Global Recycling Day 2021

• ACCIONA are leaders in sustainability. We want to have a positive impact on the world and offer solutions to respond to the world’s main challenges.

• On Global Recycling Day 2021, we draw your attention to some of the initiatives that ACCIONA in Australia undertakes to highlight the importance of recycling.

Recycled Glass in Concrete Pavement on the Pacific Highway Upgrade: Wells Crossing to Glenugie Project

Australia produces roughly 1.1 million tonnes of waste glass per year, with only 56% being recycled due to issues with recovery rates, sorting, contamination and costs to deliver to one of the few glass recycling plants in Australia. Lismore City Council locally recovers and separates waste glass through their “Return & Earn” initiative. The waste glass is stockpiled and crushed to produced Recycled Crushed Glass (RCG), which is suitable for a range of construction uses such as an alternative to bedding sand and coarse sand substitution within concrete. On the Wells Crossing to Glenugie section of the Pacific Highway Upgrade, 12,800m³ of concrete pavement containing RCG was placed over an eight-kilometre section. The project’s sustainability initiative diverted some 1500 tonnes, or over 7.6 million glass bottles, from local landfill and was a first for ACCIONA and for main line pavement on Pacific Highway projects.

ACCIONA Recycling Stations with Surfing Australia

Through our partnership with Surfing Australia, ACCIONA has placed Recycling Stations at Surfing Australia’s High-Performance Centre in Casuarina, as well as at the state qualifying rounds and national final of the Australian Boardriders Battle – Australia’s biggest grassroots boardriders event that involves more than 60 of Australia’s best boardrider clubs. Proceeds go to Surfrider Foundation Australia, a not for profit organisation dedicated to the protection of Australia’s waves and beaches through conservation, activism, research and education.

ICT E-Waste Recycling Initiative

The ACCIONA ICT team has teamed up with United Star Resource, an accredited E-waste recycling service provider specialising in electronic waste recycling and resource recovery. In line with ACCIONA’s sustainability values and beliefs, United Star Resource aims to divert all E-waste from landfills to protect the environment. The ICT team at our Port Melbourne Head Office has so far managed to recycle and divert over 2 tonnes of e-waste from landfill!

These are some of the reasons why we think about what we throw away – seeing not waste, but opportunity.