Glass-crushing plant for Hamilton Island

Hamilton Island has showcased the value of using recycled crushed glass. Its glass-crushing plant is a partnership between Hamilton Island, the Australian Food and Grocery Council’s Packaging Stewardship Forum (PSF) and the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM). It provides a local use for recycled crushed glass (RCG), negating the need to transport the material to the mainland at great economic and environmental expense.

While the initial focus has been on glass, the financial and environmental benefits of local processing have resulted in the island putting in place a baler for plastic containers, cans and paper/cardboard; and Hamilton Island CEO Glenn Bourke said using recycled crushed glass for drainage projects and on garden beds makes environmental and economic sense for the island.

“We now use the collected glass containers locally, which saves around $10,000 per tonne in the cost of shipping material back to the mainland for processing,” said Bourke.