About the Soil and Organic Recycling Facility
Gippsland Water's Soil and Organic Recycling Facility (SORF) is ea stern Victoria's leading waste management complex that treats and recycles liquid and solid prescribed industrial waste. It is the first of its kind in Victoria, treating contaminated soils for reuse.
Since 1985, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) licensed facility located at Dutson Downs 20 kilometres south-east of Sale, has been providing economic and sustainable waste management solutions to local and statewide organisations.
The SORF gives organisations a cleaner and more sustainable waste management option to treat and recover prescribed and non-prescribed organic wastes and hydrocarbon contaminated soils, which can then be reused in a range of ways.
The proven treatment method produces reusable composted materials from resources such as organic contaminated soils, providing an important new dimension to the resource recovery capability of Victoria. The proven technologies are well-established practices that have been successfully used in waste treatment processes around the globe, and provide sustainable outcomes for clients.
Construction of the SORF began in September 2006 following approval from the EPA and the Victorian Government. In February 2008, the first waste loads began treatment as part of the commissioning phase of the project.
SORF Environmental Management System
Gippsland Water recently completed an initial environmental review of al l activities undertaken at the SORF in developing an Environmental Management System (EMS), which has been accredited to international best practice standard, ISO 14001.
An EMS is an effective tool that is used to manage and reduce an organisation's impact on the environment and generate reports on its environmental performance. The program will be used to increase efficiency and continually improve performance at the SORF, as well as meet environmental requirements, and help identify, control, monitor and review the processes to manage environmental issues associated with the SORF.
Along with the EMS, Gippsland Water's environmental performance at the SORF will continue to be monitored by the EPA, the Dutson Downs Advisory Committee, and be independently verified through external auditing.
The EMS for the SORF was certified on 12 May 2008 under the internationally-recognised standard, ISO 14001 and is valid for the next three years.
Liquid treatment processes
The facility can manage large or small volumes of liquid waste and accepts prescribed wastes that are classified under the Environment Protection (prescribed waste) (Amendments) Regulation 2007.
The SORF is licensed to accept organic liquid wastes and manage these using a three phase separation process. It recovers reuse material from the organic liquids and composts the biodegradable sludges into a reusable product. All liquid sludges are processed using in-vessel composting technology..jpg)
The liquid phase will be processed in an adjacent wastewater treatment facility. The wastewater treatment facility also treats large volumes of a complex combination of industrial and domestic wastewater generated across Gippsland.
Soil treatment processes
All hydrocarbon contaminated soils will undergo treatment in state-of-the-art in-vessel composting units.
All soils treated in the in-vessel units will be processed to meet reuse standards, providing a sustainable and environmentally beneficial alternative to landfill.
The SORF will produce high quality compost that meets Australian standards and could be used for pasture improvement, land rehabilitation or beautification projects.
Bioremediation and composting use natural biological processes to treat and remediate organic compounds (e.g. petroleum hydrocarbon and animal fats). This allows naturally occurring microbes to break down the organic compounds to carbon dioxide and water, and beneficial soil organics.
The in-vessel composting units provide a fully integrated and controlled aerobic (oxygen rich) environment for the microbes. This increases the rate of microbial activity through controlled air injection and the addition of mineral nutrients and moisture.
Wastes accepted
The Soil and Organic Recycling Facility accepts a range of prescribed and non-prescribed wastes.
Liquids
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Septic tank waste
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Waste oils and water mixtures or emulsions, and hydrocarbon and water mixtures or emulsion (J120 and J130)
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Grease interceptor trap effluent (K110 and K120)
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Animal oils and derivatives (K170 and K200)
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Vegetable and fruit processing effluent (K150 and K160)
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Truck and machinery wash waters (L100)
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Car wash down waters (L101)
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Industrial plant wash down waters (L150)
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Non toxic salts (D300)
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Poultry and fish wastes (K100 and K101)
Solids
- Tannery wastes containing chrome (D141 and K140)
- Contaminated soils (hydrocarbon only) (N119, N120, and N121)
- Asbestos (N220 and N230)
- Ceramic fibres (N230)
- Drilling mud
- Synthetic mineral fibres (N230)
Fact sheets
SORF Capability Statement
Fact sheet - Prescribed liquid wastes
Fact sheet - Soil solutions
Fact sheet - What we can do for you |