Beyond the Bin: Tackling contamination and difficult waste streams

Sustainability Seminar

9:00am for a 9:30am start – 12:30pm | Thursday 10 October 2024
Bridgeview Room @The Log Cabin, 20 Memorial Ave, Penrith

Join us for this half-day seminar where we will delve into crucial topics such as FOGO collections in MuDs, textile wastes, batteries, behaviour change, strategies to keep plastic bags out of recycling bins, and an innovative case study utilising single use coffee cups in road construction.

This seminar will provide valuable insights and strategies for managing challenging waste streams, offering practical solutions and innovative approaches to tackling contamination issues.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from industry experts and gain valuable knowledge to enhance your waste management practices.

After the seminar, we invite you to join us for a delicious lunch and help to celebrate the achievements of councils, businesses, and community groups from across Greater Sydney at the 2024 Keep Australia Beautiful Sustainable Cities Awards luncheon.

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM
Click here to download the seminar flyer and program in PDF format

0900 Registration, tea and coffee
0930 Welcome and housekeeping Val Southam
CEO – KAB NSW
0940 FOGO in MUDs Jarrod Loobeek
Senior Waste and Resource Recovery Officer, Penrith Council		 In 2023 Penrith City Council rolled out a FOGO service to 2021 households across 159 multi-unit complexes as part of a 6-month trial. The trial tested best practice for education delivery, bin configuration and contamination management of FOGO in MUDs (FUDs). Over a year later, FOGO has been introduced to more than half of all Penrith MUDs with all properties expected to have the service by early 2025.
0955 Tackling Textile Waste: Innovative solutions and partnerships with Textile Recyclers Australia Ben Kaminksy
Co-Founder and Director, Textile Recyclers Australia		 This presentation will address the challenges of textile waste and contamination in kerbside bins, discussing solutions for local government textile recycling programs and an overview of “Project Down Under.” TRA will also emphasise community engagement through educational campaigns and highlight partnership opportunities for sustainable solutions.
1010 Silent Sparks: Battery Fire Risks in Waste and Recycling Brett Lemin
Executive Director, Waste Contractors & Recyclers Association of NSW		 This presentation delves into the prevalence of battery fires in the waste and recycling sector, highlighting their causes, impacts, and prevention strategies. It includes the latest findings from the WCRA/ACOR national battery survey, offering crucial insights into industry trends
1025 Questions and discussion
1050 Morning tea break
1115 Pak Pave John Kypreos
Director, State Asphalt Services		 John will present the project details of the PAK-PAVE™ Fibre product which was a collaborative initiative led by The Kypreos Group, UNSW Sydney, Asphaltech, PrimaPlas and Closed Loop to create sustainable asphalt additives from waste packaging. The project showcases successful recycling efforts, and highlights the establishment of a commercial production facility.
1130 Information does not equal behaviour Ryan Collins
Head of Impact and Research, Planet Ark		 Studies show that having the knowledge, ability, and intention to recycle doesn’t mean that an individual will. Recycling is a low involvement decision, and habits and inertia may block behaviour change. This presentation will showcase examples of generic and trialled behaviour change tools and draw on Planet Ark’s work with BehaviourWorks Australia to reduce soft plastics contamination in kerbside recycling collections.
1145 Applying behavioural science to improve outcomes for difficult waste streams Jennifer Macklin
Senior Research Officer, BehaviourWorks Australia		 Jennifer will provide a brief introduction to behavioural science, why it is valuable, and how it can be applied to issues of problem waste management. Attendees will learn 3 keys steps, illustrated with examples from the previous presentations, and walk away with practical insights and ideas for their own problem waste behaviour change programs.
1200 Questions and discussion
1220 Wrap Up
1230 End seminar – Awards lunch commences