Buy Recycled Champion: Daniel Kabel

I studied electrical engineering at university. Following that I worked for a plastics company in technical sales and moved into a mechanical designer role for a company that made wheels and castors. Although this job was interesting and fun it was quite sales driven. At that time we were expanding our family so I reflected on my career goals and decided to look into local government roles as I thought it would be a good fit and culture.

I began my local government career at Mornington Peninsula Shire in 2018 in a climate change project role which included the delivery of solar panel projects and the development of council’s Climate Emergency Plan. This plan identified the need for an Environmentally Sustainable Development (ESD) policy and the establishment of an ESD role to develop and implement the ESD policy.

Mornington Peninsula Shire’s ESD policy covers a wide range of broad objectives including circular economy and recycled materials. Whilst the policy covers both building and civil projects there is only a tool for specifying ESD within building projects – the BriefEzy matrix developed by the South East Councils Climate Change Alliance (SECCA).

Therefore, due to the absence of a tool, I focus on providing additional support for major civil projects, including identifying the barriers to implementation for ESD, and the development of resources and face-to-face support for council engineers, project managers and contractors. I’ve developed a training program and associated resources to build the capacity of project managers, maintenance crews and planners etc., so they understand what we are doing and why, which is housed on the staff intranet and can be accessed at any time.

In partnership with the Smartcrete Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program, RMIT and the University of Queensland (UoQ), Mornington Peninsula Shire has been trialling concrete containing recycled materials in a footpath setting in Mornington. The concrete mix contains readily available recycled crumb rubber and PET plastics to provide strength and involves the use of a trial mix and a control mix, with outcomes being monitored by RMIT.

This project meets objectives in the climate emergency plan, supports academia and research , encourages innovation with concrete suppliers and builds capability of council contractors to push boundaries and gain experience using these products.

Mornington Peninsula Shire currently contracts out all council maintenance of buildings, roads, landscaping, parks and gardens services. Requirements for sustainability plans, linked to the council’s Climate Emergency Plan targets, have been introduced into the latest tender process for the procurement of these services to commence in mid 2024. These plans require tenderers to outline how they will deliver on sustainability goals including using large volumes of recycled content in the roads contract and recycled furniture in the open space contract.

The next step for Mornington Peninsula Shire will be ensuring these commitments are implemented throughout the life of the contract and exploring how to incorporate sustainability into smaller contracts that don’t require formal sustainability plans.

• Roads and footpaths – experience implementing trials; share specifications that I have developed.
• Maintenance contracts – share specifications, tender clauses and the journey of introducing sustainability plans into these.

Polyrok, Tyrephalt, low carbon concrete from a range of suppliers (local and other), RAP, composite decking.

Our executive leadership team at Mornington Peninsula Council has been very supportive of our aspirations over the last 5 years. Through relevant council policies and high-level objectives, we have been able to justify the investment of resources in this area.

Whilst this support from senior leadership is extremely valuable, it has also been important to work internally with individual teams on the ground to ensure that when innovative projects are proposed, there is broad agreement within the organisation, both top down and bottom up. This has resulted in a great culture in the organisation with a lot of supportive collaboration occurring across teams.

I would like to reconvene an internal Research and Design working group I had previously established with representatives from across the organisation including maintenance, product delivery, traffic and transport and planning. This working group would discuss future opportunities, low hanging fruit, relevant standards and specifications, potential solutions and work through identified issues and opportunities, agreeing on steps to undertake.

A lot of my role is about relationship building. I have built trust within the organisation through my diligent research approach prior to making any product or project recommendations and my willingness to provide support by going on the journey with other people.

I used to play bass guitar and do vocals in a rock band. We played shows around Melbourne, including at the Northcote Social Club and the Espy and I happened to meet my wife at a gig in Revolver Upstairs!

We moved to Rosebud in late 2019 just before having our second child. In March 2020 when the pandemic hit, we didn’t have an established community and we were a long way from family. We took this time to explore the Mornington Peninsula and developed such a strong appreciation of the diversity of the local area including its beaches, mountains, bushland and surf.