Non-compostable products have been plaguing deliveries to Stanhope-based composting company Biomix, with glass, non-biodegradable plastics, animal beds and more showing up in regular deliveries from council kerbside collections from around the state.
The Stanhope facility receives green waste from about 12 councils including Campaspe, Albury, greater Bendigo and from the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and processes the waste into compost for resale.
However recent stockpiles of contaminated waste have seen the organisation fined $8060 by the EPA for breaking the EPA licensing agreement of stockpiling industrial waste and storing it outside its facility’s boundary.
Four Campaspe Shire councillors toured the facility on Wednesday to see the extent of the contamination and hear concerns from Biomix chief executive Vanessa Lenihan.
‘‘Biomix had unprecedented growth in the volumes accepted to the facility in 2018. We did store unscreened finished compost in the paddock next to the processing area,’’ she said.
‘‘In February 2019, Biomix approached the EPA and alerted them to the storage of this material and presented a plan to screen and remove this product, and we’ve been working closely with the EPA to enact a clean-up plan since then.’’
The facility processes about 350 tonnes of waste a day and has the capacity to process 600-1000 tonne at its peak, and after taking excess waste which was contaminated, has invested $700,000 to clear the paddock.
As a result of this, Biomix is currently reviewing receival contracts to ensure all waste accepted at the facility meets the required standards to ensure it can be managed on site.
‘‘Contamination is not cheap to manage,’’ Ms Lenihan said.
‘‘In our final product our biggest issue is with glass which will be screened out.
‘‘In November last year we invested more than $1 million in machinery — which we bought from a manufacturer in Ireland — to screen product for contamination when it first enters the facility.
‘‘That screening has the capacity for 12 employees picking out items, however it’s a very labour-intensive job and would require a significant budget for wages.’’
In the composting process, waste is stored and ventilated to keep it about 73C for three days to begin the composting process, meaning meat, seafood, dairy, raw foods and cooked foods can be placed in household green organic waste bins.
‘‘We are also one of the only facilities to take compostable bags, packaging and biopak plastics,’’ Ms Lenihan said.
However some significant barriers stand in the way of efficiently composting and reusing waste.
‘‘Contamination of plastics, animal beds, glass and other non-compostable items is a challenge for us,’’ Ms Lenihan said.
‘‘Christmas beetles are also a concern, they are only around for about a month every year but last year they caused about $30,000 damage, eating the caulking out of the walls in our composting bays.’’
While nothing dramatic can be done about the Christmas beetle problem, Ms Lenihan said community education about what can and can’t be placed in household kerbside green bins would dramatically reduce the workload and cost of operating the facility.
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