Australian Vinyls Corporation Pty Ltd
Media Statement - 29 October 2007
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Australian Vinyls moving towards zero fresh water goal
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Australian Vinyls, the only PVC resin manufacturer in Australia, has set itself a long term sustainability goal of zero fresh water use, although it is currently one of Melbourne’s major users of fresh water.
To reach this, the company has commenced an innovative project at its Laverton plant to recycle the plant’s effluent to a sufficiently high quality standard to reuse the water in the production process and cut its fresh water intake by half.
A pilot plant has been built and is currently operating at the Laverton site. A full-scale plant will be developed in 2007-08 at a capital cost of approximately $3.6 million.
PVC suspension resin manufacturing requires a significant volume of high quality, low contamination water, all of which is currently purchased fresh water. The process also discharges reasonably high volumes of effluent.
"The recycling plant is expected to be able to recycle 65% of the plant’s effluent, reducing the intake of fresh water by at least half and significantly reducing the volume of effluent discharged," AV's General Manager Commercial, Mr Mark Scatena said. "It will save an estimated 320,000 kilolitres of fresh water per year based on current production levels. This investment makes good economic sense and good environmental sense and allows us to grow our business without the challenges of water constraints."
The technology being trialled uses an advanced, reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration membrane to remove the high quantities of dissolved solids from the effluent.
The Victorian Government announced in its May 2007 Budget that it would assist Australian Vinyls’ water recycling project with a grant of up to $1.8 million, subject to business case approval.
The company hopes to reduce its fresh water intake to zero once other sources of recycled water are available through its water retailer.
Australian Vinyls has had a strong focus on improving water efficiency for a number of years. Since 2000-01, the company has improved its water efficiency by 34%, by reducing the amount of water consumed to produce each tonne of PVC.
In the 2006-07 financial year, the company reduced its water consumption by 6.25% (on a per tonne of PVC basis). Total water consumption in 2006-07 was 582,000 kilolitres.
For more information, please contact Corporate and Environmental Affairs Manager, Sophi MacMillan on 03 9368 4856 or 0418 380 309 or refer to our website at http://www.av.com.au/Energywater. Australian Vinyls publishes annual Sustainability reports which are available on our website.
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