In a West Australian first, Mandurah has implemented moving floor technology at its Waste Management Centre to cater for future rubbish volumes as the region’s population increases.
The centre was built in 1997 as the waste management hub for the City of Mandurah, receiving a diverse range of waste and recyclable materials each day.
The state of the art infrastructure, worth $1.25 million, is a hydraulically driven floor conveyance system for moving large volumes of waste material automatically.
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Waste is placed on the moving floor, which is made up of a series of metal planks, it is taken to a compactor and then loaded into specially designed trailers.
The process eliminates the need to use front end loaders to push waste into the compaction system.
City of Mandurah mayor Rhys Williams said the local government decided to investigate the new technology when the existing concrete pit was showing serious signs of deterioration and needed to be repaired or replaced.
“The infrastructure will enable the city’s Waste Management Centre to manage existing waste streams more efficiently and safely and also manage future waste volumes as the population increases.
“Moving floor infrastructure is used at a number of waste management centres in Hobart and Melbourne,” Mr Williams said.
The facility involves two moving floors, separating commercial and residential waste, which feed into one main area. A large metal deck is located at the end of the residential moving floor to allow for the recovery of recyclable material including scrap metal, e-waste, cardboard and hazardous products.
Key features and benefits include:
- Reduce damage to and allow improved integration with the existing compaction infrastructure
- Reduced loading times for compaction trailers
- Less stress on the compaction unit – reduced maintenance
- Improve resource recovery of residential waste stream
- Reduced reliance on front end loader to load trailers
- Future proof the facility to handle additional waste volumes as Mandurah grows