Waste Converters depot is an old tip site in Dandenong, Melbourne that has been converted to a recycling depot. The outer suburbs may seem an unlikely place for acclaimed Australian furniture designers, chefs, architects and artists to find inspiration, but that’s just what furniture designer Mark Tuckey, Shannon Bennett of Vue de Monde, architect Jerry Wolveridge, eco-entrepreneur Joost Bakker and artist David Bromley have been doing. They all find inspiration and materials at the Waste Converters Recycling Depot, Dandenong.
The Dandenong recycling business has been run by Ward Petherbridge, Managing Director of Waste Converters, for more than 15 years. Petherbridge tells that "In the 2010/11 financial year Waste Converters recycling activities provided a net carbon benefit of 14,500 tonnes.” One of the main materials recycled at the depot is post-industrial timber packaging waste. The timber arrives from many sources, an example of which is IVECO Trucks, a regular customer of Waste Converters. IVECO imports hundreds of engines each year, that are transported on large pallets made of exotic hardwoods, that then need to be disposed of.
More than 500,000 tonnes of timber waste are discarded every year in Victoria alone, much of which ends up in landfill sites or pulverised into low-grade mulch. Petherbridge prefers to put the timber waste at his depot to better use, as a recycled resource. He says that "I thought it was a travesty that these valuable timbers were ending up in landfill or being mulched, it became a bit of a mission to find artists and designers to create products from this un-tapped resource."
One visitor who enjoys sifting through the recycled materials at the Waste Converters yard is architect Jerry Wolveridge, whose practice recently received dual accolades the Australian Institute of Architects Victorian Chapter for Sustainable Design and the Australian Timber Design Award. The award winning designs utilised recycled products as an interesting and cost effective as internal wall lining Recycled plywood sheet from discarded glazing delivery crates was among the recycled materials sourced from the Waste Converters. Jerry explains "Our firm has a reputation for the robust merging of textures, most commonly incorporating the natural character of timber – recycled where possible.”
Another keen user of recycled products, is bespoke furniture designer Mark Tuckey, who has been sourcing from Waste Converters for more than 10 years. For Mark the use of recycled materials is essential to his product range. A huge benefit to Mark, of sourcing from Waste Converters, is that the materials are all re-worked into an easy to use state at the depot, where they remove the nails and machine them ready for use.
Joost Bakker, restaurateur, demonstrates with his Greenhouse eco- restaurants in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth that the technology for a sustainable life is readily available. The high-end restaurant fit-outs incorporated a wide variety of recycled products from Waste Converters depot, including Kenworth truck engine pallets for tables and chairs, Ford banners for furniture upholstery and plastic pallets and plywood for floor detailing. Bakker says “Even our platters are made from recycled baking trays from Cadbury's, and plywood salvaged from Viridian Glass was used by David Bromley as a canvas for a large painting behind the bar”.
Shannon Bennett is another sustainable restaurateur who has taken the opportunity to use Waste Converters recycled products in his restaurant fit-outs. Bennett stated that, “Waste Converters has been supplying me with all manner of recycled items for many years to use in my restaurant Vue de Monde and also in the fit out of some of my other venues. Ward’s passion for unloved waste products others have tossed to the side is unparalleled.”
