Join the Kimbriki team for the 2024 Kimbriki Open Day. Celebrating 50 years of dedication and operations in the waste management and resource recovery industry located at Ingleside.
The Kimbriki site receives over 330,000 tonnes of waste annually, with close to 80% currently being recycled.
Kimbriki has two Shareholders, Northern Beaches Council (96%) and Mosman Council (4%) and works with its community, shareholders, employees, contractors, partners and the waste industry to deliver and promote efficient, cost effective services that reduce waste to landfill and increase resource recovery.
Kimbriki Environmental Enterprises Pty Ltd (KEE) also delivers waste education messaging through its Eco House and Garden facility and hosts local charities who promote repair and reuse through its Hub facility.
On Saturday 16th November, the community have the opportunity to experience first hand the Working Circular Economy at Kimbriki.
Come along and see some of the many Rethink, Reduce, Re-use and Recycle displays, workshops, tours, demonstrations, giveaways, challenges and opportunities to chat with Kimbriki team members, HUB volunteers and like minded people in our community.
The kids can enjoy face painting, make their own pedal powered smoothie, take on our environmental challenges, enjoy story time with Tilly the Turtle, enter name our Giraffes competition, wander the Discovery Trail, see the amazing Senior Toy Recyclers and much more!
PROGRAM OF THE DAY
All day Sausage Sizzle at the HUB
Fundraiser supporting Bikes4Life, Peninsula Toy Recyclers and Boomerang Bags Kimbriki.
Bus Tours of the Kimbriki site
Experience a rare behind the scenes viewing of Kimbriki with guided bus tours of for a small fee and by pre-bookings (while tickets available). Book in here.
Eco House & Garden
- Demonstrations – Worm Farming 11am – 11.30am
- Demonstration – Composting 1pm – 1.30pm
- The Discovery Trail
- ‘Bin it Right’ Competitions and plant giveaways
ANL (Australian Native Landscapes)
- What we do with your green bin contents – All Day
- See the recycled products that are created from your green/timber waste
- Giveaways throughout the day
IQ Renew
- Learn how your yellow bin and blue bin contents are recycled
- Learn about what can and can’t be recycled
- See the products produced from your waste
Concrete Recyclers
- See how old bricks & concrete get given a new life!
- Where does the material go?
- Kids Games
Boomerang Bags Kimbriki
- Make your own upcycled item to take home
- Enjoy vintage sewing machines & haberdashery
- Discover creative upcycling ideas
- See how we support the community
Peninsula Toy Recyclers
- Experience Toy Workshop Tours
- Meet the Volunteer Team
- Drop off unwanted Toys, Books, Puzzles, Games and Sporting Gear to The HUB, Kimbriki (Drive & Drop)
Northern Beaches Council
- Plant Giveaway
- Kids reusable bag activity
- Food waste avoidance education
- Learn about our NEW Library of Things
Coastal Environment Centre
- Story time with Tilly the Turtle – 11am, 12pm & 1pm (20 mins)
- Try the Smoothie Pedal Bike
50th Birthday Celebration
- Kimbriki 50th Birthday Celebrations and Speeches 12.15pm
- Launch of the Discovery Trail
Kimbriki History
Kimbriki was originally established as a landfill in 1974. Fees and charges were introduced in 1979. In 1989-90, resource recovery operations for vegetation and scrap metal commenced on site and the Kimbriki Recycling and Waste Disposal Centre commenced.
Originally when this 275-acre area of Kimbriki Road was chosen as a tip site in 1973 it was considered ideal, as there was a ‘blind gully’ in the centre, 2000 feet deep below the 400-feet contour. The Joint Services Committee (JSC) Manager reported that the surrounding land ‘rises above the 600-feet contour’ and the gully could be filled with ‘in excess of 25 million cubic yards’ of waste.’
Kimbriki Environmental Enterprises Pty Ltd (Kimbriki) is an innovative waste and recycling centre with a dry landfill located on Sydney’s northern beaches. Kimbriki aims to be a centre of excellence for environmental services associated with the recycling and disposal of waste, as well as, providing education to the community. Kimbriki has a long, successful history and record of achievement dating back to 1974 when the gates first opened. Kimbriki was originally established as a landfill. Fees and charges were introduced in 1979.
Over the years, Kimbriki has grown in size and strength, and complexity. In 1989-90, resource recovery operations for vegetation and scrap metal commenced on site and the Kimbriki Recycling and Waste Disposal Centre was established. This significant shift from waste disposal to resource recovery shaped the future of Kimbriki and today the site recycles over 80% of incoming wastes extending the remaining life of the Kimbriki landfill past the 2000’s and well into the 2040’s at the present rate.
Continuing the journey
To date, more than 4 million tonnes of waste has been diverted from landfill at Kimbriki through resource recovery operations on site. The challenge to recover more continues with the mixed waste stream. Customers are encouraged to separate their wastes, which increases resource recovery, but also reduces the amount of waste landfilled.
Sculpture at entrance to Kimbriki Resource Recovery Centre in 2013 - made from discarded metals. Photo by A J Guesdon/PON.
In 2013, Kimbriki installed a gas flare along with new landfill gas capture infrastructure.
This captures approximately 400m3 per hour of which 45% is methane (a highly potent greenhouse gas). The collected gas is then burned at a high temperature of approximately 800 degrees C.
Annually the system typically collects > 4.0 million m3 of landfill gas and reduces Kimbriki greenhouse gas emission by 30,000 tonnes CO2-e.
The landfill gas collection equates to more than 1,600 Olympic-sized swimming pools every year. Landfill gas typically contains methane (45-60%), carbon dioxide (40-60%), nitrogen (2-5%) and other components such as oxygen, sulphur compounds, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide, which comprise less than 1%.
The global warming potential of methane is 21-26 times that of carbon dioxide, so it is better to burn the landfill gas and convert it into Carbon Dioxide and water, rather than releasing into the atmosphere. This reduces Kimbriki’s greenhouse gas emissions by 30,000 tonnes of CO2-e each year.
Recent trials with horizontal gas collection pipes laid in trenches have shown that gas can be collected from quite newly buried waste in landfill, with good results.
This video, published by Kimbriki in 2021, provides an overview.
In 2019, Kimbriki constructed and commissioned a Leachate Treatment Plant onsite. The plant captures and treats the leachate generated on site before discharging the cleaned leachate water into the sewer.
Multi-million dollar environmental upgrade for Kimbriki: 2019
A new $3.5million Leachate Treatment Plant was launched on Friday 14 June by Kimbriki Resource Recovery Centre providing improved environmental outcomes for the site.
The fully automated Plant treats waste-water generated from landfilling activities (known as leachate) using a combination of biological and chemical processes to render the leachate safe for disposal to the sewer. It upgrades the existing leachate management system on site which previously relied on traditional site-based solutions including onsite reticulation and reinjection into the waste.
Kimbriki’s General Manager – Asset Management, Mr Mark Winser said the launch of the Plant was a key milestone in Kimbriki’s ongoing environmental protection program, ensuring the facility is able to exceed all regulatory standards while meeting the recycling and waste disposal needs of future generations.
“This plant is an investment in our local environment. It represents a massive step in ensuring the environmental footprint of Kimbriki remains as small as possible both now and into the future.
“It can treat and discharge up to 500,000 litres per day providing ample capacity during peak rainfall periods.
“It will be in use through the life of the landfill and beyond to ensure the site remains secure from the risk of discharging waste water off site.”
The Plant utilises two stainless steel “reactor” tanks of approximately 450,000 litres capacity each equipped with aeration systems, chemical dosing and various sensors and controls.
The project also included the installation of a 600 metre underground pipeline from Kimbriki to Terrey Hills to make the connection to the sewer. This pipeline was installed without breaking the surface using a technique called horizontal directional drilling to minimise any disturbance to the surrounding bushland and Mona Vale Road.
The Leachate Treatment Plant was officially opened by the Mayors of Kimbriki’s two shareholder councils, Northern Beaches Council and Mosman Municipal Council.
By October 2019 Kimbriki’s newly launched Leachate Treatment Plant had achieved a significant milestone in processing its one hundred millionth litre that month.
The fully automated Plant treats waste-water generated from landfilling activities (known as leachate) using a combination of biological and chemical processes to render the leachate safe for disposal to the sewer. It upgrades the existing leachate management system on site which previously relied on traditional site-based solutions including onsite reticulation and reinjection into the waste.
Kimbriki’s General Manager – Asset Management, Mr Mark Winser said the Plant is operating successfully and reaching this milestone is rewarding.
“We are really happy with the way the plant is functioning and with the capacity it is processing. To have processed one hundred million litres in this short time of operation has surpassed our expectations.”
The operation of the Leachate Treatment Plant is a significant part of Kimbriki’s ongoing environmental protection program, ensuring the facility is able to exceed all regulatory standards while meeting the recycling and waste disposal needs of future generations.
The Plant utilises two stainless steel “reactor” tanks of approximately 450,000 litres capacity each equipped with aeration systems, chemical dosing and various sensors and controls.
In 2022, Engineered Timber recovery was added on site through a partnership with reDirect wood recycling. This further reduced the amount of waste landfilled.
This project was the 2023 winner of the ‘Circular Economy Award’ at the LGNSW Excellence in the Environment Awards. This award was supported by LGNSW's category partner NSW Environment Protection Authority.
More About the 'Let’s ReDirect our Engineered Timber out of Landfill!' Initiative
To improve resource recovery and activate a local circular economy, Northern Beaches Council partnered with Kimbriki Environmental Enterprises and ReDirect to run a recycling trial of engineered timber. The timber collected was sent to be remanufactured into kitchen cabinets and other joinery.
Overall, 1,171 tonnes of engineered timber were recovered for remanufacture in the trial period from May 2022 - July 2023. As a result of this success Kimbriki will offer source-separated drop off and recovery options indefinitely.
Background
Sydney’s available landfill capacity is forecast to expire in 15-25 years. To extend the life of the Kimbriki‘s landfill, Council deemed it vital that new recovery models were explored.
The trial was driven by demand for recycled products. ReDirect (a local building materials manufacturer) have been able to increase market share by using and promoting recycled content in their manufactured products. This created value for scrap engineered timbers that would otherwise be considered waste.
Previously, all timber collected as part of Council’s bulky waste service was crushed in collection vehicles. While this is efficient for collection, the crushed goods are primarily destined for landfill.
Implementation
Council partnered with Kimbriki and ReDirect. The partnership provided an opportunity for ReDirect to secure a reliable supply of engineered timbers and for Kimbriki to extend the life of its landfill.
Three timber collections models were trialled:
(1) an 11-week kerbside opt-in service offered to residents with an existing kerbside bulky goods booking(2) a source separated drop off by residents and trades at Kimbriki(3) a manual sort and recovery from the tip face by Kimbriki staff.
Outcomes
For the opt-in kerbside collection, 333 booking requests were made and 202 requests fulfilled. This resulted in 24.5 tonnes of timber material being collected, 71% or 17.24 tonnes of which were sent for remanufacture into kitchen cabinets and other joinery.
The recovery rates achieved for the two collection methods were:
- 646 tonnes from 1,656 drop offs for source separated self-haul (May 22-July 23)
- 508 tonnes from manual sorting (June 22-July 23).
Across the three recovery methods, 1,171 tonnes of timber were recovered for remanufacture. The recovery rate implies an increase in Kimbriki’s landfill life of approximately 2.5-3%, if continued indefinitely.
Key Learnings
This project revealed challenges for collecting timber, including incorrectly presented piles, timber not spaced far enough and residents submitting bookings too late.
Council’s education messaging and resources were updated to incorporate feedback from residents/contractors and Council staff visual inspections.
Kimbriki’s daily monitoring identified the opportunity to move from a trial to an ongoing program for the manual sorting and self-haul options which yielded a great success for the trial at minimal cost.
Given the success of the project, Council will investigate and trial recovery options for different materials, helping drive the transition to a circular economy.
In 2024, the Clean Water Diversion System (CWDS) was completed and operational. This is a network of over 2 km of drains and water treatment structures. The CWDS diverts stormwater run-off entering the Kimbriki site and returns it to the natural catchment. This reduces the amount of leachate generated and treated on site.
- Size of site: 34 hectares
- Number of Employees: 46 total employees (+30 onsite contractors)
- Operations: Open 7 days per week from 7am to 5pm. Closed only Christmas Day and Good Friday
- On average, 1,100 vehicles access Kimbriki every day
- Over 280,000 tonnes of waste received annually, with 80% currently being recycled.
Worth noting: Waste and Circular Economy Strategy 2040
Council endorsed the Waste and Circular Economy Strategy 2040 at its meeting on Tuesday 26 March 2024.
The strategy is all about working with the community to reduce waste by implementing a circular economy – embracing reuse, repair and recycling initiatives.
Kimbriki's Vision:
Kimbriki Environmental Enterprises is a centre of excellence for the promotion and practice of sustainable resource and waste management services.
Kimbriki's Mission Statement:
Kimbriki Environmental Enterprises works with its community, customers, Shareholders, employees, partners and the waste industry to strategically deliver and promote innovative and efficient services that reduce waste to landfill and increase beneficial reuse opportunities.
Goods recovered from the mixed waste transfer station are transferred to the Buy Back Centre and offered for sale.
Other materials are processed into re-use products, for example, bricks and concrete are crushed and screened into aggregates; timber is shredded and screened to make mulches, or for future chipboard.
Some wastes, due to their inherently risky nature, are securely buried on site. This includes asbestos, insulation and mixed waste.
What's next:
- The NBC will be piloting programs to help reuse and repair household items, implementing trial collections of recyclables like timber and textiles.
- The NBC will be running education and behaviour change campaigns, and advocating for manufacturer responsibility to reduce single use plastics.
- The NBC will also begin working with the community to understand how best to trial options for recycling of food organics which makes up such a large proportion of waste in the red bins.
Kimbriki site map
