Woollahra recycles over 7,500kg of Plastic Chemical Packaging Annually!

At Woollahra, minimising waste contributions to landfill is important to us as part of our commitment to the environment and our impact on it as a community. We sell cleaning products into a range of sectors and the safest way to transport these products is in plastic drums which can have a negative impact within waste streams unless it is systemised with a responsible attitude and want by all parties involved in the chain.

Our recycling program has proven successful over the last 6 years with keeping drums and more importantly, residual chemical left in containers out of landfill. Chemical containers of any description can still retain up to 100mls of fluid even when empty (50 of any type of container with 100ml of residual product is 5 litres of chemical in the ground, this in turn over the long life of a mining lease can result in 1000's of litres of residual harm) and these contaminates can contain sulphates, phosphates and even worse compounds and trying to keep these residuals out of the ground is one of our mission aims.

How Does it Work?

Our recycling program works with the cleaning products for laundries, commercial kitchens and janitorial departments to perform necessary duties for small communities and villages. Once the chemical has been utilised and the drum is empty, these used drums are palletised and sent back to Surekleen Products in Malaga where the drums are cleaned, checked for integrity, re-filled and re-labelled before being returned to circulation, thereby taking the drum and its residual contents out of the waste stream cycle.

The residual chemical washed out of these drums in Malaga is then neutralised and disposed of in accordance with Water Corp regulations. The drums have a finite life of productive use and at the end of its cycle when it is deemed to be retired, it is once again returned to Surekleen, washed, and sent to Claw Environmental for proper recycling where the item is conveyed into a plastics chipper and retained as high-quality plastic to be made into drums once more or other useful products. And so, the cycle continues...  

Woollahra currently supplies over 9000 drums of 10L+ Chemicals throughout our supply chain to the mining and facilities maintenance industry. Our packaging return rate on 10L+ chemical drums is 80%. The weight of 1 empty plastic chemical drum is approximately 1kg. Therefore, annually, Woollahra is removing a minimum of 7,500kg of Plastic Waste from the supply chain that would otherwise have ended up in landfill.

A Testimonial from Claw Environmental

Surekleen Products are a Western Australian company with a commitment to environmental responsibility. In seeking to minimise contributions to landfill, Surekleen have partnered with CLAW Environmental, Perth's plastic recycling specialists.

Surekleen uses high quality plastic drums to store and transport chemicals, these drums are lightweight and durable, but for safety purposes can only be used for a finite time.

Through the partnership with CLAW Environmental we have ensured that once the drums do reach the end of their usable lifetime, they are broken down and recycled rather than added to landfill. Plastic drums that are out of service are cleaned and rinsed of any residual chemicals before being transported to CLAW Environmental in Welshpool.

CLAW Environmental shreds and chips the plastic drums, processing them so they can eventually be turned into high quality recycled plastic goods.