From that base, July really propelled us forward, especially in the mattress side.
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| The Garbologie shed, pretty full. It gets more full during the month... |
Mattresses
The mattresses promised by a (potential) customer in June never actually eventuated, but that was more than made up for by a multitude of other sources. Where June saw 45 mattresses received against a budget of 50. In July we received a total of 644 compared with a budget of 500.
The increase put a lot of strain on our systems, breaking most of them but letting us come up with alternatives in time. It also meant that we've pretty much outgrown our building and need to move pretty soon. The new location will depend on the outcome of Tip/Shop, as I would ideally co-locate the mattress recycling with Tip/Shop.
We saw the team grow, and now have Conor, Garriss, Adrian and Lincoln as regulars in the Garbologie team. All are working super hard to make it all come together.
Key customers we serviced this month were:
From here we need to be careful about how quickly we grow. There are certainly mattresses out there, but our tiny little building struggles to take much more. We need more space and, related, markets to ship product into.
On the matter of products, we sent out some very large loads of waste to landfill. This is the mattress top covers, typically dirty and at the moment, wet. It is not a cheap exercise to landfill fabric, plus it isn't really what I want to do long term.
We also took loads of pocket springs to landfill, something that is definitely not part of the plan. It is time-consuming to dismantle each spring from its pocket, and scrap metal yards don't want it unless it is dismantled. To buy time, we took a load to the tip (and paid dearly for it). We spent the rest of the month trying various ideas, and just might have an answer (for the next wrap up).
In the flurry of activity, we had to pause our data capture and reporting. It was becoming too much to handle in the confines of the shed. We plan to resume once we have more space, but a consequence is that I can't give the detailed stats of last month.
The increase put a lot of strain on our systems, breaking most of them but letting us come up with alternatives in time. It also meant that we've pretty much outgrown our building and need to move pretty soon. The new location will depend on the outcome of Tip/Shop, as I would ideally co-locate the mattress recycling with Tip/Shop.
We saw the team grow, and now have Conor, Garriss, Adrian and Lincoln as regulars in the Garbologie team. All are working super hard to make it all come together.
Key customers we serviced this month were:
- Eastern Metropolitan Regional Council (helping them with a backlog of old mattresses at their Hazelmere Mattress Recycling Centre)
- Mindarie Regional Council (mattresses from the resident tipping area at the Tamala Park landfill)
- Snooze
- Forty Winks
- Good Samaritan Industries (discounted disposal to help them with a waste they get lumbered with)
- Residents (during the month we collected 56 and had 7 mattress delivered from a total of 41 people)
From here we need to be careful about how quickly we grow. There are certainly mattresses out there, but our tiny little building struggles to take much more. We need more space and, related, markets to ship product into.
On the matter of products, we sent out some very large loads of waste to landfill. This is the mattress top covers, typically dirty and at the moment, wet. It is not a cheap exercise to landfill fabric, plus it isn't really what I want to do long term.
We also took loads of pocket springs to landfill, something that is definitely not part of the plan. It is time-consuming to dismantle each spring from its pocket, and scrap metal yards don't want it unless it is dismantled. To buy time, we took a load to the tip (and paid dearly for it). We spent the rest of the month trying various ideas, and just might have an answer (for the next wrap up).
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| Pocket springs. Looking all forlorn as they wait for the truck to take them to the tip. |
In the flurry of activity, we had to pause our data capture and reporting. It was becoming too much to handle in the confines of the shed. We plan to resume once we have more space, but a consequence is that I can't give the detailed stats of last month.
On a more amusing note (in hindsight, definitely not particularly amusing at the time), a bale burst inside the baler. Perhaps an inevitable consequence of getting overly ambitious with bale weights, and it took hours to clear. At one point we had a huge drift of polyurethane foam inside the building.
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| Burst bale. The chaos it caused was kind of funny (in hindsight). |
Tip/Shop
We lodged our planning application with the City of Fremantle. It's pretty spiffy, and you can see it written up more on the Tip/Shop post.
For now, we wait. The application has to go through the process, gather objections (two apparently, about noise and odour). I then respond etc etc.
I have showed Mayor Brad Pettitt and Cr Robert Fittock from the City of Fremantle through, and I think they got it. Hopefully some more councillors also get a chance to look before they consider the application.
For now, we wait. The application has to go through the process, gather objections (two apparently, about noise and odour). I then respond etc etc.
I have showed Mayor Brad Pettitt and Cr Robert Fittock from the City of Fremantle through, and I think they got it. Hopefully some more councillors also get a chance to look before they consider the application.
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| Artist concept for Tip/Shop. |
We're also waiting on the State Government planners to evaluate the submission (yeah, you would think they have better things to do, but because it's on a major road slated to be widened some day, they want to have a look).
There was a snag on the State Government front, because the form was signed by one, not two of the owners. In their defence, the form doesn't actually say two owners need to sign. Frustratingly, the government planners took nearly 3 weeks to tell us about the problem. So it goes...
There was a snag on the State Government front, because the form was signed by one, not two of the owners. In their defence, the form doesn't actually say two owners need to sign. Frustratingly, the government planners took nearly 3 weeks to tell us about the problem. So it goes...
Consulting
Consulting has been very quiet, and that's largely because I can't pursue it with all of the other things on. There have been snippets of interest and potentially interesting partnerships.
I was offered work with a consulting firm, their "man in Perth", and much as I'm honoured by the offer and respect their work, I didn't really leave my job to take up a new one. I want to build something that hasn't been done before.
I was invited to be a keynote speaker at the awesome WasteMINZ conference in New Zealand (October), all expenses paid, and get to pay to present at the local Waste & Recycle conference in Fremantle (September). Both are great opportunities.
I was offered work with a consulting firm, their "man in Perth", and much as I'm honoured by the offer and respect their work, I didn't really leave my job to take up a new one. I want to build something that hasn't been done before.
I was invited to be a keynote speaker at the awesome WasteMINZ conference in New Zealand (October), all expenses paid, and get to pay to present at the local Waste & Recycle conference in Fremantle (September). Both are great opportunities.
Other stuff
Project X continues to bubble along. Not really ready to announce yet, but just working its way below the surface.
There's also some other interesting work happening in relation to recycling from verge collections (to be expanded upon later) and Africa. Yep, Africa. Again, early days, but something really interesting there.
All going well, though, the systems we've set up to repair the ones smashed by the mattress influx should see me more free to do the things that matter for the long term of Garbologie. That is, thinking, writing, sharing, exploring ideas. Being the incubator that I promised when setting up.
So, fingers crossed, there will be more blog posts to share the evolution of my ideas.
There's also some other interesting work happening in relation to recycling from verge collections (to be expanded upon later) and Africa. Yep, Africa. Again, early days, but something really interesting there.
All going well, though, the systems we've set up to repair the ones smashed by the mattress influx should see me more free to do the things that matter for the long term of Garbologie. That is, thinking, writing, sharing, exploring ideas. Being the incubator that I promised when setting up.
So, fingers crossed, there will be more blog posts to share the evolution of my ideas.
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