If you have walked on cement in NSW, there is a 60 per cent chance you have walked on cement made at the Boral plant in Berrima.
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For more than 80 years the plant has been in operation, and now looking toward the future, the plant will soon use a more environmentally friendly source to operate the site’s kiln.
Boral’s new $11.3 million Solid Waste Derived Fuels project at Berrima was announced on December 13.
In what is being dubbed as a NSW first, 30 per cent of energy will be derived from using wood waste-derived fuel and refuse-derived fuel, mixed with coal, to power the site’s kiln.
The project will not only have a better impact on the environment, it will also create employment opportunities for the shire.
“We want to keep this operation going for a long time in the future, using this fuel reduces our costs and reduces our environmental impact on the site,” Boral operations manager Stuart Hutchings said.
“A lot of the material is largely sustainable so we are saving our carbon foorprint.”
More than 30 jobs have also been created as part of the project.
“We have local people and local contractors from the area working on the project, it’s a good news story for the region.”
Mr Hutchings said the project was supported by a $4.08 million grant from the NSW Environment Trust Waste Less, Recycle More initiative and will substantially assist in reducing energy costs and therefore cost of production, increasing long term viability of the site.
“There is a real shortage of landfill capacity and so the state government is encouraging operations like ours to think of ways we can recycle that material that would otherwise go to landfill.”
The wood-waste will be transported from Sydney for the project.
Speaking on site, member for Goulburn Pru Goward said the project would go a long way to helping fuel the construction boom in Sydney.
“The state government is really pleased to contribute $4 million to the project because it reduces waste and n a sense recycles energy,” she said.
The project is set to be completed in mid-2018.