In Australia, there are 8.4 million homes that produce 2950 kilos of waste per person.
*Australian Government National Waste Report 2022
About the GRRF at Mary’s Mount.
Gunnedah Resource Recovery Facility at Mary’s Mount is located at the same site as Gunnedah Quarry Products. It facilitates the recycling of a wide range of wastes with much of this recovered material to be re-used locally and elsewhere in NSW and Australia.
The facilities promote recycling as an alternative to landfilling.
The project will form a part of a much broader network of waste recycling facilities across NSW. The Gunnedah Resource Recovery Facility at Mary’s Mount, and many others like it in NSW, will have the ability to economically process waste from the local area, other regional areas, and as far away as m major metropolitan areas.
Many areas are already facing pressure as waste streams continue to grow in line with construction activity and major infrastructure projects such as the Inland Rail Project from Narromine to Narrabri.
As these pressures are set to continue to grow, and with limited opportunities for new recycling facilities being established in proximity to growing urban areas, other regional-based sites like Gunnedah are becoming increasingly attractive to accommodate these new industries.
Why do we need the Gunnedah Resource Recovery Facility at Mary’s Mount?
We recognize that waste is one of our most pressing environmental, social and economic challenges.
It is a national issue, going well beyond local government boundaries. As a community we need to ensure that instead of going to a landfill, all waste should either be recycled or recovered wherever possible.
At a time when Australia urgently needs to increase the rate at which waste is recycled, the current facility at Mary’s Mount along with the additional proposed Gunnedah Recycling & Resource Recovery Facility, offers the opportunity to help achieve this outcome.
We are in a highly accessible location, not only to regional waste sources, but also industries in NSW or interstate that will ultimately accept recycled products such as Visy Recycling Mills in Melbourne and Brisbane, that reprocess waste cardboard and paper.
There are big plans for the future.
The resource recovery facility will unlock even more value by transforming non-putrescible waste into materials capable of use for a wide range of applications.
During 2022, the process for recovering resources was refined so we can now successfully recover big volumes of:
Road base and drainage aggregate (crushed concrete, brick, rubble, tile and
ceramics)
Recovered fines that are used in landscaping
Large steel pieces and small steel items such as nails, Tek screws and pieces of wire
Drainage medium; or general fill
Plans are underway to acquire more processing plant in 2023 to work alongside the two 15 tonne excavators purchased in 2022 along with the picking station, the trommel screen, the water separator, scalping screen and concrete nibbler.
In 2022, the Mary’s Mount Facility successfully recycled waste from the Narrabri to North Star Inland Rail segment into recovered resources.
Waste from demolished culverts along the Narrabri to Bellata section of the Inland Rail project was received at the Mary’s Mount Project for processing throughout 2022.
The waste included black soil from around the culverts, steel and concrete. All the steel was recovered, and the concrete/soil waste was screened to separate the two. The concrete was crushed to make a recovered roadbase and the black soil was recovered for use as topsoil, landscaping and rehabilitation works.
There is currently an application to establish another resource recovery facility within the Gunnedah industrial precinct that is undergoing assessment with the NSW Department of Planning and Environment.
For more information on this proposed facility see Extra Info and FAQ’s.
What recovered products are coming from the facilities?
The Mary’s Mount Resource Recovery site is turning waste into wages.
Since commencing operations in January of 2022, the Mary’s Mount Resource Recovery site has created employment for five full time staff and has returned over 5,000 tonnes of recovered material back into use.
This includes scrap steel, copper, aluminium, raw timber, recycled roadbase and recovered aggregates. These are resources that otherwise were destined to go to landfill.
This has literally scratched the surface of what is possible and, when you consider that Australia is ranked 19th worldwide as a recycler (down from 13th in 2019), the opportunities and possibilities are unlimited.
What else is approved at the Mary’s Mount Location?
The Mary’s Mount location is also an approved landfill site that will operate over the next 20 years.
The approval followed a rigorous assessment process that concluded that the landfill will have a net benefit to the environment and society by providing a landfill facility that is away from the eastern seaboard.
When the landfill reaches completion, it will restore the quarry void to its original landform complete with re-vegetation, providing an additional environmental benefit.
The first stage of the approved landfill operation is currently under construction.
Construction of the first stage involves significant earthworks building the first landfill cell and associated new infrastructure.
The construction works include the lining of the cell with clay and special geosynthetic fabrics that guarantee that nothing can leach into the surrounding ground or water table.
Landfill cell #1 under construction
Landfill cell #1 under construction
Geosynthetic fabric liner
What recovered products will go to other facilities for processing?
Metals, Paper & Cardboard, Glass & Recyclable Plastics will be recovered at the facility but WILL NOT be processed at the Gunnedah Resource Recovery Facility. They will be sent to an external facility for processing.
We are also seriously investigating the feasibility of a machine that will enable us to recycle glass into glass sand.
What ISN’T accepted at the Gunnedah Resource Recovery Facilities?
The Gunnedah Resource Recovery Facilities do NOT accept toxic, hazardous or putrescible waste materials.
Asbestos and lithium batteries are NOT accepted at the Gunnedah Resource Recovery Facilities.
What are some of the direct benefits to Gunnedah and the community?
• The opportunity to build a diversified economy. The jobs created by this facility are all new jobs for the area.
• If the facility in the Gunnedah Industrial zone is approved, then up to 30 new jobs once fully operational - taking our full time local workforce to over 70 people across all MEX owned companies.
• The opportunity to be at the forefront of showing how resources can be effectively recovered and re-used.