Tour over the  Hallam Road Landfill Recycling Plant.

On 13^th November a number of Club Members from the Probus Club of Donvale Hill Inc.joined other residents on a bus at Manningham Civic Centre for the trip to the Landfill Recycling Plant at Hallam Road, Hampton Park operated by SITA Australia, a joint-venture by French and Singaporean companies. 

The tour began with a visit to the Education Centre where all were briefed on the layout of the plant and its function. All present learnt that  

• much of the material received at the plant is transformed into such things as road making products,

• how the pits that hold the residual material are constructed to prevent undue contamination of ground water, and

•  how the methane gas produced by the waste is captured and used to generate electricity, thus preventing the release into the atmosphere of greenhouse gas that is far more damaging than carbon dioxide. 

Following the information session and some refreshment all boarded the bus once again for a tour of the facility. Sadly the inclement weather prevented the full tour as there was a risk of being bogged in the wet ground, but all peered through the rain-soaked windows at a landscape that was, despite being bleak and barren, very impressive in it’s scale.  

Despite the hazards of the slippery Recycling Plant, all intrepid Probians made a safe return home after a very interesting visit.

Tours over The Banyule Waste Recovery Centre.

Following the expedition to the Hallam Road Landfill Recycling Plant, The Club had two individual tours in a bus to the Banyule Waste Recovery Centre. 

A very entertaining presenter at the Education Centre there treated all to an interactive electronic presentation showing how the Recovery Centre ingeniously sorts used packaging into various categories for recycling.

Following some delicious refreshments, all were shown the practical realities of this wizardry.  

From the relative quiet of the Education Centre a lead-lined soundproof door was opened to reveal a huge, noisy, dusty but surprisingly not too smelly Material Recovery Facility. All viewed this hive of activity from the safety of a viewing platform where the materials were being sorted by both the machinery and manually. It was then bailed up in one-ton packages and taken away by forklift trucks. Being careful not to touch the railing with its thick coating of dust all were able to witness the operation of the different areas depicted in the presentation. All then returned for a question and answer session into the Education Centre, and enjoyed second helpings of the rolls and pasties before returning to Civic Centre.

Our thanks go to Ken for organising these very interesting, informative and thought-provoking tours.

by Michael White