German giant Remondis to shut Thornton facility and double capacity to almost 100,000 of waste and recycling a year at Tomago

Remondis describes itself as a family-owned German company with a turnover last year of $12.3 billion from 900 locations employing more than 38,000 people across more than 30 countries

It is one of a number of waste management and recycling companies operating in the Hunter Region alongside such traditional council-owned facilities as Newcastle's Summerhill centre at Wallsend.

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Remondis manager for Hunter and western NSW, Scott Smith, said the Thornton plant had a capacity of 55,000 tonnes a year, while the development consent for Tomago has a limit of 98,201 tonnes a year, and permission to operate 24 hours a day.

By comparison, Newcastle council's 2019-20 annual report has Summerhill handling 228,066 tonnes of waste in that 12-month period, with 49,431 tonnes of waste "exported for recycling".

Mr Smith said the region could take "big strides" in recycling, given the Hunter's recycling rate was "about 40 per cent, whereas NSW has statewide targets of 80 per cent and beyond".

The Environment Protection Authority put the 2019-20 recycling rate at 64 per cent, statewide.

Documents lodged with Planning NSW show the site and the buildings were originally part of Tomago Aluminium's operation, with the smelter selling the land to Remondis. The project was approved by Planning on October 12 but Mr Smith said the company was waiting for final approval from the EPA.

Mr Smith said said the Thornton site would be "wound back" and all of its services transferred to Tomago. The workforce would increase by eight, to 72.

Remondis also operates a composting facility at Awaba with Lake Macquarie City Council. Remondis began at Awaba in 2013 and upgraded its facility in 2018, with plans to process up to 44,000 tonnes a year of organic waste into compost and soil additives.

Concerns were raised in 2019 about spontaneous combustion at the Awaba stockpiles.

The Newcastle Herald reported the EPA had fined Remondis $8000 in June over odours emanating from Awaba over two days in April this year.

In 2017, Remondis was fined $732,000 and ordered to pay $250,000 in prosecution costs after a court found it knew a contractor's truck was regularly leaving the Awaba site and travelling overloaded on public roads.

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At Tomago, the company plans to divide the two existing warehouses into multiple sections that could accommodate a range of materials for processing and recycling.

"These include include paper, cardboard, plastics, glass, metals, wood, concrete, out-of-spec packaged food products, garden organics, electronic goods, muds, hydrocarbons and liquids such as waste oil and oily water," Mr Smith said.

He said the centrepiece of the operation was a "refuse-derived fuel" facility that processed waste into a solid fuel to be burned in power stations and other industrial settings as an alternative to coal.

Tomago would take waste from across the Hunter and the Central Coast from construction sites and mines as well as homes and businesses, with an aim to recycle more than 90 per cent of what was received.

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