Third-generation landfill owner turns to aluminium recycling

More than five years ago when Dan Hannagan inherited his family landfill business in far-north Queensland, little he did realize what prospects the site held in terms of recyclability. It was just another privately owned dump in the region. Soon, Hannagan transformed the site into a recycling ground, where every waste having substantial reuse value such as aluminium, stainless steel, or copper product is sorted and recycled on site, or sent away to third-party recycling agents.

Hannagan makes it a point to recycle as much metal as possible to limit the amount of it going underground. But there is little money to be made in any form of recycling, even if one owns and operates his own landfill, says Hannagan.

Nevertheless, Hannagan feels obliged to do his part for the environment “as long as he is not losing money on recycling.”

"It doesn't look good on the business plan, but I care about making sure that whatever I do here reflects on the future," he said. "I'm making sure I'm doing something for the next generation rather than just sticking it all in a hole."

Hannagan faced many challenges when he started off with metal recycling on his landfill, the first being sorting. Mr Hannagan said the reason many other landfills avoided recycling materials was the difficulty of sorting waste once it was brought to site. Contamination on a wide scale often turns out to be cost-prohibitive for aspiring recyclers.

However, this third-generation recycling enthusiast stuck to what he thought was of real significance. Today, Hannagan Landfill recycles substantial volume of aluminium and other green waste, which has set an example for other small businesses in the same space to follow in its footsteps.