New joint venture for O.C.O in Australia
O.C.O has launched a new Australian joint venture in partnership with Melbourne-based end-to-end construction and demolition materials recycler City Circle Group.
The new company, O.C.O Victoria, will see the development of a multi-million A$ facility that will use O.C.O’s technology to transform industrial thermal residues from waste to energy plants into sustainable manufactured aggregate for the construction industry.
The announcement was made this week during the Waste Expo Australia event in Melbourne.
O.C.O Victoria will provide recycling services to Australia’s emerging Energy-from-Waste (EfW) industry, using CO2 to treat Air Pollution Control residues (APCr) and converting them into a high-quality carbon-neutral limestone which provides an alternative to mining virgin materials.
Once completed, the plant is expected to treat up to 150,000 tonnes of APCr waste a year, producing an equivalent amount of aggregate for the Australian construction market. For every tonne of manufactured aggregate used, around 1.4 tonnes of natural aggregate is saved.
O.C.O has four manufacturing operations in the UK and Europe and technology partnerships in Japan and the US.
CEO Steve Greig, said: “This partnership brings together O.C.O’s pioneering carbon capture and utilisation technology and City Circle’s deep expertise in recycling, materials recovery and construction products.
“There is a fundamental difference between making APCr safe enough to dispose of and genuinely recovering it into a useful product. Our objective is to close the loop rather than simply move the material from one disposal stream into another.
“By combining our technology with City Circle’s market and product expertise, we can transform a material that would traditionally go to landfill into a manufactured aggregate for reuse in the construction industry, while permanently capturing carbon dioxide in the process.”
The joint investment is the first time City Circle has partnered with an overseas company and CEO Matt Skidmore says the move was prompted by recognition of the “significant potential” for expanding its already extensive circular economy operations.
He said: “We first met with O.C.O back in 2022, when two guys came in and started talking about carbon capture and manufacturing a product that can replace virgin aggregate in numerous construction products.
“Each time we met, it made more sense and this exciting partnership will help provide Victoria with a much-needed alternative to mining. It fits perfectly with City Circle’s Circular economy goals.”
Both City Circle and O.C.O describe the partnership as a natural fit which builds on their strong alignment in culture and values.
Read more about the joint venture at www.ocovictoria.com.au