill, anaerobic digestion with organic waste, and have earmarked a 29ha site for further recovery and recycling of different materials.
Aquatec Maxcon, Wulkuraka
- Happy bacteria create energy from liquid and organic waste.
- Ipswich ingenuity and manufacturing applied to groundbreaking projects.
- State Manager Peter Ferrando
Anaerobic digestors act like a big stomach, where a slurry of organics such as food scraps and garden clippings, fats and oils are fed to bacteria.
The methane produced can then be used to drive a generator and produce energy and heat. The broken down waste, digestate, can also be used as a soil improver for farmland.
From its beginnings in 1977, Aquatec Maxcon has been an Ipswich company leading the water and wastewater technology sector.
It employs more than 200 people onsite, including about 60 engineers and draftsmen who do all design work locally. Mr Ferrando said moving into solid waste was a logical fit.
“It is the future. We see it as a big aspect of our business going ahead,” he said.
Mr Ferrando said most food manufacturers produced waste, and if you could create energy by treating that waste and put that energy back into the business, it’s good for your bottom line – especially with fats, oils and greases expensive to dispose of.
“The new technology is becoming economically viable, and the realisation of the true cost of dealing with waste,” he said.
Century Yuasa, Carole Park
- Combating energy wastage with customised solutions
- A fully operational unit that shows the commercial market is way ahead of industry best practice and governing standards
- National Product Manager – Industrial Scott Visser
Don’t be fooled by the unassuming exterior – these cabinets contain a working commercial Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) designed to exceed industry best practice and Australian standards.
It’s that vital link in the energy equation – being able to store electricity created by renewables and other sources, and release it when needed.
Mr Visser said the benefits to industrial businesses could be huge – BESS systems can shave peak energy usage during expensive tariff times by using energy from the grid at night when it’s cheaper, or from integrating renewables on site.
While BESS has potential to significantly reduce the energy cost and/or grid usage of a high-consumption business, there are still a number of barriers the industry has to work through.
“The technology is evolving rapidly, everyone is talking about it, but not many are doing it well,” Mr Visser said.
New companies are making a lot of noise, but 90-year-old Century Yuasa has the long term strategy in mind.
“As a long standing national company, we have developed a system and made sure it works,” Mr Visser said. “With high energy systems you need to get it right.”
Century Yuasa’s design team can tailor BESS to the individual needs of the business.
