Tipping Fees reduced The Mindarie Regional Council is removing the Carbon Price from its general waste tipping fee as of 1 July 2014. Most large landfills, of which Tamala Park is one, have been required by the Federal Government to pay a carbon price for emissions produced by the waste deposited, since 1 July 2012 resulting in a Carbon Price being added to the MRC’s gate fee. It is expected that the Carbon Price will be repealed by the Federal Government in the near future. It is believed that this will be...
Batteries continue to cause fires Batteries left inside electrical equipment are thought to be responsible for regular fires that have been occurring at the Tamala Park landfill site in recent times. Up to four fires a day have been occurring on the landfill disrupting operations and although they have all been dealt with quickly they do pose the potential to develop into something more serious. Battery powered devices are becoming increasingly common and they are being powered by more efficient NiCd and Li batteries...
A waste oddity On Monday, a 3 metre head of a sperm whale washed ashore at Sorrento Beach attracting many curious onlookers. Although dead whales regularly wash up on our beaches, sperm whales are not so common and as a result, it created a fair bit of interest with its large teeth and jaws clearly visible. Sperm whales are the largest of the toothed whales and have been immortalised in literature and on the screen, as Moby Dick and the whale in Disney's Pinocchio. The head usually...
Tamala Park Viewing Platform This morning the engineers and John Willett (Manager and Development Consultant) from Ertech met with the MRC’s Gunther Hoppe (Director of Corporate Services) and Mike Myring (Landfill Manager) to officially handover the viewing platform overlooking the Tamala Park landfill. Earth works for the viewing platform have been completed by the Ertech training academy over the last 12 months. The platform will allow tour groups uninterrupted views of the landfill operations to further enhance...
Compost in May Compost is a sustainable product that provides many benefits to the soil, including: • Increased soil organic matter and soil biodiversity • Increased soil nutrient levels • Increased water holding capacity (reducing watering requirements)Compost in May features activities, events and publicity to improve awareness about using organic waste as a resource to produce compost. It is supported by the WA Waste Authority. The MRC...
New dump truck The MRC took delivery at Tamala Park of a new dump truck to assist with its operations. The $400,000 Komatsu HM300-2 Articulated Dump truck has a payload of 30 tonnes and is fitted with a tail gate to lower spillage around the site. The Komatsu is fitted with tier 3 low emission engine and will be used most of the time to cart the crushed limestone daily cover to the tip-face. “Compared to the truck it is replacing the vision, handling and ride is so much better. Although the truck it...
Earth Carers Training The next training course for Earth Carers, people interested in learning about living with less waste, starts Tuesday 11th March 2014. See details about the training course in the Earth Carers section on this website.
Japanese Volunteers A group of visiting students from Otemon University in Japan as part of a volunteer program helped MRC staff complete a number of tasks at the Tamala Park site. After completing a safety induction and tour of the facility they got down to work. Tasks included helping sort reuse items at the tip shop, painting the paving at the education centre, tree planting around the administration building, fertilising a landfill revegetation site and accompanying drivers in the water cart and dump...
Fire, Fire, Fire Tamala Park has had an increase in the number of small tipface fires. Investigations of these have shown that the majority are caused by NiCd batteries. These are the rechargeable type of batteries commonly found in laptop computers, cameras and many other small household electrical goods. Unfortunately these batteries are being dropped into household bins. Apart from the fire risk and the potential to create a far larger incident if the sparks caused by these batteries ignite some...
PayPass now at Tamala Park To speed things up through the Tamala Park weighbridge and at the Recycling Centre tip shop ‘PayPass’ machines have been installed. It is hoped that customers will find this service useful and will result in faster service. For those people with ‘PayPass’ enabled cards you can just tap and go, no signing or PIN or worrying about the right money and change. It is estimated that up to 75% of transactions will use the new method of payment. This will prove particularly...
It is NOT waste Late September the MRC, with funding from the Waste Authority, purchased an excavator to assist with the recovery of material from the tip face. The two waste streams targeted are metals, due to its recycling value, and mattresses, which although are recycled are mainly recovered to free up air space. Mattresses are a problem in landfills, as they are not easily compacted and take up a lot of space in landfill compared with other similar weight material. It is hoped that eventually other...
Skyworks Recycling The Mindarie Regional Council and its Earth Carer volunteers assisted the City of Perth with its recycling activities at this year’s Skyworks, Perth’s premier Australia Day celebration. Tonnes of rubbish are left after the skyshow every year and a lot of it is potentially recyclable. Unfortunately most of it is mixed with the all the other rubbish so it just ends up all going to landfill. To try and increase the recycling rate MRC staff and volunteers handed out rubbish and...