23 December 2009
TT-Line's Spirit of Tasmania twin ships are ahead
of the fleet when it comes to glass recycling, with both vessels
recycling 400kg of glass a week - equivalent to more than 117,000
stubbies diverted from landfill and recycled each year.
Over the past two months, Spirit of Tasmania has been trialling a
new and efficient glass recycling service called Bottlecycler and
has just signed on to bring the machines on board two of its ships
permanently.
Funded by the Packaging Stewardship Forum (PSF) of the Australian
Food and Grocery Council, the trial, involves a Bottlecycler
machine, which sits behind the bar or in service areas, crushing
glass bottles to an optimum size for recycling. This keeps
contamination to a minimum and makes recycling rates soar.
Kevin Maynard, Company Secretary from TT-Line, said he was proud
of the steps the company was taking towards reducing its impact on
the environment.
"The crew responded well to trialling the new Bottlecycler machine
on board - even though it can sometimes mean extra work, they
are extremely encouraging and supportive."
General Manager of the PSF, Jenny Pickles, highlighted that the
comprehensive service is not only working for the TT-Line ships but
for many venues throughout Australia.
"We have funded many Bottlecycler trials in Victoria and Tasmania
and now we're bridging the gap between - Bass Strait. At the
end of each voyage, the crushed glass is offloaded in Victoria and
recycled at Visy's recycling plant at Laverton.
"Bottlecycler trials in Victoria have been funded by the National
Packaging Covenant and after 18 months more than one million
kilograms of glass crushed through the Bottlecycler machines has
been recycled," Ms Pickles said.
"We're aiming to build on the NPC project results with our own
conducted trials throughout regional Victoria. Spirit of Tasmania
is one of the first to sign on permanently."
Passenger ships have been operating on Bass Strait for the past 50
years, with Spirit of Tasmania I and II commencing service 1
September 2002, increasing the volume of passengers crossing the
Strait.
Media enquiries please contact:
Soniya Fernandez
Corporate Communications Coordinator
Spirit of Tasmania
Email: saf@spiritoftasmania.com.au
Alicia Hewitt
Public Affairs Officer, PSF
0431 631 047
alicia.hewitt@afgc.org.au
