Material Efficiency Case Studies

Employees Clean Up

Employees put on gloves and came out fighting for the environment. It was all about doing their bit in the annual Business Clean Up Day, part of the ‘Clean Up Australia’ campaign.

Twenty-five employees from the Western Sydney Service Centre cleaned up the Erskine Park community, including a sports field and park. BlueScope Steel was the only company that took part in the area, and the team celebrated their efforts with a barbecue.

At Port Kembla, employees from 16 different business areas cleaned up around buildings, gardens and car parks at the Steelworks, while others helped in the clean up of local streets and beaches.

Cleaning up the Kimberley

As part of its 40th birthday celebrations, COLORBOND® steel has given something back to communities that have supported it by helping Clean Up the Kimberley in the Northern Territory.

“With nearly every building in the Kimberley featuring at least a roof made from COLORBOND® steel, this was a program we were keen to support,” said David Bare, National Marketing Manager Building.

More than 1,500 people, including Indigenous communities and school students, removed almost 3,000 bags of rubbish from 85 sites across the Kimberley as part of the Clean Up the Kimberley campaign.

Volunteers worked at sites across more than 45,000 square kilometres of land – equivalent to twice the size of Victoria - removing everything from aluminium cans, plastic bottles and cigarette butts to scrap metal, fuel and oil drums and batteries.

COLORBOND® steel and Clean Up Australia will now build on the success of the weekend with education programs for schools, local communities and travellers to improve waste management in the region.

Reducing Clay and Silicates Leads to Environmental Benefits to New Zealand Steel

Adding an attritioner processing unit to remove clay and silicates from the two process streams at New Zealand Steel’s Waikato North Head has resulted in increased product quality and recovery efficiencies.

Mining engineers Modher Barakat and Alex Padya researched various options to manage the increase in clay slimes caused by pumping ironsand from the mine site. They found the attritioner unit used in the clay industry was ideal for the job.

As a result, clay slimes were reduced by 50 per cent, silicates dropped by 35 per cent and there was a one per cent increase in iron grade to an average 59.5 per cent.

Clay that is removed will go directly into the existing tailings disposal system and infill the old mine workings at Waikato North Head, rather than simply disposed as waste at Glenbrook.

Mining Operations Manager Mike O’Connell said: “The results achieved so soon after commissioning are very encouraging and a credit to those involved.”

Going green in Vietnam

BlueScope Steel Vietnam has hosted ‘Green Architecture – The Sustainability Challenge’ seminar in Ho Chi Minh City.

Around 150 leading architects and construction design consultants attended the seminar which illustrated steel solutions to meet the sustainability challenge.

Key speaker at the seminar was Professor Ken Maher, a renowned Australian architect and chairman of Hassell, an international design practice operating in Australia and Asia. Professor Maher emphasised the challenges of environmental architecture and ‘green’ buildings.

“The presentation gave architects and consultants a better insight about the significance of green buildings to protect the environment and develop architectural sustainability.  They also learnt about the materials which are essential to deliver such projects,” said Andrew Heycott, President BlueScope Steel Vietnam.

“The seminar is a part of an overall plan to support the technical capability and awareness of local architects and consultants.”