Sunshine Coast Council has welcomed the recently opened, high-tech Nambour Material Recovery Facility, capable of sorting paper and cardboard at a purity rate of 98 per cent – the highest quality of any facility in Australia.
Construction of the facility was funded through an agreement between all levels of government, with $22 million from the Queensland Government’s Recycling and Jobs Fund, $13.5 million from Council and a $5.1 million joint contribution from the Federal and Queensland Governments under the Queensland Recycling Modernisation Fund.
This facility is where recyclable products such as empty cardboard cereal boxes, plastic ice cream containers, glass jars, aluminium cans and much more, will now come to be sorted.
Once the material is sorted, it is tied together (or baled) and distributed to specialist manufacturers to be made into a range of new products like packaging and paper products, road base, and outdoor furniture.
This new plant replaced the previous facility, which was over 20 years old and had reached the end of its lifespan.
On top of its high purity sorting of paper and cardboard, the facility is capable of processing approximately 60,000t per year.
Sunshine Coast Council said that having a facility that delivers the highest quality re-use product will fuel the circular economy and prevent more waste going to landfill.
Featured image: Aerial view of the Nambour Material Recovery Facility. Image credit: Sunshine Coast Council.
