Did you know that recycled concrete from Mater Hospital, the Bulimba Barracks, and stands from Ballymore formed the base of the Cedar Road and Macarthur Avenue at the Northshore upgrade project?
The $12.35-million road upgrade at the eastern end of Northshore used concrete recycled from Mater Hospital, the stands from Ballymore, and the Bulimba Barracks with the Eagle Farm-based Rino Recycling supplying most of the recycled materials. The company provided about 96 per cent, or the lion’s share of 23,000 tonnes out of a total 23,800 tonnes, of the required recycled materials using its state-of-the-art recycling technology.
There were also additional concrete, brick and concrete washouts that came from the BP Refinery, Cross River Rail and Windsor Holden. On the other hand, recycled material from the Port of Brisbane, Brisbane City Council buildings and other smaller buildings across Brisbane provided the fill material.
Rino Recycling’s General Manager Daniel Blaser described the upgrade project as an “excellent example” of how the city’s demolition waste that would otherwise end in landfills can be recycled and used for such major construction projects.
Rino is already looking at establishing a state-of-the-art recycling and resource recovery facility as part of its five-year plan involving investments in people, technology and plants. The company also wants to improve its recovery rate from 80 per cent to 99 per cent or higher.
Rino Recycling has been granted by the Department of Main Roads approval to supply recycled materials for the department’s future road construction projects. And with $65 billion worth of infrastructure development projects over 25 years already planned for Brisbane, Rino expects the demand for recycled construction and demolition materials to further rise.
Queensland currently lags behind in recycling recovery rates compared to other Australian states and the cost of collecting and recycling is higher than sending waste to landfills.
However, Queensland’s Waste Management and Resource Recovery Strategy aims to change that. The Queensland waste strategy is underpinned by a waste disposal levy which was introduced in 2019 with the aim of encouraging Queenslanders to reduce, reuse and recycle waste and make landfills a less attractive option.