As Australia prepares to enter a new era in waste management, Blue Phoenix Australia has assembled a team of experts to lead the way. We meet Paul Visser, the new Commercial Development Manager, Australia.
Blue Phoenix welcomed Paul Visser to the Australian team in November 2023. In his more than 30-year career, Paul has worked with some innovative, resourceful, and sustainability-focused organisations but he says joining Blue Phoenix Australia as its Commercial Development Manager has heightened his awareness of the need to protect the environment through reducing a reliance on natural resources and burying waste.
“Resource recovery and sustainability are my focus with Blue Phoenix,” Paul says.
He’s been inspired by the passionate and dedicated people within the Blue Phoenix Group and those in the Australian waste recovery industry.
“There is a commitment to reduce waste from the original source, recycling and recovery and now the diversion from landfill through alternate disposal via waste-to-energy (WtE),” he says.
During a recent trip to the United Kingdom and European Blue Phoenix operations, Paul saw first-hand the benefits of incorporating WtE into local areas, returning electricity and heat to the community, and recovering precious metals and aggregate materials from the residual incinerated bottom ash (IBA) for reuse.
As Australia proceeds down the path of WtE, with the commissioning of two plants in Western Australia, Paul says he’s proud to be part of Blue Phoenix Australia and Australia’s first IBA processing facility.
The first of its type in the Southern Hemisphere, the plant will recover the metals and aggregate for reuse within Western Australia, with plans to expand interstate.
It will bring together decades of experience in IBA processing and knowledge of the metals and aggregates industry, with innovative technology and sustainable best practice to produce reliable, low-carbon alternatives to primary mined minerals and metals.
“On receipt of IBA from the WtE plant, our Blue Phoenix Australia team takes responsibility of the handling, storage, processing, extraction, and recovery of reusable material which has not reached end-of-life but rather ‘re-life’,” Paul says.
“Sourcing this re-life material reduces the impact of extracting natural resources and the environment.”
In his role as Commercial Development Manager, Paul aims to grow the IBA market.
His background in finance and contract management, and exposure to operational management and safety, will help create a circular outcome.
“I don’t want to see more landfills,” Paul says. “We should be protecting the environment in which we live, the underground aquifers that provide our water and look to alternative ways to create electricity, heat, and reusable materials. As one of the world’s largest ash processors, Blue Phoenix prides itself on operational excellence with proven processes, professional teams, and the highest commitment to health, safety, and sustainable performance. This is why I joined Blue Phoenix.”
Source : Waste Management Review