MCC Adelaide (Australia) is an advanced player in sustainability

Our plant in Adelaide is actively working on sustainable improvements in their plant. They are putting high standards when it comes to waste and water reduction. Their motto: overcome the challenges.

Incineration of waste matrix roll

The challenge was to find a sustainable solution for the waste matrix rolls. This waste is the most difficult to recycle, so an innovative approach was necessary. A successful outcome was developed: we found a not-so-obvious partnership with a cement company in the same region. This company already incinerated its own waste to generate energy. So why not incinerate our waste matrix as well?

We were the first label company to partner with matrix rolls. So it took multiple years of trial-and-error to have an optimized process of incineration. The challenge mostly pertains to the roll density. Persistence pays off: Since early 2020, the process achieving its objective.

The waste matrix is shipped on a weekly basis, with around 30 tons a month of waste. This produces approximately 540,000 MJoules of energy per month. The incineration process became highly popular in the area, so the cement company started a completely separate business – only working on waste incineration. 

Waterless urinals

Southern Australia is one of the driest regions in the world. The plant is often imposed water restrictions. Therefore, we took initiative in water reduction by installing waterless urinals.

All original urinals were switched into waterless exemplars. Using chemicals instead to neutralize the urinals. This saves almost 1 million liters of water per year.

We started the incineration project in 2019 and it has been on and off with trialling since then. We are very excited to be up and running from the start of this year.”

Florence Van Zijl, Business Analyst Asia Pacific at MCC