Recycling to restart in three Melbourne councils as Laverton North plant reopens

Recycling will restart at three councils in Melbourne’s inner city in the first win in Victoria’s waste crisis since embattled recycling giant SKM shutdown. It comes as shocking before and after photos reveal the scale of the recycling crisis that plagued Victoria.

Recycling is set to begin again across three Melbourne councils in the first breakthrough in Victoria’s waste crisis since embattled company SKM shutdown.

Yellow bin kerbside collections in Brimbank, Melbourne and Moonee Valley will be sent to the Laverton North plant for processing from Monday.

It comes after the recycling giant SKM closed down in July throwing 33 councils into chaos and resulting in thousands of tonnes of recyclable items being sent to landfill.

Before the clean up at a Laverton recycling plant. Picture: Supplied

The now cleared area. Picture: Supplied

Restructuring company KordaMentha took over the embattled company’s sites, including Laverton North and Coolaroo and have been working around the clock to get the facility up and running, including removing waste stockpiles; the majority of which could not be salvaged and was sent to landfill.

A KordaMentha spokesman said the plant has now been tested with “no issues” and would begin receiving waste from a number of councils on Monday.

Crews in Laverton North and Coolaroo have been working around the clock to get the facility up and running. Picture: Supplied

Around ten thousand tonnes of waste has been removed. Picture: Supplied

“About 10,000 tonnes of processed waste has been removed from Laverton and Coolaroo, with three trucks working 24 hours a day five days week,” he said.

“This is waste material that had already been processed, sorted and recycled as much as practicable. Most has gone to landfill, with some to a company that uses glass waste for road-building.”

In a hopeful sign for the state’s recycling industry Kordamentha revealed a number of interested parties hoping to buy the business had visited the sites during the past fortnight.

Final bids are due at the end of the month before settlement in October.

SKM closed down in July. Picture: Supplied

Processing at the Laverton recycling plant will start again on Monday. Picture: Supplied

Further work is ongoing to bring the Hallam, Geelong and Coolaroo sites up to scratch.

Waste giant Cleanaway acquired $60 million of SKM’s debt in August and appointed KordaMentha as receivers and managers of the business.

Last month Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio awarded a $10 million loan to the receivers to help sort out the state’s recycling crisis, along with tough new laws against rogue waste dumpers.

However, Ms D’Ambrosio would not detail terms of the lending including whether interest would be paid.

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A state government spokeswoman said the latest news that recycling would resume for three councils was a sign of progress and will help ease Victoria’s ongoing waste crisis.

“While there’s a lot more work still to be done, this is a positive step,’’ she said.

“We’re achieving what we set out to do through our $10 million loan, getting the former SKM sites cleared so recycling can get back on track.”

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