Industry response to changes in waste management techniques : a case study of Worsley Alumina Pty. Ltd. and benchmarking of similar industries

Peta Varvell

Solid waste management is receiving increasing recognition as a tool which can conserve resources, cut costs, preserve landfill space and reduce the impact landfill sites can have on the environment. An analysis of the environmental impacts of two industry-owned sanitary landfill sites was combined with a benchmarking study of companies located in the South West of Western Australia to enable the development of guidelines detailing the current best practice techniques in both solid waste management and landfill management. The two landfill sites included in this study were in operation at different times and had different siting, design and operational parameters. It was found that management methods had improved notably with time and this had a significant impact on the degree of pollution released from the landfill sites, particularly with respect to leachate. The strength and toxicity of the leachate being released from the older landfill site, which was operated with few recommended management standards, was significantly higher than the leachate being released from the more recent, well managed site. The benchmarking study covered the management of industry-owned landfill sites in the South West of Western Australia, waste management programmes implemented on the sites, the priority of waste management compared with other environmental issues and the pressures on industry to change their landfill management practices. The majority of companies in the minerals industry in the South West participated in the study and it was generally found that larger companies had more comprehensive solid waste management programmes. It was also found that many of the companies surveyed had implemented a number of pollution control programmes such as recycling, but were lacking in pollution prevention programmes such as waste elimination and waste reduction, which are of a higher importance but harder to initiate. Guidelines which detail the current best practice solid waste management for the minerals industry were then developed by combining the results of the benchmarking study and the analysis of the two landfill sites. These guidelines were designed to be applicable to a variety of mining and mineral processing industries and focus on pollution prevention methods such as elimination and reduction of both waste and landfill impacts before pollution control methods such as reuse, recycling, treatment and disposal.

Industry response to changes in waste management techniques : a case study of Worsley Alumina Pty. Ltd. and benchmarking of similar industries

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