SKM suddenly closes two recycling plants in Adelaide leaving 387 shipping containers full of waste

The sudden closure of two recycling plants has thrown the industry into turmoil — with hundreds of shipping containers full of waste being stored at Wingfield and residents across Adelaide set to carry the cost of the growing recycling crisis.

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Hundreds of thousands of ratepayers across metropolitan Adelaide will carry the cost of the recycling crisis with the closure of two processing plants.

Several councils will be forced to start paying to have their recycling processed after SKM Recycling closed its facilities at Wingfield and Lonsdale on Monday.

Until last year, SKM had been paying the councils for the paper, cardboard, plastics and glass in their yellow bins.

The company’s decision to shut down its Adelaide operations followed action by environmental authorities in SA and Victoria over safety hazards — including 387 shipping containers full of waste stored in the open at Wingfield.

The Environment Protection Authority has served a notice on SKM, saying it wants the shipping containers removed from the site by June.

The SKM Recycling yard at Wingfield. Picture: Colin James

The massive stockpile of recycling stored in shipping containers from above. Picture: Simon Cross

SKM Recycling this week told Onkaparinga, Unley and Adelaide councils it could not process their yellow bins, forcing the councils to make emergency arrangements with the Northern Adelaide Waste Management Authority (NAWMA) to use its facility at Edinburgh.

Seven councils – Burnside, Campbelltown, Mitcham, Norwood Payneham and St Peters, Prospect, Walkerville and Unley – already are using NAWMA through a consortium, East Waste.

East Waste terminated its contracts with SKM last September after it stopped paying $35 per tonne and called for tenders for a new processor.

It started sending its recycling to NAWMA, with the temporary arrangement seeing them pay around $60 a tonne for processing.

The now-closed SKM Recycling yard. Picture: Colin James

The only other recycling facility operating in Adelaide is owned by Visy, which already is charging councils such as Marion, Holdfast Bay, West Torrens and Tea Tree Gully around $70 a tonne to process their yellow bins.

Visy is principally interested in the cardboard and paper within the bins, which it sends to a pulp mill it operates at Gepps Cross as raw material.

Industry sources have told The Advertiser that NAWMA is running at capacity and that councils left without SKM’s facilities such as Onkaparinga and Adelaide will have to start sending all of their recycling to Visy.

The SKM Corporate recycling plant is now closed.

“SKM used to pay councils for their material but now all councils are going to have to pay to have their recycling processed instead of getting it done for free,” said one expert.

“They’re going to have to find the money either through rate increases or budget cuts.”

NAWMA chief executive Adam Faulkner said his plant already was nearing capacity before it received the extra material from the councils using SKM such as Onkaparinga.

“NAWMA understands this is a short term issue, and has stepped in temporarily at the request of some councils to ensure the recyclables that residents put out continue to be responsibly recycled,” he said.

Some of the shipping containers at the SKM Recycling Wingfield facility. Picture: COLIN JAMES

EPA TAKES ACTION OVER WINGFIELD STOCKPILE

A MASSIVE stockpile of recycling stored in 387 shipping containers at a Wingfield processing plant must be moved within weeks.

The Environment Protection Authority has issued an environment protection order on SKM Corporate Pty Ltd after monitoring the stockpile for 12 months.

EPA chief executive officer Tony Circelli said under the conditions of SKM’s environmental licence, all waste was to be stored in enclosed, undercover areas.

EPA officers last month found numerous bales of recycling “being stored in the open in contravention of the licence”.

”Under the terms of the order, SKM must immediately cease receiving waste at the site that could not be stored in enclosed, undercover areas, and must cease storing all waste in the open by March 18,” Mr Circelli said.

“ Waste stored in the open is a concern as it represents a fire risk and can also cause issues with litter, vermin and odour.”

Mr Circelli said the EPA had been regulating SKM for its waste stockpile since November 2017, when the company agreed to move all waste under cover and to remove shipping containers filled with waste by last June.

“There are still 387 shipping containers full of baled waste on site, which SKM will be required to progressively remove until there are none left by June 18.”