Shredders used at insulation manufacturing facility

Recycling waste and saving energy

Origin Insulation has chosen AXO Shredders to pre-shred waste paper and card at its cellulose insulation manufacturing facility in Melbourne.

Pre-shredding of the recycled paper and cardboard, used in manufacturing insulation, is essential to achieve maximum throughput to the hammer mills.

The company has installed an AXO 408, which shreds up to 1200 kg per hour. “It just eats everything we put in it,” says David Etheridge, Managing Director of Origin Insulation. He said the shredder is operated 16 hours a day and has not skipped a beat. “We are so impressed; we will be installing an AXO 608 in our new factory, which delivers up to 2500 kg per hour.”

Origin Insulation will be producing 40 tonnes of cellulose insulation per day, to help meet the demand created by the Australian government’s Energy Efficient Homes Package program. The program provides assistance in the form of free insulation for householders who have little or no insulation in their ceiling.

This program is providing a number of sustainable outcomes: recycling paper and card into cellulose insulation is saving about 800 tonnes of landfill per year; manufacturing the product in Australia is saving on transportation costs and creating employment; and householders will be using less energy and saving on their energy bills once their homes are properly insulated.

“AXO has done everything it said it would, when it said it would do it, which has allowed us to move forward on very tight time frames,” says Etheridge.