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GOOD DAY FOR WHYALLA: Councillors David Knox and Phill Stone, Mayor Clare McLaughlin, Councillor Tamy Pond, Managing Director of Peats Group Peter Wadewitz, Councillor Bill Simpson and Member for Grey Rowan Ramsey at today's opening.
Whyalla Mayor Clare McLaughlin has welcomed today’s opening of a new organic recycling plant in Whyalla and the expected job opportunities for local residents.
Peats Group - an organics recycling, composting and renewable energy manufacturer - officially opened its latest operation at the City of Whyalla’s Mount Laura Waste and Resource Recovery Centre site today (Wednesday, May 8).
The Peats project, the fourth of its kind for the company, incorporates the construction of an advanced composting facility to accept green, organic and food waste. The waste is processed using anaerobic digestion to produce biogas for sale into the grid and a compost product for surrounding agricultural markets.
The City of Whyalla site is the first planned by Peats for the Upper Spencer Gulf region with assistance from the Australian Government’s $222.3m Regional Jobs and Investment Packages (RJIP) grant incentive. Peats was awarded one of nine Upper Spencer Gulf Region RJIP grants as it expands is South Australian operations.
Peats has a projected capital expenditure budget of $5.49 million for its Eyre Peninsula projects that it says will create 60 part-time jobs in the region over the next two years and up to 15 full-time jobs in Whyalla.
“This is a great new facility for our city and yet another sign that Whyalla’s economy is charging forward,” Mayor McLaughlin said.
“To have this sort of investment and the prospect of 15 new jobs in our city is something very real for our community and proof that we are heading in the right direction.
“We are looking at a plant that has started operations right now in our city.
“As it develops this operation will not only generate jobs for our community, it also confirms Whyalla’s growing reputation as a renewable energy hub in South Australia and a place people can do business.”
The production of compost product begun operation in Whyalla this month with plans for the renewable energy plant to be fully operational by June 30 next year.
OFFICIAL: Managing Director of Peats Peter Wadewitz, Mayor Clare McLaughlin and Member for Grey Rowan Ramsey cut the ribbon to signify the opening of Peats' operation in Whyalla.
Managing Director of Peats Group Ltd, Peter Wadewitz said the company had a vision for further innovative expansion to assist the Upper Spencer Gulf region and create even more local jobs. This includes an extension of the grease trap waste and other dirty liquid wastes being turned into biodiesel fuel for its existing fleet of 25 diesel operating heavy haulage road and tractor vehicles.
The biodiesel plant installed at Peats’ Brinkley site, near Murray Bridge, separates fats from water using Peats proprietary technology and converts it into biodiesel after mixing it with ethanol, produced from organic grown sorghum to fuel its vehicles.
“Call it a mix of old fashioned ‘Flintstones’ basics with futuristic ‘Mad Max’ fossil fuel-free ideas but today we are actually doing it,” Mr Wadewitz said.
“We use around 1.5 million litres of diesel in our trucks and tractors annually and we intend to replace all of this over the next 12 months with organic biodiesel.
“This project is both a commercial and environmental one for us … it is technology Peats Group is selling to Asia, Middle East, USA and other global markets.
“The Upper Spencer Gulf will benefit greatly from adopting this technology as part of the value-added package of environmentally-friendly initiatives we intend to bring to the region while adding more jobs.”
Member for Grey, Rowan Ramsey said the new operation was a great outcome for Whyalla and the RJIP scheme.
“Peats is a fantastic South Australian company and we welcome them to Whyalla,” Mr Ramsey said.
“With the RJIB scheme it was decided to select ten communities around Australian for serious Commonwealth investment to assist industry and we successfully campaigned for Upper Spencer Gulf with $20m secured overall.
“We need jobs and we do everything we can to find new operations, new industries and new developments.
“With this particular operation, with a company that has a great history of success, we are on to a really good thing.
“This is a great outcome for Whyalla, for the Upper Spencer Gulf and from the Commonwealth point of view, it is money well invested that will enable more people to live and stay in this great city.”
The Peats operation will become the main operation at the waste and resource centre site when the planned Veolia waste transfer station, in Whyalla’s industrial estate, replaces the existing landfill operation. Peats will utilise the existing organic stockpile at the resource centre as the landfill site is rehabilitated.
OPERATIONAL: The first stage of Peats' plant at the official opening.
PEATS OPERATIONAL FACTS
The venture funded by the Australian Government’s RJIP program, and undertaken by the Peats group, will transform the Mount Laura Waste and Resource Recovery Centre site into a producer of renewable energy.
It will potentially provide cost-effective electricity into the grid while producing valuable soil improvement organic and semi-organic products that farmers, landscapers, councils and households can use to add humic and fulvic supplements to their soils while adding water saving, carbon improving qualities. All of these are fundamentals for improved outputs in the local regional horticultural, viticultural, agricultural and meat production industries.
Over the 45 years of Peats’ business history, the company has gained valuable field study data from the farming community that has been using Peats products in bulk, bagged, pellet and granule formats boasting both product quality and yield improvements when compared to outputs experienced prior to using these organically based products. Company scientists and industry professionals continually work with the business to improve processes and products are certified and tested to meet Australian standards.
Redirecting organic recyclable materials from homes and businesses away from landfill means that ozone depleting methane gas is redirected into captured biogas for renewable energy (electricity) production without affecting the production of the valuable soil improvement products.
Read more about Peats on its website.