It all started on a cold Sunday night in the UK. At 10pm, Matt Potter, Loss Control Consultant at Securus Risk Advisors, boarded a flight from Birmingham bound for Dubai - the first leg of a trip that would take him to the other side of the world. Eight hours in the air, a two hour layover and an 11 hour onward flight later, Matt landed in Brisbane, Australia.
The contrast was immediate. Leaving behind 5℃ temperatures and rain in the UK, Matt stepped into 32℃ sunshine. But this was not a sightseeing trip. Matt travelled to Australia to carry out a series of risk management surveys for Rokstone’s Waste and Recycling portfolio, helping clients understand how they could strengthen their risk controls and reduce exposure across their operations, through actions such as:
And his schedule was jam-packed.
Recycling Operations in Australia
The risk landscape in Australia does not differ significantly from any other market. In Australia, Matt explained, landfill rates are slowly increasing, prompting the implementation of recycling initiatives like deposit return schemes.
Why is the Australian recycling market strategically important right now?
The Australian market has been hit with many of the same historic insurance challenges as the UK and Europe. Our partner insurers in the UK entered the market to support the industry, and that’s where Securus comes in as a specialist in risk engineering. We have been working in Australia for over six years now, building strong relationships with both insured clients and brokers.
What stood out about the facilities you visited?
They were very similar to sites we see in the UK and Ireland. The clients were well managed, took risk management seriously and were very open to discussions around improvements. One of the biggest differences was space. Rural sites had far more space to operate, while city sites had to manage their space much more efficiently.
Visiting remote sites like Kalgoorlie, an area historically used for gold mining, the environment itself created operational challenges. Prior to my arrival it had been about 45℃ for weeks, but the day before I visited, it rained for 24 hours. What should have been desert conditions turned into deep mud, which affected the client’s operations because they did not want machinery getting stuck.
Climate definitely influences site design and risk controls. Some of the larger rural sites that are susceptible to flooding rearrange their site during the wet season, so areas more likely to suffer water damage are used less.
What are the biggest risks facing Australian recycling operations right now?
The biggest one is contamination in waste streams - particularly lithium batteries. It is the same issue we see in the UK. Clients are trying to address it with more robust contamination checks.
Client Visits and Insights
What impressed you most about the clients you visited?
I am always impressed when I see someone doing something different. I visited one client who was processing waste plastics and repurposing them into building materials like bricks and slabs, as well as products used for road protection. It is great to see that kind of innovation, finding new life for materials that might otherwise go to waste.
What makes our job easier is having a client who really buys into risk management and the benefits of having robust systems in place. On the whole, clients in Australia are very positive towards risk improvement suggestions. I had several discussions where clients actively brought potential issues to the table for discussion, keen to learn how we could help them.
Did you identify any recurring risk themes across multiple sites?
Some larger sites that were part of bigger organisations would not always have their most recent thermographic testing of fixed electrical installations, as it would be held at Head Office. However, this is easily remedied by requesting a copy of them for analysis in the Risk Improvement Report.
In terms of advice, much like in the UK, if clients do not have enough waste outlets, there is always a lot of discussion about storage capacity internally and externally.
What is the biggest difference between Australian and UK recycling operations?
There is no significant difference, with the exception of the creation of engineered fuels such as RDF and SRF. Due to the limited outlets in the country, there is no common approach, and a lot of residual waste is still landfilled.
In terms of insurance expectations, there is slightly less capacity at the moment in Australia, when compared to the UK, Europe and the US. All expectations from clients are around compliance with policy conditions, which is a positive view point.
A Weekend in Melbourne
After a packed first week of travel and site visits, Matt had the chance to pause. Conveniently, that downtime coincided with a visit to family, with his brother-in-law living in Melbourne. Matt got the chance to spend some time with his young nephew for the very first time and a change of pace was welcome.
Matt recalls sitting on his brother-in-law’s balcony on a sunny Saturday morning, watching hot air balloons drift slowly across the sky in the distance. After a hectic first week, that moment was a rare pause in a trip defined by movement, across cities, time zones and sites.
Matt welcomed the chance to do a family barbecue and play football in the park, even arranging a tour of the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the Australian Museum of Sport. As a big film fan, Matt also visited the National Museum of Screen Culture, admitting he was ‘very excited’ to see a replica of Max’s Interceptor from Mad Max.
Back On Site
Many clients could not believe that Matt had travelled halfway around the world to see their site. Despite the distance between markets, Matt returned home with some clear takeaways.
What was the most challenging day?
Day one was tough because even with some rest on the flights, doing a full day of site visits straight away is difficult. Day three was probably worse because that is when the jet lag really hit. There was another day where the temperature hit the early 40s, and that day involved one of the largest outdoor site visits, which meant a lot of walking outside in the heat.
What did this trip teach you about the global recycling industry?
While every country has its own challenges, most of the industry is variations on a theme. The waste is the same, the processing is the same and the approach to risk management is very similar.
What are your three main takeaways for our clients?
Prevention is always better than cure - to make sure machinery is maintained within manufacturer guidelines by qualified engineers.
Culture is king and runs operationally downhill, needing buy-in at every level.
Housekeeping can change hour by hour, so it is important to recognise that.
After a busy schedule of site visits across the country, Matt’s trip highlighted just how connected the global recycling industry really is. While each market has its own nuances, the core risks - and the importance of strong risk management - remain strikingly similar.
Whether it’s Birmingham or Brisbane, Kalgoorlie or Melbourne, the goal remains the same: helping clients manage risk more effectively and supporting an industry that plays a vital role in the global push towards sustainability.
For Matt, the visit was another reminder that supporting clients often means going the extra mile - sometimes quite literally.
