Duggan and Hede project manager Gary Anderson has overseen construction of JJ Richards waste management facility. Nev Madsen
JJ RICHARDS and Sons will today give Toowoomba residents their first glimpse of a massive waste transfer facility being constructed at Harlaxton.
The company's new regional office has been completed at the Wilkinson St site and the remaining features are expected to be up and running at the start of next month.
Toowoomba branch manager Tom Richards said about 250 tonnes of general commercial waste collected weekly from businesses in the Toowoomba region would be loaded onto semi-trailers and taken to a bio-reactor facility near Ipswich.
Taking waste to the TiTree BioEnergy Facility will alleviate pressure on Toowoomba Regional Council's Bedford St landfill.
"This will prolong the life of the local landfill and therefore save the council money and provide the community more certainty on future waste charges," Mr Richards said.
Residential and commercial recycling waste will also be transferred to semi-trailers to be taken to materials recovery facility in Brisbane for recycling.
The current amount of recycling waste being processed in Toowoomba is about 850 tonnes a month.
JJ Richards and Sons new waste transfer facility. Nev Madsen
General waste from residential wheelie bins will continue to be processed at council's Bedford St site.
Mr Richards said between $8 million and $15 million had been spent on the new facility.
"This facility represents our commitment to the region," Mr Richards said.
"This is our 52nd year servicing the residents and businesses of Toowoomba and the Darling Downs.
"It is our plan that this facility will support us for another 50 years."
Duggan & Hede professional engineers project manager Gary Anderson coordinated construction of the facility.
Mr Anderson said about 4000 square metres of the nearly five hectare hillside site had been concreted.
"It has been a huge task," Mr Anderson said.
"We are just working through all the lengths of stormwater pipe and sewer pipe and we have probably close to a kilometre of sewer pipe.
"There would be probably four kilometres of electrical and data cables through the site."
About 300 contractors local to the Toowoomba area have been used during the 18-month construction period.
"We've tried to source local contractors wherever possible."
Mr Anderson said it had been one of the most challenging sites he had worked on in terms of topography.
"We have some seven-metre high retaining walls on the site as reinforced earth type construction, which is a real challenge for those that are familiar with those types of construction."
Members of the public are invited to tour the complex and view the site at 51 Wilkinson St between 11am until 2pm today.
Oil recycling
- The new site is also licensed to collect and store waste oil
- The oil will be transferred to Northern Oil in Gladstone, where it will be recycled into base oil for reuse
- This prevents it from being burnt, which is a common disposal method
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