Sustainable landfill plan for Albany floated by waste company as closure of current facility looms

The thought of a towering, rotting landfill is enough to make most people queasy. 

But not Martin Shuttleworth — he is not only building one but hopes to alter people's perception of rubbish.

Mr Shuttleworth lives in the regional town of Albany on Western Australia's south coast, and with local council plans afoot to close the current landfill, he has set his sights on becoming part of the town's sustainable future.

Over the next 12 months the founder of Vancouver Waste Services will see the fruits of a $6 million investment into a new landfill for the growing regional centre.

The site in Manypeaks, about 40 minutes north-east of Albany, was given environmental approval late last year and excavation is expected to begin within a month.

While the council has yet to decide who would provide a new landfill, a staged closure of the current site has already started being prepared before it shuts in 2032.

Mr Shuttleworth's waste services company began about 15 years ago with a hook lift bin business that supplied construction sites.

Today the business processes a range of material including tyres, manure and Albany's general waste, which is converted into compost through the Food Organics, Garden Organics (FOGO) bin system.

Initiatives such as FOGO reflected a wider shift towards sustainable waste solutions — a shift Mr Shuttleworth acknowledged.

"We don't want to recreate the general tip … open front with trucks dumping material, wind blowing, seagulls having a field day," he said.

"That's the past and we need to get smarter." 

Part of the plan would involve waste being shredded and heavily compacted into bales.

"The benefits of that is that the materials are contained so there is no rubbish blowing around on the site," Mr Shuttleworth said.

He eventually hopes the "bricks" could also be used in a future waste-to-energy plant.

"This is a great opportunity to deal with these rubbish streams in a far smarter way," Mr Shuttleworth said.

The looming closure of Albany's landfill weighs on the mind of Mayor Dennis Wellington.

He said any decision on a future landfill must ensure waste is treated in an environmentally friendly way.   

"That's one of the reasons we've gone to FOGO [to] separate the food waste," Mr Wellington said.

"You don't get the breakdown of it and the gas emissions.

"It is a very precise science these days.

"You just can't consider the old methods of being acceptable; it's just a totally different ball game these days."

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