May 2020
Mount Hotham Alpine Resort Management Board’s commitment to recycling has reached new heights with the purchase of a glass pulverizer and automated sorting station for waste operations.
The addition of the pulverizer means that the RMB will save about $15,000 a year in costs associated with the removal of glass bottles and other glass waste from the resort.
It will not only save costs but create a resource in the form of a crushed glass aggregate that can used for road sealing, in concrete, as a grit for icy roads and on tracks and trails.
With up to 70 tonne of crushed glass to be generated each year, there will be enough aggregate to potentially seal 2000 to 3000 square metres of surfaces at Hotham.
A business case study in the back half of 2019 along with more and more evidence of crushed glass being used in civil construction gave the RMB confidence to invest in the pulverizer.
Having the glass ready for crushing will also now be easier with the accompanying addition of an automated sorting station for recyclable waste.
Sorting previously required the resort’s waste team to pick through bags of recyclables and move between several skips to dispose of the different items.
The new sorting station will see bags emptied onto a conveyor belt and the waste carried up to a platform from where it is separated into individual bins.
It is expected to cut the time previously spent sorting recyclables in half, improving workflow and efficiency while offering occupational health and safety benefits too, by removing previous labor-intensive practices and the unnecessary handling of contaminated products and broken glass.
Nick Malkin, Senior Manager Resort Operations, said the RMB was excited to be able to continue improving services and efficiencies that will result in long-term benefits for the resort.
“With these investments we’re getting the best value out of the service charges and site rental fees that we get from our stakeholders,” he said.
“We’re responding to current policy in recycling and waste management on a state and federal level and forever improving our environmental credentials by looking after the planet as best we can.”