Visy to offer storage and interstate transport as processing halted at Wingfield plant after fire

Recycling services will continue unabated following a huge fire at a processing plant, with material being sent interstate.

LATEST: Recycling services have continued unabated at more than 10 impacted councils following a huge fire, with material being sent interstate.

Cardboard maker Visy has arranged for yellow bins to be collected and emptied at Wingfield, near its plant which was severely damaged by fire last week.

The material is being baled at another recycling plant, Integrated Waste Services, before being put on trucks and sent to New South Wales, where it will be processed.

Top-level crisis talks were held late last week to avoid mountains of paper, cardboard, plastics and metal being stockpiled at temporary sites.

On Monday, Local Government Association SA chief executive officer Matt Pinnegar said all impacted councils had ensured the collection of recycling continued.

“It was great to see councils, the waste sector and state agencies all working together to find an immediate solution,” Mr Pinnegar said.

However, he said the State Government should allocate some funding from the $112 million sitting in its Green Industry Fund to “shield” ratepayers from any short term costs.

A spokeswoman for Charles Sturt Council, one of the biggest councils impacted by the fire, said it had found an “interim recycling solution” with Visy and Integrated Waste Services, allowing yellow bins to be collected as normal.

Environment Minister David Speirs told The Advertiser late last week that the government, “where possible”, would try to “avoid any possible recycling being diverted to landfill”.

EARLIER: Recycling from councils across Adelaide will be stockpiled following a fire which has crippled a processing plant.

Top-level crisis talks are being held in a bid to avoid mountains of paper, cardboard, plastics and metal being created at temporary sites.

The Environment Protection Authority has been meeting with representatives of cardboard making giant, Visy, in a bid to avoid sending the material to landfills.

The company owns a recycling plant at Wingfield which caught fire on Thursday.

Visy has contracts with numerous metropolitan councils to collect and process their residential yellow bin material.

The company has been asked to either use its trucking fleet to transport the material to its interstate facilities or arrange for its storage in Adelaide until it can be processed within Australia or overseas.

The other major recycling facility in Adelaide is operated by the Northern Adelaide Waste Management Authority (NAWMA) at Edinburgh North. Its chief executive, Adam Faulkner, yesterday said it was operating at full capacity processing recycling for 10 councils and was unable to accept any other material.

A fire at the Visy recycling depot in Wingfield earlier this week. Picture: Emma Brasier

Industry sources say if the recycling cannot be processed by Visy, the EPA will have to grant dispensation to allow it to be sent to privately operated landfills north of Adelaide.

The last time this occurred was last year when the contents of more than 400 shipping containers stored at Wingfield were sent to landfills at Inkerman after the collapse of a Melbourne-based company, SKM Recycling.

Thousands of tonnes of recycling also was dumped in Victoria, including yellow bin material collected from Adelaide councils and trucked across the border in bales.

Environment Minister David Speirs last night said a “small number of South Australian councils rely on Visy for recycling collection”.

“We are working with industry and local government to ensure it’s business as usual for household waste collection next week,” he said. “Where possible we are trying to avoid any possible recycling being diverted to landfill.”

The Local Government Association yesterday said it was working with councils with Visy contracts to find a temporary solution to the latest recycling crisis. They included Port Adelaide Enfield, Charles Sturt, Mitcham, Tea Tree Gully, Marion, Onkaparinga, Unley, Murray Bridge, Mount Barker, West Torrens and Holdfast Bay.

LGA president Angela Evans said recycling could remain uncollected across Adelaide if a solution was not found by next week.

“It’s a pretty urgent problem that we’ve got,” she said. “We need to come up with a solution to suit everyone as quickly as possible.

Ms Evans said it was a “really complicated problem with some not so good solutions at this point in time”.

“We don’t have a long-term solution and the ones we do have are not good solutions,” she said.

“We’ve got to get Visy and the government to work together and find a solution councils are prepared to adopt.”

LGA chief executive Matt Pinnegar called on the State Government to provide money from the $112m Green Industry Fund to “shield” ratepayers from any financial burden caused by the crisis.

Visy did not respond to requests for comment.