Fulton Hogan to build new glass processing hub in Lara

Fulton Hogan will build a new glass recycling hub at its base in Lara. Photo: Fulton Hogan.

Construction company Fulton Hogan will create a new regional glass processing hub in Lara, Victoria, after winning a $740,000 joint state and federal recycling grant earlier this month.

The company will feed the glass into asphalt it produces at the same site, which will then be laid on local roads.

The grant was awarded under the second round of the Recycling Victoria – Recycling Modernisation Fund, which saw 13 successful projects share the $36.5 million grants co-funded equally by the Victorian Government and the Australian Government. Together, these projects will increase the state’s recycling capacity by over 137,000 tonnes each year and create up to 204 local jobs.

General Manager of Fulton Hogan Infrastructure Services, Peter Curl, said construction of the new processing facility at the company’s existing Lara asphalt plant facility would commence later this year.

“Once up and running, we’ll be sourcing up to 10,000 tonnes of glass per year from Geelong and other local councils areas to be used in our asphalt products and laid on local roads,” Mr Curl said.

“This initiative provides a local reuse option for local recovered materials and strengthens the availability of sustainable solutions and local manufacturing in the Geelong area.”

Fulton Hogan has another glass processing hub at Warrnambool and also uses recycled car tyres and plastics in some of their asphalt products.

The Recycling Modernisation Fund is an Australian Government initiative that is investing over $190 million to expand Australia’s capacity to sort, process and remanufacture recycled materials such as plastic, paper, cardboard, tyres and glass. The fund will assist Australia to respond to the waste export ban.

The first round of the Recycling Modernisation Fund was announced last year, where eight projects were awarded a total of $32.1 million.

J.J. Richards was another recipient under the initiative’s second round, with the company receiving $225,350 to upgrade its Wangaratta and Bendigo materials recovery facility (MRF) to enable the use of recycled glass in constructing local roads.

Pro-Pac Group (Integrated Recycling) received $1.66 million in funding to install a modular production line at its Mildura facility to enable waste plastic to be recycled into Duratrack plastic railway sleepers.

Plasgain will use its $250,000 grant to purchase new manufacturing equipment to produce corrugated pipe from recycled plastic.

Tyrecycle was awarded $3.699 to expand its Somerton facility to increase shredding capacity by up to 23,000 tonnes per annum.

The Recycling Modernisation Fund is being distributed by state and territory governments. Funding allocated to Victoria from the Recycling Modernisation Fund will be delivered via the Recycling Victoria – Recycling Modernisation Fund (RV-RMF).

For more information, visit the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment website.