Glass recycler Enviro Sand hits wall owing $5m

A glass recycling company that supplies road base material to Brisbane City Council and others has fallen into administration owing creditors more than $5m.

A glass recycling company that supplies road base material to Brisbane City Council among others has fallen into administration owing creditors more than $5m.

Stephen Earel, of Cor Cordis, was earlier this month appointed administrator of Enviro Sand, which operated sites at Pinkenba and Wacol.

The company was founded in 2016 to turn waste glass into material for road base, pool filtration systems and manufactured stone.

Mr Earel in a report lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said the company was continuing to trade under a licensee while options for the business were explored. Creditors are due to meet on October 27.

“The continuation of the business preserves the option for a deed of company arrangement or going concern proposal,” Mr Earel said in the report to creditors.

“My role as administrator is to provide for a better outcome to creditors than an immediate shutting down and winding up of operations. By preserving the ongoing operations of the business, this objective is better achieved.”

Enviro Sand collects waste glass from recycling centres across Brisbane.

Enviro Sand collects waste glass from recycling centres across Brisbane, which it then processes to extracts contaminants including metal tops, aluminium and plastic.

The glass is then ground down into different grades of material including a fine sand that can be used for sandblasting or road base.

Other grades are used for manufactured stone and pool filters. The company says that one of the big advantages of using recycled glass in manufactured stone is that it does not contain the deadly silica found in sandstone and granite and that causes the deadly lung disease silicosis.

In 2020, the company was processing about between 600 and 800 tonnes of glass a month with plans to increase that to 4000-6000 tonnes a month.

While the Brisbane City Council is a big buyer of the company’s products for road base, other levels of government do not have an established policy to use recycled glass for road construction. Glass has been a problem for recyclers because its weight makes it costly to ship as well as being tough on machinery and of generally low value.

Originally published as Glass recycler Enviro Sand hits wall owing $5m