Putting users at the heart of operations
Dunmore Resource Recovery Centre (RRC), the jewel of Shellharbour’s waste and resource recovery sector, was redeveloped with commissioning in late 2017. The new centre includes an improved transfer station and new FOGO facility, among other upgrades, and the items and materials it diverts have increased from five to 30. The design, its customer- and community-focused process, and the results it’s delivering earned Dunmore RRC a place on the finalists’ podium in the 2019 Operational Excellence Award.
While the site formerly hosted a transfer station, the new RRC supports a vastly greater range of services and material diversion while improving the experience for visitors. The project has won plenty of attention, but the results speak for themselves – annual recycling volumes are up 47%, and waste to landfill has decreased by 64kg per household.
Council attributes much of the success to the user focus of the facility’s design, which in turn contributes to community engagement with waste management.
The front-of-house are is laid out with high-contrast visuals, wide turning bays and no-reverse pathing. Visitors to the site are greeted upon entry by a reuse and repair expert who will review incoming materials and guide customers to the appropriate area and potential opportunities for recycling. The staff also advise on avoidance, direct donated goods for acceptance, and sell repaired goods.
Concealed back-of-house areas including XPS, mattress and e-waste recycling, and a push pit, process materials while keeping customers safely removed from operational activity. The final stop captures any remaining items and materials in a safety-first, zero-height residual waste transfer and disposal zone. The facility and its staff boast a near-flawless safety record: zero lost-time injuries, vehicle collisions or accidents, or serious injuries to the public.
The new facility is fully enclosed with ambient air quality monitoring and control, air reticulation and energy efficiency measures for an amenable environment. The site’s architecture also enables a more sustainable footprint for the activities conducted there. For example, the roofing (designed to blend in with the local setting) enables rainwater to be collected on-site and used as dust suppression; a security fence also acts as a litter trap; and the transfer station is covered to reduce infiltration of rainfall into residual mixed waste, minimising leachate generation.
On top of the landfill diversion outcomes, the Dunmore RRC has achieved an 115% increase in revenue, and customer surveys indicate that 80% of visitors have an improved appreciation of the facility and of waste management practices.
Our judges praised the Dunmore RRC’s embedding of collaboration and customer focus, and noted it achieved “good outcomes” and “good safety initiatives”.