$1.6m Lithgow, NSW recycling facility Ecoloop - owned by façade cladding & signage specialist Fairview - diverted 309 tonnes of cladding rectification waste away from landfill projects in NSW, VIC and the ACT in its first full year of operation. “The programme is only beginning,” said Fairview’s Melissa Herrmann.
NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole and Melissa Herrmann of Fairview at Ecoloop
“The Ecoloop recycled cladding plant – the first company to process problematic ACP material – was also able to offset 2,254 tonnes of harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) via its cladding recycling process, which will repurpose any brand of at-risk or unsafe combustible cladding,” Fairview said.
“Another key statistic was that Ecoloop was able to divert a full 100% of received materials away from landfill destinations of all the ACP cladding collected from a number of leading cladding brands and products.
“While the facility only opened in January 2021, the report just published shows the valuable and encouraging results that were attained in the premises’ first full year of waste recovery.”
Fairview’s industry engagement manager Melissa Herrmann said: “While our report on recovery and recycling of problematic cladding material is positive, the programme is only beginning. The data applies to products we were invited to rescue from just three of the Eastern seaboard states. If more states, especially Queensland, and brands come on-board, our contribution to sustainable recycling of cladding will only grow.”
Ecoloop became just the fifth organisation to be fully accredited under the Australian Government Voluntary Product Stewardship Scheme, for its commitment to ensuring combustible cladding components are given new life and made more sustainably sound.
Sustainability is becoming an important part of product recycling and remediation projects for governments and private developers alike, which makes Ecoloop a very timely initiative, said Herrmann.
“Our Ecoloop Life Cycle Analysis calculated the environmental benefits of recycling cladding waste for builders, government agencies and anyone in the building supply chain. The data shows that 58.3kgs of carbon are offset for every m2 recycled through Ecoloop. Imagine the results if every state had a Project Remediate style initiative and if every brand of cladding sent their dangerous materials to Ecoloop for repurposing…the sustainability boost for the entire construction sector would be massive.”
