Federal Assistant Minister tours Victoria’s Sustainable Materials Supply Hub

July 1, 2019

On June 25, Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management Trevor Evans visited Alex Fraser Laverton to tour the newly opened sustainable asphalt and glass recycling plants.

Minister Evans said he enjoyed the opportunity to inspect the state of the art asphalt and glass recycling plants.

“This is a great example of the circular economy in action, focused on reducing the generation of Australia’s waste,” he said.

The Minister was accompanied by Rose Read, CEO of the National Waste and Recycling Industry Council who said she was delighted to see the federal government actively engaging and learning about the industry’s emerging challenges and opportunities.

The new plant supplies road base, aggregates, sand and asphalt to build greener roads and rail projects, including the Western Roads Upgrade and Level Crossing Removal Projects. The use of this material will have significant commercial and environmental savings, including the reduction of landfill, heavy vehicle movements, and the carbon footprint of new projects, by up to 65 per cent.

Currently, Victorian households generate mountains of problem glass waste every year. The glass recycling plant is capable of producing 800 tonnes of construction sand per day – equivalent to four million glass bottles. The high recycled technology asphalt plant produces over half a million tonnes of green asphalt a year.